Ever since Dale and I met in Belize three years ago we've been only cyber dive buddies except for a chance meeting in the Cayman airport in 1999. Several times we have attempted a dive trip but something has always come up to force a change of plans. Now after all this time we are headed to the South Pacific and the island paradise of Fiji.  My friend Sherrie; also from Texas, and Dale's dive buddy Gregg from Georgia accompanied me on this adventure. Two months before we were to leave there was a major governmental uprising in Fiji. A coup started by George Speight took over the government buildings and held the cabinet hostage. This did not give us a good feeling about the trip, but I was reassured by many people that this would  not  impact our trip and that we would be in no danger. By the time we were ready to leave George had released his hostages, was arrested himself, put on trial and sent to a deserted island in the Fiji chain. Wow, that's some quick justice.  This report, and the photos in this report, are compliments of Dale, because he provides such excellent details, and my report would pale in comparison to his.  He knows so many fish species and has an abundance of knowledge on what dives we did, etc.  Dale & Gregg did EVERY dive that was offered, and Sherrie and I skipped a few.  So, Dale & Gregg, we bow to you!  

          Our first impression of the boat was overwhelming. Everything about this nearly new boat is impressive. The cabins are large with plenty of room for your stuff, private bathrooms that really work, although I never got used to that loud snap when the vacuum toilet is flushed, comfortable beds, individual air-conditioner controls, and a big window to see where you have arrived at after the night time crossing. The salon where the meals were served and the entertainment center is located is very roomy, comfortable and air-conditioned when needed. Then there that hot tub, thank God for the hot tub, nothing feels quite as refreshing after a night dive than grabbing a drink and jumping in the hot tub. All dive equipment is stored in compartments under your tank location on the aft deck. You hook up your gear once, it is loaded on the jet powered skiff by the crew and you never touched it again, except for a few regulator rinses to "kill that goose". Air or Nitrox are refilled without removing anything other than your first stage. There are two camera tables, two camera rinse tanks, two rinse tanks for masks, wetsuits and the like. A shower is located on both sides of the dive area with plenty of hot water, shampoo, soap and fresh towels for that after dive clean-up. Most of the diving is done from the skiff. You get on the skiff from the rear of the dive area, it is lowered into the ocean by an amazing hydraulic system, you are whisked away under jet power to the dive site, always less than fifteen minute ride. We had some bad weather making for some adventurous rides but all in all it's a good system.

        As everyone was getting settled in we began to meet the other six passengers we would be spending our week in paradise with. Tom and Beverly were a very cool couple from Illinois. Nick and Jane came from Bolder Colorado, Neale was a Brit who was spending the summer diving all over the South Pacific, lucky guy. And last but certainly not least was Alan, a newby from Minnesota. Alan was fresh out of OW, what a first dive trip he had. After stowing our gear and getting our rooms organized, Sean, the ship's manager and one of the divemasters, introduced the crew, Tala, Solo, Deo, Sami, Tim, Serv, another dive master, Elvis the chef who we had already met and Pele, the photographer and divemaster. Sean then followed with a briefing about how the boat worked. The forecast was predicting some bad weather on the way that may impact our diving for the week. We had faith this wouldn't become a problem, wishful thinking. After the briefing dinner was served and we all crashed while the Aggressor departed Denarau for the crossing which would bring us to Mokagai Passage the next morning and our first dives in the South Pacific.

        August 6: One of the fish I wanted to see on this trip was the Anemone Fish or what most people call Clown Fish. It didn't take long. To the chant of Qio Meke, Qio Meke, SHARK SHARK SHARK the four of us started the dive adventure of our lives.  As I descended into the seventy eight degree clear water of the South Pacific there it was. A large white Anemone with three Anemone Fish darting in and out of it's host's tentacles. Soon the second fish I wanted to see was also within eye sight. A Lion Fish has to be the most interesting fish I've ever seen. Obviously not afraid of attack protected by those stinging fins it slowly meandered around the reef like we weren't even there. What a rush, to see the main objects of this adventure on the first dive. Everywhere we looked on the first two dives a new species would appear, it was almost sensory overload. There were Black & White Snappers, Clown Triggers, Cannery Blemmies, a Hawksbill Turtle, tons of blue and orange Anthias, crinoids were absolutely everywhere and more small fish than I could identify. This is what I had flown half way around the world to see, I was in diver Heaven. The dives on Mokagia were fifty seven and fifty five minutes with a maximum depth of ninety three feet.      

