Tomo went last year for the Dive HQ conference, our Divemaster Kim completed her internship here in January and so I felt I was missing out and planned our annual club dive trip with Safari Lodge at Nananu-i-ra Island Fiji.
The adventure started with a direct flight to Nadi, a van ride north and an amazing boat ride to the island. It was dark all around us but there was amazing bioluminescence in the water, the milky way above and lightening off in the distance. We also saw several flying fish to entertain us.
We arrived just before midnight so after a quick welcome we snuck off to bed. We were even given the morning off with the first boat dives postponed til after lunch so we were able to relax and explore the area. This also gave us an opportunity to meet the divers from Dive HQ Hibiscus Coast who we would be diving with during the week.
We were all looking forward to our first dives and were not disappointed with lots of soft corals, yellow fish for Graeme and even a sea snake. With all the dive bugs ironed out and weighting sorted we were lucky with the weather and were able to spend the next two days out in the Vatu-I-ra passage – with some strong currents and magnificent soft corals.
The trade winds picked up and so the next few days were in the Bligh Strait – a little closer to home but still with lots of coral and strange creatures to be found. We even got to dive the Ovalau Ferry as something a little different.
After our boat dives we had plenty of time to go shore diving or snorkelling, try windsurfing, kayaking or even kite surfing but I will confess that my favourite activity was doing nothing. The hammocks were pretty comfortable if somewhat dangerous for some!
Safari Lodge was a great place to relax and the staff were friendly & certainly looked after us. The meals were all included in our package and there was plenty of it! With hot options available every meal along with a variety of salads/vegetables think we all ate too much – especially cake! The lodge has a variety of rooms available from dorms to private rooms to beach front bures but we spent most of our time hanging out on the front deck. I don’t think anyone wanted to leave so we will be back again next year.