G'Day, Folks,

Yesterday, Viv, Sylvia and myself flew out of Kadavu, the island to the
south of Viti Levu, (where Suva -  the capital of Fiji  - and Nadi are
located).  Sylvia and myself had to overnight in Nadi before our flight back
this morning, and Viv was catching a late night flight to Brisbane en route
to Papua New Guinea for a liveaboard trip. (The gal's a mermaid!!) :-)))

The rest of the group - Don (Ward), Pat, Donna; Joanna &Joe; Mary-Rose &
Joe; Crusty, Elisa & Dana; John Nitrox & Brooxie - leave on Tuesday (Fiji
time).

What follows is a very abridged version of the week and makes no allowance
for how good it was to meet Brooxie, Crusty, Dana, Elisa and John again,
and - after so many years - to finally meet Don and his group of
NED's-in-the-making! :-))))

Despite a lot of overcast and rain - very unseasonable for this time of the
year - it was a great week of fun.  We were the only guests - because it's a
small, limited numbers place - staying at the, 'Dive Kadavu Beach Resort'.
The bures are set back a few metres from the beach and hidden from view by
the lush foliage and the picture postcard coconut palms - all laden with
fruit - that line the sandy shore.  No TV, no radio, no telephones and no
newspapers - but two bars!  One - the 'Sunset Bar' - right on the beach; and
the other up in the main hut, by the dining room, lounge and veranda. :-)

Getting to Kadavu was an adventure in itself.  Light aircraft from Nadi take
about 45-minutes to cross to Kadavu.  Supposedly limited to 20-kg of luggage
per person, we needed two planes to get us there, where we were met by the
owner of the Resort.  A short walk from the end of the runway two boats were
waiting for us, one to carry the luggage and the other to take all of us on
the 10-minute trip along the coastline to the resort.  (No roads!) :-)

The bures are surrounded by trees; breadfruit, large mango trees, hibiscus,
coconut palms - that scare the crapper out of you when they shed a nut in
the middle of the night! - plantains, and lots of other green stuff with
vines and things dangling about!  :-)

Most of the dives are located within a 30-minute travelling distance from
the beach.  They have two twin-hulled, flat-platformed boats rigged for
diving.  They're stable, step-off entry with a ladder either side for easy
exit. The water temperature averaged 26+ degrees Celsius and the vis weren't
bad - usually about 25 - 30-metres.

Doubtless others will post the details of the dives, but we saw grey reef
sharks, blue ribbon eels, more different types of anemone and clown fish
than wot you could poke a stick at; Grey reef sharks; Titan triggerfish
<BWG>; mantis shrimps, flutemouths, trumpetfish, butterfly fish, surgeons,
wrasse, antheus, sea fans, crinoids, cowries, a black-banded sea-snake,
lionfish, feather stars, barracudas and turtles!  :-)

We dived a purpose sunk wreck of a tanker on one of the days; visited the
dive sites at the foot of 'Kong Mountain', an extinct volcanic peak that
featured - apparently - in the movie, "King Kong"; eat coconuts between
dives. (Actusally, everybody else ate coconuts!  Crusty and myself ate as
many of the coconut cookies -  baked for the 'tween dive breaks on the
deserted beaches - as we could get!)

On Friday 13th, we dived 'Evil Trench' - at the edge of the fringing reef.
Viv, Crusty, Donna and Kell, (the Instructor/DM) plummeted into the hole
that goes to about 65-metres to the sand, (according to previous log books!)
The rest of us swam around the plateau at about 35-metres and then ascended
up the sides of the bombies (coral heads) admiring the life there.  (We've
re-named the place where we dived as 'Slightly Naughty Bombie'.  It had a
better ring to it than 'Evil Trench' - even if it was Friday 13th!  :-)

We drank Kava; joined in some traditional dancing; had a 'Lovo' - where the
food is cooked in the ground, (the 'plates' were breadfruit leaves and the
utensils just fingers) - and on one afternoon we visited the local school,
where the kids put on a display of traditional dance and song for our
benefit. (Crusty, Elisa and Dana have been adopted by the village!) :-))))

It was a great week spent in the company of an outstanding group of people.
What's even better, I have a picture of a turtle that I'm - almost - proud
of!  :-))))

Strike