Fiji Underwater Photo Workshop 2024
A Colorful Thanksgiving in Fiji
A Bluewater Travel Underwater Photo Workshop visiting the stunning Bligh Waters in Fiji, including Nukurauvula, Vatu-i-ra, Wakaya, Gau, Namena, Vuya, UndeNAI'Able & Sea Mounts
Words and Images by Mike Chiado
Our Bluewater Travel Photo Workshop group arrived in Fiji at different times, with some opting to relax for a few days on the islands before the trip. In contrast, most guests arrived just one day early to acclimatize. For those of us coming from the West Coast of the States, one direct flight brought us right to Nadi International Airport in Fiji, the pickup location for the Nai’a Liveaboard. On the morning of embarkation, a large bus was sent to the various hotels and resorts to retrieve our eager party, and by mid-afternoon, we were assembling scuba and camera gear on the Nai’a.
The Nai’a Cruise Directors, Bel and Mike, who’ve led trips on the boat for the last three years, were masters of anticipating our questions and had us squared away quickly. They told us that the season was changing with warmer waters arriving and that we’d see fish that hadn’t been seen in a while. As we would find out in the coming days, unexpected encounters included Pontoh’s pygmy seahorse, ghost pipefish, endemic red-tailed flasher wrasse, and manta rays.
Weather affected the first day of the trip, with strong winds forcing the Nai’a to seek a sheltered area at Nukurauvula. With the winds blocked, we had the opportunity for check-out dives to trim weights and test cameras. Nukurauvula’s three dive sites provided ample space for our group of sixteen. Photo opportunities included both macro—nudibranchs and fish portraits, as well as wide-angle swim-throughs draped in large sea fans. Two guests even saw a manta ray! Our last dive of the day was canceled due to extreme wind, so Trip Leader Mike Chiado did an extended workshop session with the guests, covering dive etiquette and photography fundamentals.
The workshop was followed by our first dinner on the boat. The chef was a master and served tasty dishes for the many varied dietary requests. As we would come to find out, each dinner was accompanied by freshly baked bread, soup or salad, entree, dessert, and very decent Australian wine.
Waking after the first night onboard, we found the Nai’a had moved to Vatu-I-Ra Marine Reserve for the second day of diving. Before the first dive at 7 am, the kitchen offered cereals, fruit, and bread, plus unlimited use of the coffee machine.
We found currents were, at times, challenging for the morning dives, which worked to our advantage for our first glimpse of Fiji’s wonderful soft coral. The colors were amazing when lit up with our underwater strobes exhibiting oranges, reds, pinks, purples, and yellows. We learned the trick to handling currents around the coral columns, called bommies. As we approached the bommies, we tried to find the area where the current split to pass on either side. Finding the mild current at the split allowed for the best photo opportunities. In addition to the specular soft corals and tons of orange and purple anthias fish, a turtle, and a chevron manta ray were spotted.
Following the first morning dive, a cooked breakfast was served at 8:30 am, based on orders placed the evening before. The remainder of the day’s schedule would be the same throughout the trip: second dive at 10:00 am; lunch at 11:30 am, third dive at 1:00 pm, snacks and workshop at 2:30 pm, dive four at 4:00 pm; dinner at 6:00 pm and the optional night dive at 7:30 pm. Delicious meals and great dives filled the day.
Overnight, the Nai’a moved to a favorite manta ray spot. With the changing of the seasons, the manta interactions were less than expected. The morning dives provided one group with a 20-minute visit from a manta named Clarita and a quick pass-by from a new manta, which we named Manta Del Ray. There were also grey reef sharks, turtles, big tunas, and five humphead wrasse hanging out together. The afternoon dives provided the option for macro photography at Vatu Vai. Photographers found three Pontoh’s pygmy seahorses, freckled sea hares, semicircle angelfish, decorated goby sea spiders, and blue dragon nudibranch, as well as several other nudies.
The following evening, the Nai’a moved overnight further south to Gau Island. The crossing was smooth, and we started the day with two dives at Nigali Passage. We were treated to schools of bigeye barracuda, hundreds upon hundreds of snappers (close to the surface, allowing the snorkelers in our group to enjoy), fifteen grey reef sharks, a sea krait, and a shy octopus. The photographers were enamored by the cabbage patch coral even with the challenge of the current. The outer ridge of the passage had good visibility and was full of fire dartfish that were in groups of two to four. One guest managed to get a special shot of a very tiny juvenile leopard wrasse.
The late afternoon provided an opportunity to visit a Fijian village, Somosomo, on Gau Island. The traditional village is not a tourist stop but a small community that the Nai’a tries to stop at on longer trips to provide support and gifts. Our group toured the village of a couple dozen buildings, including a school and church. The villagers gathered at their meeting hall to welcome us with a kava ceremony followed by singing and dancing. All guests participated in this remarkable visit to discover Fijian culture and customs.
The creatures spotted in the southern area include golden mantis shrimps, leaf scorpionfish, ribbon eel, whitecap shrimp gobies, square spot anthias, decorated dartfish, Morrison’s dragonets, nudibranchs, ornate ghost pipefish, red-tailed flasher wrasse, grey reef sharks, barracudas, sweetlips and an absurd number of fusiliers and anthias.