      After lunch the Aggressor moved to Elaine's Bommies. Bommies are what we call pinnacles, a large uprising in the sea floor. The vis dropped a little here but was still at least fifty feet. More Lion Fish including a juvenile, a Peacock Flounder that must have been two feet long, schools of Unicorn Fish, an Undulating Eel, Tile Fish, and Saddleback Butterfly Fish always in pairs and our first sighting of the Giant Clam made the these two dives even more spectacular than the previous two. Elaine's was a shallower dive maxing out at sixty six feet for over an hour for both dives. No night dive here because of the dive location made it difficult to get even the skiff to and from the Aggressor. Following another one of Elvis's great meals we watched the video I had shot during the day's dives, some hit the hot tub while others turned in early still suffering from jet lag.

        August 7: During the night the boat was moved to Namenalala Island and what we hoped our first shark encounter. Sean briefed us on how to dive this sight for the best chance of sighting sharks. We were to drop to the wall, swim along at sixty feet until arriving at a large sand filled hollowed out area on top of the wall, drop into the sand, sit and wait. Several sharks, Gray Reefs and a Silver Tip were spotted as we swam along the wall. As we settled into the sand at ninety five feet the Gray Reefs came in to investigate, getting fairly close. There were also several Dogtooth Tunas cruising the sand hollow. Then a huge Grouper, about five feet long came in a settled on the bottom right in the middle of us. I was able to get within 3 feet of this guy while he was getting cleaned, totally ignoring me, very cool. Soon our computers started to complain about the depth so we moved up to the reef. Many White Tip Sharks were spotted sleeping in the sand. There were schools of Unicorn Fish, Long Toms, a Sea Cucumber and eating algae, and the sometimes aggressive Titan Triggers on top of the reef. Titan Triggers have been know to attack divers during the mating season, fortunately they were only interested in eating crabs they found in the coral. From the looks of the way they tore the reef up I was glad they weren't interested in attacking me. These two dives were forty five and fifty two minutes with a max depth of ninety five feet.

         Elvis's lunch and a two and a half hour SIT renewed our energy so the skiff took us to The Chimneys. More Anemones, Sweet Lips, Huge Starfish, the ever present Unicorn Fish, a large eel and several Nudebrancs along with those beautiful soft corals made this fifty eight minute dive a great one. Next it was off to Magic Mountain. More of the same with the addition of several White Tip Sharks. After dinner it was finally time for a much needed night dive. Right off the boat we found a large octopus who put on quite a show, changing colors and blending into the coral in an attempt to escape. We finally took pity on him and moved on. Many sleeping fish were found including Parrots of several types and many puffers that looked like small dogs with their tails wrapped around them. We were careful not to disturb anybody's rest. The five dive day was pretty rough on this ol' boy so I hit the bed pretty early and slept like a bear in hibernation. The dives were getting longer, all these were over one hour.

        August 8: A good night's sleep is just what the doctor ordered, I finally felt refreshed when I awoke at 6:30am. Because of the threat of thirty knot winds we were not able to move the boat overnight. Due to popular demand we returned to the sand hollow in search of sharks. We were not disappointed.  The Grays were there as was the Grouper, added to that was an Octopus two ramoras that wanted to hitch a ride and Pallet Tangs. This was a good choice for our wake up dive. After a real breakfast we were taken to Sav-a-Tak for a shallower dive to fifty two feet. I certainly needed this and the two and a half hour SIT after the one hundred five foot for a bit to long morning dive. Darn that big Grouper, I thought he was watching my computer, but noooo. No problem it was only a five minute Deco stop. Anyway Sav-a-Tak was a nice one hour dive in soft corals with four or five Giant Clams, another large eel, anemones with their symbiotic buddies, Zebra Damsels and those always present Unicorns. Next it was back to The Chimneys and more Lion Fish this time we found the Twin spotted Lion Fish, very cool. There was a lot of small stuff here, a little tough on my eyesight but Pele pointed out a Ribbon Nudebranc and Green Blinking worms. There was no night dive this day, bummer.

        August 9: There was still bad weather predicted for the open seas, moving the boat at night wasn't an option so we waited until morning. Unfortunately this would cost us a couple of dives but was unavoidable. As it turned out the predictions were wrong and the crossing to Wakaya pass was very smooth. We have, of course, no idea what it would have been like at night. On our two dives on the wall at Wakaya the first order of business was to see the Blue Ribbon Eels. These guys are amazing, hanging out of the reef about a foot with their mouths wide open to the point it looked painful. I'm not to sure if they expected something to swim into their mouth or what, it was a strange posture. We even found a juvenile, who was completely black with a white stripe traveling from his nose to his tail. Also on the wall were Razor Wrasse, a very well camouflaged Leaf Scorpion Fish, very big Trumpet Fish and several of those beautiful but sometimes dangerous Titron Triggers. A couple of Gray Reef Sharks were seen off the wall and Three White Tips were found sleeping on the bottom.

