AndrewD
Guest
Roger doesn't have email access at the moment, so he asked me to pass this on. His slideshow from the trip is at
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/pacific/slide-fijidive/index.html
(I can't post the photos here because of copyright.)
A DAY AT BEQA LAGOON
The order was made. My mission, should I accept it, was to go to Beqa Lagoon and bring back pictures of the fabulous seafans we had heard rumours about.
I accepted the mission, and chose Norbert and Mal as my associates. Armed with scuba gear, underwater cameras and video, we set out with Dive Connections to prove, or otherwise, the rumours.
First, they took us to a site they called E.T. Sounds like fantasy to me, so I was skeptical of a result here. We dropped into a current-swept gulley 20 metres deep, and there on the walls were large gorgonian fans, sticking out into the current to take maximum advantage of the food supply of plankton. For these plant-like forms are animals, colonies of tiny sea-anemone-look-alikes, each individual in the colony capable of feeding on its own, yet sharing the food with its neighbours.
As we turned the corner a lionfish hung against the wall, its poisonous dorsal spines erect and ready to pierce the skin of a careless diver. Then we found a tunnel - a swim-through with seafans catching the current as we drifted through. But the best was yet to come.....
Our second dive was called Glory Hole. This site they protect by only taking small groups of experienced divers. It was soon obvious why they guarded this site so well. Beneath an overhanging cliff, purple, yellow, and pink soft corals hung in great candelabra, their dripping branches capable of spreading and expanding into the night waters on a particular cue known only to themselves.
At the back of the overhang was the most spectacular archway, the Glory Hole itself, its opening almost completely blocked off by large branching red seafans. I ventured a little way in but then changed my mind. It would be too easy to do a lot of damage in here with one careless flick of a fin. So I sneaked one picture then carefully edged my way out again.
Mission completed, and photographic evidence secured, we surfaced and headed back to base to download our information to our executives, and to ready out team for the next assignment.
-- Roger Grace
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/pacific/slide-fijidive/index.html
(I can't post the photos here because of copyright.)
A DAY AT BEQA LAGOON
The order was made. My mission, should I accept it, was to go to Beqa Lagoon and bring back pictures of the fabulous seafans we had heard rumours about.
I accepted the mission, and chose Norbert and Mal as my associates. Armed with scuba gear, underwater cameras and video, we set out with Dive Connections to prove, or otherwise, the rumours.
First, they took us to a site they called E.T. Sounds like fantasy to me, so I was skeptical of a result here. We dropped into a current-swept gulley 20 metres deep, and there on the walls were large gorgonian fans, sticking out into the current to take maximum advantage of the food supply of plankton. For these plant-like forms are animals, colonies of tiny sea-anemone-look-alikes, each individual in the colony capable of feeding on its own, yet sharing the food with its neighbours.
As we turned the corner a lionfish hung against the wall, its poisonous dorsal spines erect and ready to pierce the skin of a careless diver. Then we found a tunnel - a swim-through with seafans catching the current as we drifted through. But the best was yet to come.....
Our second dive was called Glory Hole. This site they protect by only taking small groups of experienced divers. It was soon obvious why they guarded this site so well. Beneath an overhanging cliff, purple, yellow, and pink soft corals hung in great candelabra, their dripping branches capable of spreading and expanding into the night waters on a particular cue known only to themselves.
At the back of the overhang was the most spectacular archway, the Glory Hole itself, its opening almost completely blocked off by large branching red seafans. I ventured a little way in but then changed my mind. It would be too easy to do a lot of damage in here with one careless flick of a fin. So I sneaked one picture then carefully edged my way out again.
Mission completed, and photographic evidence secured, we surfaced and headed back to base to download our information to our executives, and to ready out team for the next assignment.
-- Roger Grace
