What I did on my summer vacation, part 2
Part two of our Southern Hemisphere trip took us on a 1.5 hour flight east to Fiji. I had heard a lot of good things about the shark dives in the Beqa Lagoon area of southern Viti Levu, Fiji, and this was a good opportunity to check it out.
We did four days of two-tank boat dives with Aqua-Trek in Pacific Harbour, the company that started the Beqa shark dives. It's been ten years since I was last in Fiji, and I had forgotten just how spectacular the diving was there. Two of our dives were reef dives--although only average dives for Fiji, they had much more coral and fish life than most dives I've done in the Caribbean or the Sea of Cortez. In fact, the Nai'a (our liveaboard in Tonga) is actually a Fijian boat, and we vowed to return to Fiji and dive from the Nai'a.
Each of our shark dive days had the same schedule: one dive to 90 feet for 25 minutes, then the next 20-25 minutes spent on a 30 foot reef; one hour surface interval; second dive to 70 feet for 25 minutes, and finish the dive on the same shallow reef. Six dives in total, with no shortage of sharks! There were numerous nurse sharks on each dive including the largest nurse I had ever seen--a 9' male with an immense girth--and it was like being surrounded by puppydogs. They swim around your legs looking for fish scraps, and do not mind if you reach out and pet their rough skin.
Our first shark diving day I left my camera behind as sometimes it's nice to be able to move around unemcumbered. Of course that was the day I saw my first tiger shark (from in the water; in Hawaii I saw two tigers from the boat). She was a solid 10' long, confident, and gorgeous with her eponymous stripes. I was sitting at the right end of a line of divers watching the feeding area in front of us when the tiger approached from my right, at eye level, and at the last moment changed depth ever so slightly so that she swam directly over my head. Like the whale looking me in the eye, these one-on-one encounters with such incredible animals are what I live for.
There were bull sharks on every dive as well. For a shark that is supposedly the #2 or #3 most dangerous shark in the world, they are surprisingly shy and never got close to us. I saw as many as seven bulls at one time, all 5-7' in length, including one hugely pregnant female, and another who unfortunately had an entanglement around her neck and gills.
On the first dive of the last day I saw my first silvertip, a 6-7' female. I was away from the main group of divers, on the far side of a group of 3-4 photographers (I always try to position myself as far from people as possible, in order to get the best view of the sharks), when she came in. Like the tiger, the silvertip was acting very bold but not aggressive, and swam towards and around me several times. I didn't even realize there was a safety diver behind me until he jumped out to push the silvertip away, ruining an otherwise excellent photo.
I have mixed feelings abour shark feeding dives. I would really rather see sharks in the wild and not under artificial circumstances. But this is quite difficult as sharks are becoming increasingly rare, with some species endangered and facing extinction. Plus, most sharks avoid people, so it would be hard to see them up close even if they were in the area. So sometimes a reputable shark dive is the only way to see them. I'm just happy to have had the experience.
More photos: Beqa Lagoon, Fiji on Flickr.
We did four days of two-tank boat dives with Aqua-Trek in Pacific Harbour, the company that started the Beqa shark dives. It's been ten years since I was last in Fiji, and I had forgotten just how spectacular the diving was there. Two of our dives were reef dives--although only average dives for Fiji, they had much more coral and fish life than most dives I've done in the Caribbean or the Sea of Cortez. In fact, the Nai'a (our liveaboard in Tonga) is actually a Fijian boat, and we vowed to return to Fiji and dive from the Nai'a.
Each of our shark dive days had the same schedule: one dive to 90 feet for 25 minutes, then the next 20-25 minutes spent on a 30 foot reef; one hour surface interval; second dive to 70 feet for 25 minutes, and finish the dive on the same shallow reef. Six dives in total, with no shortage of sharks! There were numerous nurse sharks on each dive including the largest nurse I had ever seen--a 9' male with an immense girth--and it was like being surrounded by puppydogs. They swim around your legs looking for fish scraps, and do not mind if you reach out and pet their rough skin.
Our first shark diving day I left my camera behind as sometimes it's nice to be able to move around unemcumbered. Of course that was the day I saw my first tiger shark (from in the water; in Hawaii I saw two tigers from the boat). She was a solid 10' long, confident, and gorgeous with her eponymous stripes. I was sitting at the right end of a line of divers watching the feeding area in front of us when the tiger approached from my right, at eye level, and at the last moment changed depth ever so slightly so that she swam directly over my head. Like the whale looking me in the eye, these one-on-one encounters with such incredible animals are what I live for.
There were bull sharks on every dive as well. For a shark that is supposedly the #2 or #3 most dangerous shark in the world, they are surprisingly shy and never got close to us. I saw as many as seven bulls at one time, all 5-7' in length, including one hugely pregnant female, and another who unfortunately had an entanglement around her neck and gills.
On the first dive of the last day I saw my first silvertip, a 6-7' female. I was away from the main group of divers, on the far side of a group of 3-4 photographers (I always try to position myself as far from people as possible, in order to get the best view of the sharks), when she came in. Like the tiger, the silvertip was acting very bold but not aggressive, and swam towards and around me several times. I didn't even realize there was a safety diver behind me until he jumped out to push the silvertip away, ruining an otherwise excellent photo.
I have mixed feelings abour shark feeding dives. I would really rather see sharks in the wild and not under artificial circumstances. But this is quite difficult as sharks are becoming increasingly rare, with some species endangered and facing extinction. Plus, most sharks avoid people, so it would be hard to see them up close even if they were in the area. So sometimes a reputable shark dive is the only way to see them. I'm just happy to have had the experience.
More photos: Beqa Lagoon, Fiji on Flickr.