Diving Fiji with Crystal Divers, a return in 2001
Getting There
Getting to Fiji from Chicago means flying to Los Angeles, then taking a 10-hour flight to Nadi. Both Air Pacific (including a code share with Qantas) and Air New Zealand fly to Fiji with Air New Zealand providing the only first class option. The airport in Nadi is comparable to any American airport with virtually all of the shops, lounges and so on that one has learned to associate with a world class airport. In order to leave Fiji, a $20 Fiji exit tax must be paid in Fiji dollars or with a credit card. Unfortunately the currency exchange is on the other side of the immigration line so one must have exchanged money on the incoming side rather than waiting until one decides to leave if you prefer to pay cash rather than use your credit card. This is my second trip to Fiji, my first being in December of 2000, this one occurring in November 2001.
Crystal Divers is located a 2.5 hour taxi ride from Nadi north on King’s Highway followed by a 10 minute boat ride to Nananu-I Ra island, a beautiful 870 acre island. The drive is scenic during the day providing a small insight into Fijan culture and for the most part takes place over decent roads. Crystal Divers arranges transportation back and forth from the airport with no logistical difficulties encountered on either trip.
The people in Fiji are incredibly friendly offering a cheerful “Bula” whenever you meet. This is especially true in the airport from the duty free shop personnel who would love to sell you an item from their shop.
There is no sign of political unrest; state department warnings are highly over reactionary. The only sign of the military was the police who check speed limits on the roads.
Accommodations
On the previous trip to Fiji, the first night was spent at Wananavu Resort that is owned by John and Vonnie Gray, expatriate New Zealanders who retired to Fiji. We stayed in one of the two ocean front villas but the regular bures would be quite adequate if the villas are unavailable. Each of the villas has two bedrooms and is air conditioned with a living area that opens to a magnificent view of the ocean. We can highly recommend this resort and it is one of the accommodations that Crystal Divers serves regularly. (Crystal Divers is a 10-minute boat ride away). On this trip, I arrived early enough to spend the first and subsequent nights in a rental house (one week minimum stay) that had four or more bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, multiple dining areas (both inside and outside) and everything except air conditioning. While there were a couple of times that air conditioning would have been nice, the ceiling fan was more than adequate to remain comfortable. If you rent a house, Dan’s wife Alisi will cook breakfast and dinner in your house with input accepted as to type and quantity of meals. The downside to this house is that it is highly susceptible to insects, especially mosquitos, and I wished that I had brought multiple cans of insect repellent. There is, however, no malaria in Fiji.
Crystal Divers
Dan Grenier runs Crystal Divers (www.crystaldivers.com) with assistance from several highly proficient and personable dive masters/instructors/boat people. Diving is done from a 40 foot aluminum “jet boat” which has a cruising speed of 20 knots and which has a very small draft; this small draft is essential to get to certain sites as there are reef structures very close to the surface. It means, however, that the boat is a bit rough when the winds pick up and seas are other than calm. Dan’s boat is equipped with all the safety features normally desired including oxygen, radio, first aid, and a redundant dinghy in case of boat failure. There is ample shade and dry storage. The boat will handle eight divers as long as the number of photographers is very small but in my opinion, six should be the maximum for true comfort. It could handle four divers well if all of them are “heavy” photographers; however my requirements for comfort may be more than other people who are less picky. There is a fresh water shower for after dive removal of salt water. Three dives are available with lunch composed of wonderful sandwiches; water, juice, fruit, and Milo (a delicious hot chocolate type drink) after each dive.
There are some things that differentiate Crystal Divers from other dive operations: knowledge of dive sites, tides, currents, and reefs, service level (such as going down to check if the corals are open before sending divers down),assistance before, during, and after diving.
We chartered the entire boat. While this may be infeasible for many people, if you have a small group of two to six, I would recommend this option highly.
Dan is also equipped to offer very deep technical diving. While this was not of interest to us, Dan’s background includes a stint as a commercial diver. For those interested in certifications, Dan is a NAUI and PADI instructor.
Dive Sites
Fiji has some highly publicized and well known dive sites like E-6 (named for the amount of film that the live aboard dive boat, Nai’a, processes there) and Hi-8 (called that because of obvious video references) and these sites are superb and best done from live aboard dive boats. They can be accessed from land and Crystal divers goes there despite the one-hour each way transit time. These are excellent sites but not necessarily the best sites in Fiji, despite their notoriety. Crystal Divers is constantly looking for new sites and they have found some truly world-class sites. However, as with all dive sites in Fiji, you must go at the right time. If you go when the tide is totally slack there is no current and the soft corals are not blooming. If you go when the current is at the maximum, you will be unable to take photographs. So, ideally you want to go just after the current is starting to slack or as the current is coming up. Dan’s knowledge of currents and tides is an essential part of the service provided.
Water temperatures were in the low eighties (F) in late November. We had mostly sun with rain at some time every day or so. What is different on this trip in late November as opposed to last year's trip in late December is the relative lack of wind. Winds make the surface choppy, making the boat ride going to the sites a bit rough but less so on the return. If you have problems with seasickness, Bonine or Dramamine would be desirable. However many dive sites were on the protected side of the reef so once you get there, it is not so bad. We can recommend Black Magic Mountain, Mary’s Shark Pit, Purple Haze, Mount Mutiny, E-6, Steve’s Ultimate Wide Angle, and Monet’s Garden (also called Garden of Eden). There are macro sites available but these are mediocre at best and our interest was primarily wide angle. Visibility during their summer varied from a minimum of 45 feet to a maximum of about 70 feet.
Over our 30 dives, we saw: white tip and gray reef sharks, several schools of chevron barracuda, a modest school of jacks, parrotfish, medium size bump head parrotfish, lionfish, moray eels, lobster, trevally, pelagic triggerfish, trumpet fish, some nudibranchs , anemones with clownfish, dogtooth tuna, and various invertebrates. The aspect of diving Fiji that most differentiates it from other world class locations is the quantity of fish and the incredible soft corals! The only dive restrictions were to dive safely/responsibly. Since most dives involve currents, it is probably not a good location for beginning divers although there are some sites that would be suitable for intermediate divers.
Dan is constantly doing exploratory diving using a scooter so new dive sites are constantly being added to the already marvelous selection of those available. He guards the GPS of these sites so that they do not become over dived.
Bottom Line
Would I recommend Fiji and Crystal Divers? As a wide angle photo site and dive operation, I can highly recommend it. For macro photography there are better alternatives