Bula. Yesterday I went to Namena, a private small Island just 20 miles from here. We have heard of the first class diving in the reef around the Island. It was no hype. The reef is pristine, colonized by an amazing variety of soft corals and brilliant large schools of colorful tropical fish. When we arrived at the Island, we were greeted by the lovely Fijians that work and live there. There are only 6 bures (cottages) on the resort. It is very private and expensive. They served us a light breakfast of fruit and freshly baked delicious cinnamon rolls. the best I have ever had, and coffee. Then we proceeded to the first dive site, where I was paired with Sio, a Fijian dive master, dah best, and a gentleman from Oahu. We have common friends but we didn't know it until we started sharing stories. We had a second dive in a site called Titans and this was as good as it gets. Large schools of the tropical fishes were dancing a ballet like with the gorgonias (sea fans), and soft corals serving as a stage.
Lunch time we were served an ono lunch and then we went for our last dive of the day. In this one, a drift dive in very strong current, we saw large tuna, wahoo, schools of barracuda, small reef sharks and more tropical fish. But the most spectacular of all we, the divers, missed. While we were down, a whale shark came by the boat and the slowly swam around prior to going on in its voyage. It it is rare for one to be seen there. We were happy with our dive but disappointed that we missed the whale shark.
Our day in Namena ended with a Kava session where the Fijians played music and shared some stories with us. We may be taking Mauliola there, weather permitting, so Jerry will have an opportunity to dive the gorgeous reef. In the Island there is a colony of Boobies, some are the red footed boobies, which I had only seen in Palmyra. I will say bye for now and hopefully some of my photos will get thru. Aloha to all. CF