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Hi Katie,

We have gotten to know a few cruisers here in Viani Bay and have also met a local identity called Jack Fisher, he's a classic Fijian with some European background somewhere. Good news is that Jack knows all the premium dive sites around the Somosomo Strait which divides the large Island of Taveuni & the Northern Island of the Fiji group, Vanua Levu. We hear about these waters having two of the worlds top 10 dive sites and you think, how come ?
We got together on a local catamaran & went out to the reef to a dive called the " White Wall " I was lucky to dive with a man from Finland, a woman from Holland, an American & a Brit ( all sailors ). I haven't used my scuba gear for a while & haven't really tried my new regulator.
We dropped off the Cat into a reasonable current, the Finn signalled us all down into this cave system, about 10 metres down. We dropped trough this hole, ringed with fan corals, white corals and large fern type corals with gorgeous colours and hundreds of fish milling around. The cave turned into a long vertical shaft, described by some as a vertical lava tube. It was big enough to drive the Jeep down it really, & had lots of side chambers, all crammed with fish looking out as we were looking out. After some time, you drop out the bottom of this tube at 30 metres and onto a wall covered in white soft fans, not really coral, more like large anenomies I think. In between these were purple fans and lots of conventional anenomies and an amazing array of equally colourful fish, very tame. We worked our way up this wall and through another cave into a flat area to rest & enjoy the beauty of this place. Big grouper in the caves and colours everywhere. The most amazing 35 minutes I have ever spent, what a dive!
We had lunch & went to another site called the cabbage patch which we could all snorkel. This too was incredible & different, very healthy corals and these large green " Cabbages " of coral about 1 metre across in a huge garden at about 10 metres depth. We have seen some before, smaller, isolated & brown but this is such a pristine reef system, so clean & untouched. Some of the large fan corals we swam to were up to 2 metres across, always lots of fish around. Saw a white tipped shark, not interested in us.

All in all, a fabulous day in a gorgeous place.

All is well on board, Marg's cold is gone. We are all swimming lots and are heading for Taveuni tomorrow ( across the Somosomo strait )& then off to explore more of the islands North of here, Kioa & Rabi ( Rambi ) hopefully Budd Reef & Northern Taveuni and it's rainforest.
We will then be working our way back towards Savusavu to meet with Kathleen & Capitano Gildo, can't wait.

Thanks for your dive tanks Phil & also your, Ian & Dave's scuba diving inspiration years ago, it is a beautiful world under the sea for those that choose to venture.