Link to FIJI PHOTOS and VIDEOS Album
I left VoliVoli where I was seeing nudibranch and soft coral and hard coral and pygmy seahorses and tiny shrimp and all kinds of really great critters. One of the divemasters was incredibly good at finding incredibly small things. This was the first time I was ever diving where I really wished I had a very large magnifying glass.
For our last day of diving in VoliVoli, a large group of divers came in. One of the women, who was no longer diving as far as I could tell, was an actress on the 1950s TV show Sea Hunt. I never did find out what her name is, but I was wondering if it could have been Jan Harrison, the actress that at one time was married to Caroll Shelby. Looking at the woman and looking at pictures of Jen Harrison, it very well could be. I don't think I ever Saw an episode of the Sea Hunt, it was before I was born, and a bit cheesy from what I hear. But a lot of people got interested in diving specifically because of Sea Hunt. Many, many older divers refer to that show as their motivation for getting involved in diving. I found out later that she is Zale Perry. She was in 7 episodes plus a few other movies.
Had my first two dives down here in Pacific Harbor. As far as Coral is concerned it is not as nice as VoliVoli, but they were still pretty good dives. A little murky but not bad.
My second dive was a wreck dive, and in the same place where tomorrow I will do a shark dive. Some of the sharks thought we were going to feed them today, so we got to see very large nurse sharks, large very curious bull sharks, and lots of other large sharks.
I have a write-up about the place I'm staying in, and the dive shop, but I'm going to wait to post that to see how the rest of the week goes. It's possible my first impressions were not accurate.
Outside of my little villa in the grass near Mongoose running around. Mongeese? Mongooses? There are no snakes on this island. I'm not sure if the tour connected.
This one was doing a lot of hunting around the grass, and seemed to have quite a bit of success. I'm not sure exactly what this thing is that it caught, it looked ugly, but he seemed to like the taste of it. 
I'm pretty sure he's not happy I'm here. 
Oh he is definitely not happy I'm here. 
Clouds... As you can see, the rainy season is horrible. Rains almost every morning for a little while. Usually just before I get up. 
That's no bird. 
One incredible voice.
VIDEO: You might notice the LARGE bowl of Kava in the background.:
If the VIDEO does not show up, you can see it here: MUSIC VIDEO - on my Smugmug site.
This trip has been a trip of firsts. The first time I have seen Bull Sharks being fed, the first time seeing Fiji, the first time on a dive boat with a diver using a breast pump, the first time on a boat with a baby (a different time and person), the first time on a dive boat with a diver breast feeding a baby (not underwater), my first time meeting a famous actress, first time trying out a camera underwater, and the list goes on and on.
SHARK DIVE VIDEO - This is new, if you read my BAD SHARKS story, this Video was added to it, along with photos that were extracted from the video. This was from the dive the day before, but I met almost all of the people in the video, and it looked exactly like the dive I did.
When a Fijian introduces themselves, they often use an Englishized version of their Fijian name. When asked, they will also give you their Fijian name. They will even tell you your Fijian name.
I was sitting with two people from the Washington DC area, and was going to ask if they had heard their Fijian names yet, then I saw this Coke Bottle on the table. THAT is MY Fijian name. Ropate. Pronounced pretty much as it is spelled, just roll the R a bit... ex.. Rrrrrow pot ay.
Ropate 
In this area there are a lot of animals called Nudibranch (aka Nudi). They are often very colorful, sometimes pretty darned small, and always fun to see.
On one dive, I saw something floating in the water. I saw it was a Nudi, so I put my flashlight up to it, and it latched on. I brought it over to a diver with a camera. Nudi's are notoriously difficult to photo partly because they can be very small. Focusing in on something so small is quite a trick. Focusing on one that is on a flashlight that is not 100% stable is even more difficult. These pics are unfortunately a bit out of focus.
I was being super careful, protecting this delicate creature from the current as I swam along, trying to find a place on the coral to leave it. I tried one place, but it just would not let go. I tried to shake it off. No-go. I decided to just swim for a while, hoping it would eventually let go. NOPE. I finally stopped someplace and put the flashlight right against the coral. Like a cat standing in the doorway, this think latched half it's body on the coral, and half on my flashlight. I tried removing the light, but it preferred that to the coral. It took it's sweet time getting off. Then I looked up. I was alone in the ocean, all the other divers had swam away. Stupid cat..... errr Nudi.
Pretty blurry, but as you can see, very colorful. 
This has nothing to do with Fiji, but I liked it. Some of you will understand. One down, 5 up. 