Shasta_man
Contributor
Just completed a trip on the Nai'a in Fiji.
Fantastic trip. Crew was really fantastic and lots of great social interaction with them too. Their work was instrumental in making this the wonderful trip it was. I always make efforts to get to know the wonderful local people working the boats. After this trip, between experiences with them and random Fijians, I still maintain Fiji is friendliest place on Earth. Yes, much kava was consumed. Bula! I would not hesitate to come to Fiji for any trip. Still VERY high off the whole experience. Work on Monday is going to have to work hard to penetrate this priceless experience.
A more in depth trip report will follow but we had an excellent trip, partly due to great weather of literally only a few minutes of clouds and rain. Diving was out in the Bligh Waters and down into the Koro Sea. We mostly anchored in the open ocean, and first few days had pretty challenging conditions of big waves "down in the trough, up on the wave crest to see the skiff" conditions. The skiffs were right on us though and stress was low. It wasn't anchor and dive in the lee of an island type except a couple places. However, the boat rode well and I was particularly surprised at the smoothness of some crossings. Had a couple pretty good rock and roll crossings but no worries. Seqa na lega. Namena Marine Reserve was fantastic "solid fish" diving and I could spend the whole week there alone. Top places for me were Tetons in Namena (solid fish of every color), Save A Tack sites, Nigali Passage, and Mount Mutiny. Met the bravest octopus in the world who just sat there inches away while video'ed him. So cool. Pygmy seahorses. Many, many sharks including hammerheads. Mantas came. Coral life is really incredible with intense hard corals and walls of soft corals. Etc, etc, etc. Video housing worked well but that's it I'm buying a housing with more controls like MWB, and manual focus for the next trip. It's worth it to be even better than what I got.
A new cruise director was starting now but we dove with them and they'll do fine with support of crew and the great boat.
Thanks Nai'a for a great time.
Fantastic trip. Crew was really fantastic and lots of great social interaction with them too. Their work was instrumental in making this the wonderful trip it was. I always make efforts to get to know the wonderful local people working the boats. After this trip, between experiences with them and random Fijians, I still maintain Fiji is friendliest place on Earth. Yes, much kava was consumed. Bula! I would not hesitate to come to Fiji for any trip. Still VERY high off the whole experience. Work on Monday is going to have to work hard to penetrate this priceless experience.
A more in depth trip report will follow but we had an excellent trip, partly due to great weather of literally only a few minutes of clouds and rain. Diving was out in the Bligh Waters and down into the Koro Sea. We mostly anchored in the open ocean, and first few days had pretty challenging conditions of big waves "down in the trough, up on the wave crest to see the skiff" conditions. The skiffs were right on us though and stress was low. It wasn't anchor and dive in the lee of an island type except a couple places. However, the boat rode well and I was particularly surprised at the smoothness of some crossings. Had a couple pretty good rock and roll crossings but no worries. Seqa na lega. Namena Marine Reserve was fantastic "solid fish" diving and I could spend the whole week there alone. Top places for me were Tetons in Namena (solid fish of every color), Save A Tack sites, Nigali Passage, and Mount Mutiny. Met the bravest octopus in the world who just sat there inches away while video'ed him. So cool. Pygmy seahorses. Many, many sharks including hammerheads. Mantas came. Coral life is really incredible with intense hard corals and walls of soft corals. Etc, etc, etc. Video housing worked well but that's it I'm buying a housing with more controls like MWB, and manual focus for the next trip. It's worth it to be even better than what I got.
A new cruise director was starting now but we dove with them and they'll do fine with support of crew and the great boat.
Thanks Nai'a for a great time.