You may be wondering about the title, but it’s one of those times you just ‘had to be there’ (thanks for providing the headline material, Steve).
Our intrepid group of 9 divers and two non-divers (thanks for putting up with us Bubble Blowers – Renee and Sue!) endured a long drive from airport to resort, made sufferable by many breaks for six packs and pit stops. We found that Uprising Beach Resort lived up to its tropical reputation and after settling in, all adjourned to the bar for the first of many ‘Deco Stops’. (ahh, the Longneck Coronas)
Over the following four days we were treated to many memorable moments, both above and below the water, the most awe inspiring of all must have been the huge (3 metre) heavily pregnant bull shark and how she muscled her way through the other sharks to claim her share of the tuna heads on offer. This excitement prompted one of our lady divers to later admit that it had caused her to ‘ink’ the water!
How good was the safety stop at 5 metres in the midst of a shark feeding frenzy? Answer – FANTASTIC! But our eternal gratitude goes to our ‘guardian angels’ hovering above and behind us to fend off any shark encounters of the ‘too close’ kind (thanks Beqa Dive crew). Not all the action was in midwater though, as we were joined by a very large moray who wanted in on the action, causing everyone to keep an eye on loose fingers.
With warm 26 degree water of an incredible deep blue colour and 20 plus metre viz, we were in diver heaven as we explored three interesting wrecks and untold numbers of coral reefs, walls, bommies, pinnacles and swimthroughs. Of particular note though, was the hard swim from one of the wrecks to the protection of a bommie against a strong (read VERY) current. All made it safely without a safety sausage being deployed, although much air was consumed in the process.
Post dive Deco Stops and surface intervals at the restaurant and bar were the source of much hilarity and celebration – congrats to Kim and Sue for sharing their 30th wedding anniversary with us; and the Chili Challenge (ask Adam about it!) were but two.
Before closing, all Fiji survivors must be reminded to ‘SIT DOWN’ (again, you had to be there) and to all you Fiji wannabes (or any other place for that matter) JUST GO AND DO IT!!!
See you in the water, Peter