Bikini
13 May 2012
The dock on the lagoon side of Enyu. The old air
terminal is just beyond the coconut palms.
As a dive destination, Bikini Atoll is excellent, wether SCUBA diving or snorkeling
We were only interested in snorkeling the shallow reefs not the sunken ships in 150 to 200 feet of water. So few people live on Bikini atoll that the reefs have gone unfished for many decades. From the old concrete pier near the landing strip, we snorkeled seaward at high tide in 10 feet of water. Schools of thousands of fish of at least 5 species casually opened a clear path for us to continue on our way. The coral was coarse and smooth, towering or spread to an even level, compact into round clumps and leafed in wavy rows and spiked like clumps of antlers. The colors were equally numerous bright and subdued. The most impressive surprise was to be seen in 20 feet of water. The snappers were up to 15 pounds and were easy to spot. But, the peacock groupers (the Fijian name we know for these fish) were twice the bulk of the snappers and seemed to be in every opening between every coral pinnacle.