blueh2oboy
01-05-2004, 06:19 PM
Second stop: Fiji
With a three day layover in Fiji I was all to happy to test the waters and my ability in the 30 meter visibility off the Fijian islands. Waking up the first day, I quietly left the beautiful sleeping woman beside me and scanned the exposed reef and found a spot through the waves that looked like I could get in to make a dive. The ensuing 200 meter walk out there to the waves proved to be harder than the actual entry in to the water and I was all too happy to feel the coolness of the Pacific Ocean on my skin. The entry point I made was a small cut in the reef that fed into 80 feet of water only a stones throw from shore. As with every such spot in the south Pacific it was owned and patrolled by a very keen bunch of Reef sharks who did not enjoy my presence nor I there’s, as there was definitely not enough room for all of us in 4 feet of water and a such a small section of the reef. Thankfully deepwater is close and the drop is from 4 feet to 60 feet. Sawtail surgeons dominated the scene of hundreds of fish covering every rock and hole along the edge and my search for dinner began.
There is so much going on in the waters of the tropics that you really have to train the eye to look for the fish that matter while also being aware of the movements of all the others as indications of things to come. With up to a half a dozen sharks around me at any given time I was extremely picky and patient not wanting to piss any one off and also wanting very much to be able to get back ashore to enjoy the other perks of the trip.
Out in the deeper water I found a school of small mackerel and despite their perfect size and skittish behavior no big pelagics came to feed on them and I settled for shooting a 10 kilo Trevally that had been in the area. With him on the float I started the hunt for one of the tastiest and most elusive little buggars of the reef. Pearl perch (Mu for hawaiians) are a fish that I have seen plenty of but never hunted until by chance I cooked one up last year while in Micronesia and fell in love with them. With their huge eyes, small size and general awareness of divers they are a challenge to hunt and made even more difficult as they prefer the deeper waters. With my Apex 140 in hand I made a series of dives to 20 meters and tried to sneak up within range of a school of 2-4 kilo ones that I had seen earlier. There is no hope for these little fish with this gun. After 20 minutes I had two beautiful ones that had no idea what hit them and had obviously never felt the Wrath of the Rabitech. In through the surf and the shark gauntlet, free and clear with dinner and enough for the cook as well. Two fillets for breakfast and the story replayed itself with a dive every morning and afternoon during the low tide with almost identical results and shark encounters each time.
The second day I convinced my girlfriend to come out with me as the waves were very calm and I promised it would be worth it. For once the sharks cooperated and we saw more fish than I had seen on the previous dives. I stalked a pair of small Napoleon Wrasse for a few dives and when I was finally within range decided against shooting them preferring to turn and hunt some long nose emperors that were playing with me. The dive ended with a good sized long nose and another Pearl Perch of a few kilos and a very happy girlfriend. The water was incredibly clear and the seascape nothing short of spectacular with huge drops and tons of fish. We ventured out in to the blue water in waters deep enough that on a 25 meter dive I could still not make out the bottom. There are plenty of pelagics out there but location is very important and with nothing but shore access and my own set of cojones I was limited in my diving opportunities.
That night I waited till the tide had dropped out and walked a few kilometers down the beach to a massive cut in the reef that look like it might hold some deep water and possibly some pelagics. The entry was easy stepping from knee deep water into 50 feet straight down. Another spectacular drop off as expected but the visibility from the dropping tide was down to only 6 meters. Thinking that the best diving would be near the mouth of the cut I swam steadily out along the inner dropoff and watched as the occasional reef shark passed by me on his patrol of the edge. So far I had found that the sharks tended towards the shallower water and would pretty much leave you alone if you went out a little deeper. As I neared the open ocean the waves increased in size and I started to see some good sized trevally but also noticed that the occasional one or two sharks had turned into an entourage of 6-10 and most of them were in the 2.5+ meter range. Combined with the increasing current and the dropping visibility I made a smart decision to turn around just as I hit a spot in the reef that was swirling with at least 20 big sharks. Swimming deeper got rid of the foamy water but the sharks followed dutifully at my fin tips, in front of me and everywhere else I looked. What fun!! Thankfully I didn’t have any fish to excite them even more and after 10 minutes of kicking hard I was back in the relative safety of the Reef Pass. Once my breathing slowed I started diving again and over the next hour saw plenty of good fish. I would dive down along the edge with my float line coiled in my hands and swim into the shade of the drop off and then slip silently along at about 15 meters searching the cracks and crevices while also keeping a close eye on the passing trevally and hoping a mackerel would eventually show. In this way the first fish I took was a small Brassy Trevally that I quickly dispatched with my knife and put on my float and away from me. A little later I was working a rocky outcrop and saw a movement at the edge of my vis on the other side of a small cut in the reef. The fish materialized into a small trout in the 8 kilo range and as I waited he swam slowly across and around the corner from me completely unaware of my presence. Keeping in the shadows I moved around the side of the rock to find him still waiting unawares facing the other way. Whoosh! The shaft released and I dropped the gun to watch him flail around unable to escape with my float line wrapped underneath the ledges I had been hiding in. Untangled and on the float I ended the day with a gift for my Fijian cook by shooting a nice sized parrot which would be greatly appreciated. The walk back with my gear and fish was hell until I saw a beautiful blonde haired girl strolling towards me with a big smile on her face and a cold beer in each hand, immediately the load was lightened and the stoke of being in Fiji returned, I love vacation!
