Month: September 2013

September 8, 2013 in Fulaga, Fiji

When you go out diving or snorkeling, you need to check that you have all your gear in the dingy: mask, fins, snorkel, dingy anchor, and, oh yea, dive buddy.

Actually, that’s Cyndi huddling at the bottom of the dingy, beneath the fins, trying to stay warm. Silly us… we thought we were in the tropics! The dingy ride back to the boat after a few hours of snorkeling can get pretty cold. I know, I know. That’s the sound of you reaching for the world’s smallest violin. -Rich

September 10, 2013

We’d had some good snorkeling in Fulaga, but we hadn’t yet done the big gun: the main pass into Fulaga atoll. It’s no small feat to do this pass: you need a combination of light winds, calm seas, and a mid-day slack tide (preferably turning to incoming).

Even with those good conditions, the water in the pass can be turbulent. This isn’t so much of a problem for those in the water, but it can be a challenge for the person driving the dinghy! It’s a good distance from inside the atoll to the pass outside it; so you need dinghy with good power to get out there. Just before we came here, one group had their dinghy flipped by standing waves in the pass, a dangerous, and expensive, misfortune.

We’d been here for weeks, but this was our first good opportunity to do the pass. The wind was very light, and we had some sun coming through the clouds. High tide was at 10am, so we’d need to be out there around 9:30. This was too long a trip for our dinghy, but luckily our friend Bob on Bright Angel volunteered to take us out.

When we got to the pass we could see that, aside from some chop on the surface, it was pretty calm. We headed out, and Bob dropped us off in an area alongside the main pass. We got in and right away could see a world of coral and fish below us. Making our way to the main pass, we swam above a multitude of fish: butterfly fish, schooling fish, and a grouper. It was fantastically beautiful already.

We could tell immediately when we’d made it to the pass. It was a wide shallow canyon between walls of rock and vast array of colorful corals and fish of all kinds. There was so much to see that it was hard to choose what to focus on! Beautiful hard and soft corals, tropical fish of all kinds while schooling fish drifted by. As we made our way along the pass, our main frustration was having to leave this fantastic scenery to come up for air. We’d try to do it as quickly as possible and get back down to the enchanted place below us.

When we reached the inside of the atoll, the current was picking up so we didn’t try to go again. We were grateful for the chance to do this even once, although we were so impressed we swore to each other we’d come back here someday. This had been more than a great snorkel; this had been like visiting a fantastic underwater world. Below, a some footage we took with our Go Pro. It’s not great, but you can get the idea. –Cyndi

September 8, 2013

The winds had been blowing yet again, but today they calmed enough that we could snorkel with our friends at what we’d nicknamed Shark Pool. We’d gotten pretty good at pulling ourselves out, against the current, through a gap in the atoll, then riding the current back in. It’s quite a workout, but it’s fun. Our friends opted to snorkel in the pool, as enchanted as we had been by the blue depths and Disneyesque coral formations.

One thing I was reminded of today: it is possible to get chilly in the tropics. After we’d been snorkeling awhile, we were starting to get chilled and wanted to head back to our boats. I hadn’t thought to bring a T-shirt, and during the long ride back I was so cold I had to lie down in the dinghy with fins pulled over me, and shivering. Advice to anyone going on a snorkeling or diving excursion in the tropics: bring a sweatshirt, or at least a T-shirt. –Cyndi