        Because of the morning crossing there were only three dives this day. Our last dive was a night dive on the Bommie next to the wall. The usual night critters were out with the addition of a new Starfish Segment. As explained to me by Pele, a Starfish reproduces by dropping a segment of an arm. This segment will then grow new arms to produce a new Starfish. I think I prefer our method of reproduction better. Pele has the eyes of a hawk and found all sorts of tiny crabs, shrimp and little gobbies hiding in the reef. We also found another juvenile Blue Ribbon Eel but the highlight of all our night dives was the Flashlight Fish. We actually never saw the fish, just their light packets. These guys give off a very eerie looking green light. It looked like ghosts in the reef with blinking green eyes, TOO COOL.

        August 10: Now for the big move. This day would be our last chance to dive E6. Sean was confident we would have a good crossing since the winds had died considerably. He was correct, when I came upstairs for breakfast the sight of "We're here E6" in giant letters written on the bulletin board was a more than exciting sign.

        We would do five dives on E6, exploring as much as we could for as long as we could. The wall here is spectacular as is the reef. To maximize our dive time we didn't venture too far down the wall, well most of us didn't. There was that plunge to hell trying to pose the four of us doing our Qio Meke, Qio Meke, SHARK SHARK SHARK fin stacking routine, buoyancy is tough with four divers interlocked! All our dives at E6 were well over an hour with the max depth of seventy four feet, not including the big plunge to eighty six. I won't be trying that again in open water! Our first hammerheads were seen on the first dive. They didn't get that close and not everyone saw them, I didn't, but knowing they were there was still pretty cool. We dived from the Aggressor on this site, no need for the skiff, so that swim across open water from the wall was a little spooky knowing Mr. Head was lurking below. The first dive also produced many Giant Clams, huge schools of several varieties of fish, Scorpion Fish, lots of Surgeon Fish and several of those magnificent Clown Triggers. What a beautiful fish with those big white dots they almost looks like they were hand painted. The next three dives were similar to the first, just more or that amazing life on this dive site. We did see more White Tips, including on I sort of cornered, oops, and so many Anemones and Clown Fish they were starting to become common place, not that I'm complaining, I couldn't get enough of them. Some of the bigger Clown Fish can get down right aggressive if you get too close. More than one bounced of my video camera lens.

        There is a bommie right off the wall and the coral from it and the wall have grown together forming a large swim through know as the Grotto. The boat was tied into the bommie just above the Grotto to make it easy to find it. I think this is one of Pele's favorite dive sites. She found all sorts of small stuff in the rubble on the bottom. One thing she showed me was to pick up a piece of this rubble and the coolest little purple and green wrasse, I think it was a Sling Jaw Wrasse, came charging over to see if there was anything to eat on it. Every time you would pick something up he would come flying, TOO COOL.

        The bommie and the Grotto is where we did our last night dive.  We found a strange Black Spotted Eel, looking quite different than the ones we see in the Caribbean. He was very shy and didn't come out to give us a real good look. There were also a couple of Scorpion Fish, many Banded Shrimp along with the usual night critters and there was always that Hammerhead, at least in our minds. Pele lead a couple of us into the Grotto and told us to turn off our lights. The moon was very bright and moonlight streamed down through the openings at the top, it was absolutely gorgeous. Then out of the dark came those green eyes again. Flashlight Fish, TOO COOL. I could hear Pele squeal with delight, I think she like this fish. They were everywhere, I could have stayed in there all night it was that awesome. But air was getting low as was the computer time after five dives so we had to leave. The swim back across the open water at night was a little unnerving, you know, with you know who, who knows where. But he didn't show up or at least we didn't see him.

        August 11: Another night time crossing and our last day of diving found us on Charibois on Lie Rock, home to those elusive hammerheads. We were not disappointed this time. Not more than five minutes into the dive, there he was. About seven feet of one of the strangest looking fish in the ocean. This was not my first hammerhead sighting but the first one up close. He got as close as twenty feet, just cruising past off the wall. I was hoping he would stick around, but I guess he had other plans. There were a couple of Gray Reefs too, and possibly a Silver Tip, but we weren't sure. I spotted two Dogtooth Tunas near the end of the dive. At first I thought they were more hammerheads, wishful thinking I suppose. This was a nice ending dive with the last five minutes and all my air spent on top of the bommie at ten feet with the soft corals and tons of fish. I didn't want to surface, but those gills aren't quite working yet.

        This part of our trip was a total success. Gregg and Dale got in twenty two dives, I think Sherrie & I only missed three dives. We saw sights we had only dreamed of, and met some very cool people, passengers and crew. Neale has already agreed to go to Coco Island with us next summer. One of the things I really enjoy about diving is meeting people. This was a special trip for me made even better by the folks we met on the boat. Pele and Sean as well as the rest of the crew made this the best live-aboard I have been on. If you're thinking of going to Fiji I highly recommend the Aggressor, this boat will be hard to beat.