When one thinks of exotic places, a few locales come to mind: Santorini, the Mediterranean, Tahiti, Bali, and of course, Fiji. Fiji is one of those places that people will say, “It’s on my bucket list”, but without any real conviction that it is attainable. Asking “Where is Fiji”, might yield, “It’s somewhere out in the Pacific”, or “It’s far, far away”. In reality, it’s closer than you think. A 10-1/2 hour plane ride out of Los Angeles will get you to Nadi (pronounced “Nan-di”) International Airport in Fiji. Fiji Airways will take you there and back for under a thousand dollars.

Daryl Johnson and I recently had the opportunity to go to Viti Levu, the largest of the +322 islands that make up the country. We spent four days on the south side of the island, at a boutique property called Waidroka Bay Resort. There we did one day of white water rafting and seven dives, including a pair of world-class shark dives that featured several black tip, white tip, grey reef, silvertip, nurse, and over thirty bull sharks. Click here to see a short video of the experience. Fiji is known as the soft coral capital of the world and the dives did not disappoint. We dove on 60-foot-high pinnacle reefs in and around Beqa Lagoon and Pacific Harbor, as well as a drift dive and the previously mentioned shark dives.

The white-water rafting outing was intense, with several class-3, class-4, and occasional class-5 rapids to traverse. The scenery along the river was breath-taking. We navigated the upper and lower Navua River some 40 miles.

The resort also caters to surfers. as Pacific Harbor is a top surfing destination. About half the guests were there for the waves.

The resort itself was comfortably appointed and the dive operation was only a few steps from our bure (bungalow) door. Meals were cooked to order in the main building and featured a good selection of American and Fijian style cuisine.

After our stay in Waidroka Bay, we relocated to the north end of the island to Volivoli Beach Resort. Volivoli is best described as a luxury class resort and dive operation. We did eight dives with Volivoli and each one was better than the last. The sheer size of the soft corals, with sea fans thirty feet across, beguiles the imagination. Like Waidroka, there were numerous pinnacle coral formations, with thousands of tropical fish schooling about.

The Fijians are wonderful hosts, greeting all they meet with a hearty “Bula”, a universal word that means “Hello”, “Goodbye”, “How’s it going”, or just about anything else you want it to mean. They are happy people and genuinely interested in your well-being. At both resorts, within 24 hours the entire staff knew our names and treated us like old friends.

Daryl and I are considering Fiji as a possible international destination in 2021, with possible side trips to Hawaii, Auckland, or Sydney (Sydney is a 4-1/2 flight from Fiji). We are looking at two possible dates in 2021: April 22 to May 1, or November 4 to November 13. These dates are in the shoulder season, so the price is most reasonable. The water is a little colder, about 77 degrees, but the visibility is much better than in the warmer months. The cost as of this writing is projected at around $2,495 for 7 nights lodging, meals, diving, and airport transfers in Fiji, and around $975 for a direct flight out of LAX per person. Naturally, the size and length of side trips will change the pricing. Please drop us a note at ActiveDiversInfo@gamil.com and let us know if Fiji is on YOUR bucket list.

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Make sure and mark your calendars for the 2020 international trips now! More details will be coming out but here are the dates to save so you don’t miss out on these adventures:

• June 6-12, 2020: Blackbeard’s Sailboat Dive trip out of Nassau (No Hurricane Dorian damage where we are going!)


• July 18-25, 2020: Cayman Brac Beach Resort- This is a return to one of our favorite destinations with “valet” diving!


• December 5-12, 2020: Dive Cruise on the brand-new Enchanted Princess to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Roatan and Belize City

If Dan and I happen to find some other truly fantastic bargains to terrific dive locations you just might see more on the schedule!!

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Climate change is heating the oceans and altering their chemistry so dramatically that it is threatening seafood supplies, fueling cyclones and floods and posing profound risks to the hundreds of millions of people living along the coasts, according to a sweeping United Nations report issued on September 24 2019. This article provides a summary of some of the main findings and conclusions of that report.

The report concludes that the world’s oceans and ice sheets are under such severe stress that the fallout could prove difficult for humans to contain without steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Fish populations are already declining in many regions as warming waters throw marine ecosystems into disarray, according to the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists convened by the United Nations to guide world leaders in policy making.

“The oceans are sending us so many warning signals that we need to get emissions under control,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner, a marine biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and a lead author of the report. “Ecosystems are changing, food webs are changing, fish stocks are changing, and this turmoil is affecting humans.”

Hotter ocean temperatures, combined with rising sea levels, further imperil coastal regions, he report says, worsening a phenomenon that is already contributing to storms like Hurricane Harvey, which devastated Houston two years ago.

For decades, the oceans have served as a crucial buffer against global warming, soaking up roughly a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans emit from power plants, factories and cars, and absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped on Earth by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Without that protection, the land would be heating much more rapidly.

But the oceans themselves are becoming hotter, more acidic and less oxygen-rich as a result, according to the report. If humans keep pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an increasing rate, marine ecosystems already facing threats from seaborne plastic waste, unsustainable fishing practices and other man-made stresses will be further strained.

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We return to the Blue Heron Bridge dive site at Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach for our annual end-of-season event. This site is world-famous, named the Best Shore Dive in the U.S. by Scuba Diving Magazine. There is so much to see here just a flat, easy walk from shore. Even though this is the Intracoastal Waterway and not the ocean, swift currents moving through daily ensure the marine life is always varied and abundant. Seas are normally calm and clear. We have seen bait balls of silversides, huge yellow cushion starfish, batfish, frogfish, octopus, eels, numerous crabs and abundant schools of tropical fish including Atlantic spadefish. Check out our video from our kick-off dive in the spring.

The fun begins at 9:00 a.m. when divers meet near the picnic area just west of the blue awning over the playground. At 12:00 noon we’ll fire up the grill for hamburgers, hot dogs, salads and all the fixin’s. The event will conclude with a raffle of fabulous dive-related prizes. So we have enough food for everyone, please RSVP to Lon at (305) 251-4975 or lon@diverlon.com by November 9.

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The Women Divers Hall of Fame™ (WDHOF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring and raising awareness of the contributions of outstanding women divers. WDHOF provides educational, mentorship, financial, and career opportunities to the diving community throughout the world. Each year, WDHOF awards scholarships and training grants that provide financial and educational support to individuals of all ages, particularly those who are preparing for professional careers that involve diving.

Applications are now open for 2020 awards. The deadline for receipt of applications is October 31, 2019,at midnight U.S. Eastern Daylight Time.

Click here for more information.

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