Heading back north, a long but smooth crossing brought us to the Namena Marine Reserve for two days of jaw-dropping dives at the Tetons I and II, Two Thumbs Up, Kansas, Magic Mushroom, School House, the Arch, and Purple Hills. With challenging currents at The Arch, our photographers needed a bit of creativity to handle things—staying low and tucked behind bommies where possible. Grey reef sharks, barracudas, and bigeye trevally were everywhere at the plateau of The Arch. Passing through The Arch leads to Purple Hills if you play the currents correctly. Purple Hills featured many unusual and beautiful palette surgeonfish plus clown triggerfish, orange band surgeonfish, and decorated dartfish. The discoveries kept coming with a nesting area for titan and yellow margin triggerfish on the backside of Purple Hills, as well as some large groupers resting on the reef. Sensational diving!
The Schoolhouse presented much milder currents but was still full of colorful hard and soft corals with fish everywhere. One guest commented that Schoolhouse was better than the best dive in Raja! Snappers, barracudas, surgeonfish, bannerfish, sharks, three eagle rays, and the ever-present orange and magenta anthias.
Kansas, still in Namena Marine Reserve, didn’t disappoint divers. Hundreds of long-faced emperor fish mingled peacefully with the divers and surrounded the dive site, with grey reef sharks coming and going. However, Pontoh's pygmy seahorses were the main act, with five spotted on the second day there! The guides were able to find these tiny, tiny creatures, and if not for the guides, the photographers would have never spotted them. The wide-angle photographers didn’t lack for soft corals and a dolphin bouncing from one spot to the next.
The Nai’a’ crew held a kava party on the first night at the reserve with much music and, of course, kava drinks. The crew had much more energy than the guests and kept going long after our tired divers gave in retiring for the night.
After two days at the Namena Marine Reserve, the Nai’a moved to Vuya. The first dive challenged with strong currents but by the second dive, the water was almost still. The soft corals reflected the currents by inflating like balloons in strong currents and hanging limp with the mild currents. We spent our time at two sites, Cat’s Meow and Humann Nature, the latter named for Paul Humann of fish and critter ID book fame. The sites were a little milky due to coral spawning, but the slight loss of visibility didn’t impede the enjoyment of the nudis, pipefish, tuna, mackerels, false bannerfish, butterflies, anthias, and a turtle spotted during the dives.
At the UndeNAI’Able dive site (notice the Nai’a name buried in the name), the visibility was also milky. The site consisted of a reef and pinnacle. The reef structure was notched with narrow passages opening to the sky and decorated with large sea fans and hard corals on the walls. Behind the larger reef was a series of small and shallow pinnacles that we meandered around, capturing the photographic opportunities, including carpets of anemones sheltering endemic Fiji anemone fish. A storm developed and required that we move right after the day’s fourth dive. The storm didn’t affect dinner, and the crew shielded the open deck areas with roll-down windowed coverings.
The last full day of diving brought us to the iconic Fiji dive sites of Mount Mutiny and E6. Comments from guests included that Raja’s hard corals have nothing on Fiji. The hard coral vibrance, variety, and density are outstanding, and with the bright sunshine, it was the perfect combination. Add hundreds of oceanic triggerfish, huge tunas and schooling barracudas, and you have yourself the perfect day.
Our group requested to revisit Coral Corner, in Vatu-i-ra, on the return leg of the trip. The crew on the Nai’a were happy to accommodate the revisit, but we encountered strong currents at Coral Corner, and half the group opted for Charlie’s Garden with milder conditions. The other half of the group voted for Coral Corner with the strong current and had a slingshot dive. Our guide moved the group between niches out of the main water movement, but those who needed to explore beyond the niches of calm flew with the current and surfaced a little wide-eyed.
The last day of diving provided time for just three dives instead of the usual four or five. With milder conditions, Coral Corner has dived again at our request. The first dive was a little milder than the slingshot experienced the day before. The dive was fantastic, full of fish and vibrant with colors. For the second dive, four guests decided to go back to Coral Garden and experience another fantastic session. The remainder of the group chose to repeat Mellow Yellow, which has the rare combination of mellow and yellow. Signs of “mind-blowing” were passed around at the end as we floated around with clouds of fish. The last dive of the trip was around a bird sanctuary island of Vatu-I-Ra Island. Gradual slopes, rubble, and hard corals were absolutely teeming with life. There were turtles, reef sharks, juvenile sweetlips, multiple species of anemonefish sharing the same host, and three eagle rays. Bright sunshine awaited us on the surface, and we concluded a specular dive trip in Fiji.
The remainder of the day was spent preparing to depart the following day and processing images. As dinner approached, guests submitted photos and videos for the farewell slide show and contest. After another great dinner, the contestant’s photos (no videos were submitted) were shown along with the selection of the top three.
Departing on the morning of the last day is always bittersweet. We were sad to leave our new friends on the boat, offset by the desire to travel back to family and friends at home. The same large bus ferried us to hotels, resorts, or the airport as needed for our next travel steps. Fiji, and the Nai’a are on my list for a return visit.
Our enthusiastic group
Learn about our last trip to Fiji.
Recommended Scuba Gear
- 3mm wetsuit. Browse Wetsuits at Bluewater Photo
- SMB. The Mares Dive Marker Buoy is our choice!
- Skins. Check out these sharkskins.
- Snorkel gear. We recommend the Cressi ZS1 & Corsica Snorkeling Package
- Travel BCD. Read our Best Travel BCD Article
- Travel regulator. We suggest Mares Ultra 62X Dive Regulator
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