Today is a travel day. We left the resort and took another 3 hour bus ride back up the west coast of the island to Nadi where we picked up a few friends who just flew in. We then continued on up to Lautoka where we boarded the Nai’a. The Nai’a is essentially a live-aboard dive resort. We will spend the next 7 days on the Nai’a eating, sleeping, SCUBA diving and doing very little else. This afternoon we took a short one and half hour ride out to a nearby reef to do a “check-out” dive. Basically it is to make sure everyone’s gear is in order and to get acquainted with the logistics of how this vessel operates. The Nai’a then returned to port to finish resupplying for the week as well as to pick up some replacement crew members.
Sometime later this evening after everyone has gone to bed, the vessel will leave port and head north east hugging the coast toward the Bligh Water. The Bligh Water is the straight between the two largest islands of Fiji: Viti Levu & Vanua Levu. It is named after William Bligh (Mutiny on the Bounty). The story goes that after the mutiny and being set adrift with his men, they passed through this straight, but Bligh refused to let any of his men go ashore on any of the nearby islands due to the notoriety of the locals as being cannibals. He did however insist that they do their duty as good English sailors and continued to chart and record any newly discovered shallow reefs they encountered.
Tomorrow will be our first full day of diving.