And you thought you'd got rid of me....

So, same old excuses, it's been a while, but I have been back in the UK for 6 weeks since christmas, having a wonderful time catching up with family and friends, who kept me busy even when they were fed up of me ;O) I've returned to Fiji, and am starting my second year at Fiji Hideaway - hurrah!! There are even a few people I have seen again - Lesley and Mike (well done Mike for completing your open water course, look after Lesley!) and David. All the staff at Diveaway Fiji and Fiji Hideaway are still enjoying telling me how fat and white I am - apparently it is a compliment in Fiji! I blame the cheese, so good...

My first week back I had several awesome dives on Stingray, I have my favourite rock where I regularly find scorpion leaf fish, durban dancing shrimps, cleaner shrimp, and snowflake and moray eels, which I am keeping a secret... I also found a robust ghost pipefish - one of those 'it would be really cool if that piece of algae was something more exciting - OH MY GOD IT IS' moments. My first time divers were suitably unimpressed that I made them spend 5 minutes looking at a small brown not much moving thing - little do they know they may never see one again! A few days later it was a snub nose pipefish, which was still there the next day - the fish book says its cryptic, so I'm super happy! And mantis shrimps galore, if you're willing to stay still long enough. Fantastic to be back :O)

I then spent a week at Waitabu, a village on Taveuni, doing fish, invertebrate and substrate surveys with the local villagers and other volunteers, under the guidance of Helen Sykes from Resort Support. Waitabu is a locally managed Marine Protected Area that has been in place for 13 years. The villagers recognised that their reef was degraded and the fish stocks were depleted, and requested help in setting up the reserve to ensure fish for their children's futures, initially funded by several organisations. Since then, the village run the project as an eco tourist venture, offering some fabulous snorkeling in the protected area - and it's working! Reef health and fish stocks are up in the protected area, meaning that the fishing grounds have a source of new life, keeping the villagers fed! You can stay in the village in a home stay (you'll be fat and full of kava by the time you leave, the ladies love to feed you!) or you can camp right on the beach front - it is beautiful! Three other villages in the same area of Taveuni also have similar eco tourism projects, and you can hike to the beautiful waterfalls in Tavora Bouma, walk along the coast at Lavena or disappear into the rainforest at Vidawa.

My last week has been spent back down at good old Mango Bay, enjoying the swell that has barely been breaking on the top of the reef. Great conditions and 30m viz on Snapcrackle and Mango Down. Had much fun with Frans and Marincka who had 3 great dives out on the reef, with hawkshead turtles and white tip reef sharks. Ashley, our latest Real Gap open water to divemaster candidate, has been working hard at his advanced and rescue courses, and will hopefully be a rescue diver by the end of tomorrow :O) We did his deep dive on Wonderwall - a vertical wall, covered in soft coral, sea whips and feather stars, and I managed to find a longnose hawkfish on one of the fans at the mouth of the giant trevally cave - another first for me! I must have got my critter spotting goggles back...

More soon, I have heard that there is a leopard shark on Bombay and my mission is to find it... I'll let you know!

Claire

Well done Diveaway boys!!!

Hah, surprise!!! Its less than a week since my last blog....

A real mix this week of certified divers and first time divers, so we got to visit a lot of our less dived and more advanced sites. I say we, I mean Alex and the boys as I am still full of cold.... Bordello had some fabulous vis earlier this week, with turtles and sharks making themselves apparent, and we had white tips and grey reefs on Fanny Hill yesterday. Just one solitary barracuda though, the currents were not favourable for the big school we sometimes see.

We've been keeping the guests at Hideaway pool amused this week with our rescue course antics - luckily no one has called in the emergency services as per our yelled instructions... ChiChi and Mere have been doing an awesome job, and I am only slightly hoarse from all the shouting. Mere had been threatened with no food at the Diveaway lovo if she hadn't finished her rescue by Saturday, so she spent the whole day sulking, as there was no way we were going to get finished... We couldn't be that mean to her tho!!! She did spend the whole evening complaining about having a sore ear, so we will see if she turns up for work on Monday - any bets? ChiChi is an excellent panicker and should make herself available for all rescue courses - she managed to give Mere a few good dunks and she is a tiny lady!

The lovo was a whole lot of fun, with Tuks and Epi doing the bulk of the cooking. Lovo is a traditional way to cook food in Fiji, with stones being heated up prior to food being put on top and buried for several hours.... Just like in the UK, boys do the occasional outside cooking for parties with lots of fuss, girls do the rest (and always the tidying up!). We even managed to liberate Damos from Mango Bay for the evening, but 5 hours later he was getting withdrawl symptoms and had to go back... I can highly recommend lovo lamb and chicken, and sweet potato is just lush! There is a sign, on King's Road north of Nadi pointing towards the 'lovu crematorium'... My imagination was conjuring up images of food being cooked on top of gently smouldering dead people, until the taxi driver pointed out that lovu, with a u at the end, means crematorium in Fijian...

The lovo was a very late celebration for Te and Tuks getting their Divemaster certifications through from PADI. With busy family lives it's difficult to get us all together at once, and even last night Salo was missing as he caught chicken pox off his nephew - NOT small pox as Alex keeps telling everyone.... So massive belated congratulations to the Te and Tuks, big man hugs and slaps - you the man!!!

So a relaxing Sunday catching up on Facebook and only 18 more sleeps til my family come to see me, exciting times!!!! Rescue update coming soon!