jean-michel cousteau | Pink Stripes

24-Nov, Tuesday-Suva, Fiji

When I first read the description for this dive, I thought “oh, heck no”. Once I was in Fiji, I got swept up in the group-think and it sounded like a blast. Then I found out I was wait-listed and was a bit sad. Persistence is the key and I got in. 😛

So what was the dive? A shark encounter. Staff led us down to almost 100 feet where we knelt and watched a diver feed chunks of tuna to giant fish and sharks. We then went up to 30 feet and did the same, just different variety of fish and sharks. For the second dive, we went down to 60 feet and saw several bull sharks, all about 10 to 12 feet long. It was really cool.

This is giant trevally. There were a bunch of them and they were humongous. You can’t tell with the picture but others were estimating them to be in the 150 to 200 pound range.

Reef shark (above), which you see at the higher depths. They are harmless.

Uh-oh, bull shark. These suckers were huge. And a little scary.You see them at the lower depths.

How many bull sharks do you see? 😛

25-Nov, Wednesday Savusavu, Fiji

Getting ready for the day’s dives. It was rainy in the morning, but cleared up and was sunny later on.

Pretty, pretty coral.

This is kind of funny. A remora kept trying to attach itself to me and clean me. I’d feel it, swipe it away, and it would come back. You can see it on my cheek. I had little marks on my cheek and neck after the dive.

We went to Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Fiji Islands Resort for our surface intervals between dives. Best place for a surface interval (usually you are just stuck on the dive boat). It’s also the place where my friend Dom got married 9in 2005). Isn’t it a gorgeous location for a wedding?

27-Nov, Friday Vava’u, Tonga

The dives I did in Tonga were my favorites of the trip not only because I dove with Jean-Michel Cousteau, but because the the water was so clear, deep, and open. The fish were plentiful and the coral was simply amazing. I would love to got back to Tonga for a month during whale season (it’s right on the path of whale migration) and dive everyday.

Vava’u, Tonga is also the first place on earth to see the sunrise. Isn’t that cool?

It looks like Jean-Michel is speaking to us about something serious like climate change or shark-finning, but I think we were talking about King Kong.