Last morning and I was keen to try another spot and get some good shots in for the people that worked at the hotel we were staying at that had taken care of us. I jumped in to a small cut in the reef that was only 3 meters wide, 12 meters deep, and was a full 50 meters from the ocean. As soon as the foam cleared I saw tons of fish and despite the numbers of whitetip reef sharks there weren’t many others to speak of so I was straight into the fish. The first big hole I dove into had a school of a few dozen Mangrove Jacks and shot three 6 kilo ones out of it before leaving to try and capture some of the other fish I knew would be around. The 110 gun I had brought worked perfectly and even after getting bashed up in the rocks it had but a few scratches on it that always make for good battle scars and stories. The sharks had started to get a little braver as well and every fish I shot they would be right there trying to knick it from me so I swam out in to the deeper water and way from them. Out to the open water and the fish were everywhere, trevally, trout, Emperors, Perch, Wrasse and Parrots. In 20 meters I found a good sized coronation and made a dive on the opposite side of the reef from him and waited as curiosity overcame him and he peaked over the top only to receive a piece of steel through the head and a free trip to the surface. While I was trying to get him on the stringer two silver tip reef sharks made their appearance and I swam slowly in with the fish in my hands until they lost interest and departed. Releasing the float I continued to wards shore only to feel a significant weight on my float line and to see whitewater where my fish were tethered to my float. I pulled like hell and kept swimming in and after a few minutes I was back in the cut and the tug of war ended. Inspecting the float I found that only one of the jacks had been bitten and even then he was still in one piece. The sharks kept their distance and as I reached the hole with all the fish I had found earlier the float and fish drifted on top of the drop into the shallows and safety. Three dives into the hole and I had just found a significantly heavier Jack when I was greeted by my two silvertip friends who were both snapping their jaws and looking especially fat. A few seconds later they started taking turns rushing me and I said screw it and figured I would cut my losses and go home happy with the fish I already had. Standing up in the 2 foot deep water on top of the drop I pulled my float to me to find the bastards had already been up there as well and taken all 4 of my beautiful fish as payment for visiting their waters. Damn! So with nothing to show but a tall story for the morning and a chewed up stringer I had to make the walk of shame back to the beach, happy for such a wonderful chance to spear here and even happier to have only donated a few fish to the taxman and nothing attached to my body that would have been missed much more.
Next stop Australia!
With a three day layover in Fiji I was all to happy to test the waters and my ability in the 30 meter visibility off the Fijian islands. Waking up the first day, I quietly left the beautiful sleeping woman beside me and scanned the exposed reef and found a spot through the waves that looked like I could get in to make a dive. The ensuing 200 meter walk out there to the waves proved to be harder than the actual entry in to the water and I was all too happy to feel the coolness of the Pacific Ocean on my skin. The entry point I made was a small cut in the reef that fed into 80 feet of water only a stones throw from shore. As with every such spot in the south Pacific it was owned and patrolled by a very keen bunch of Reef sharks who did not enjoy my presence nor I there’s, as there was definitely not enough room for all of us in 4 feet of water and a such a small section of the reef. Thankfully deepwater is close and the drop is from 4 feet to 60 feet. Sawtail surgeons dominated the scene of hundreds of fish covering every rock and hole along the edge and my search for dinner began.
There is so much going on in the waters of the tropics that you really have to train the eye to look for the fish that matter while also being aware of the movements of all the others as indications of things to come. With up to a half a dozen sharks around me at any given time I was extremely picky and patient not wanting to piss any one off and also wanting very much to be able to get back ashore to enjoy the other perks of the trip.
Out in the deeper water I found a school of small mackerel and despite their perfect size and skittish behavior no big pelagics came to feed on them and I settled for shooting a 10 kilo Trevally that had been in the area. With him on the float I started the hunt for one of the tastiest and most elusive little buggars of the reef. Pearl perch (Mu for hawaiians) are a fish that I have seen plenty of but never hunted until by chance I cooked one up last year while in Micronesia and fell in love with them. With their huge eyes, small size and general awareness of divers they are a challenge to hunt and made even more difficult as they prefer the deeper waters. With my Apex 140 in hand I made a series of dives to 20 meters and tried to sneak up within range of a school of 2-4 kilo ones that I had seen earlier. There is no hope for these little fish with this gun. After 20 minutes I had two beautiful ones that had no idea what hit them and had obviously never felt the Wrath of the Rabitech. In through the surf and the shark gauntlet, free and clear with dinner and enough for the cook as well. Two fillets for breakfast and the story replayed itself with a dive every morning and afternoon during the low tide with almost identical results and shark encounters each time.
The second day I convinced my girlfriend to come out with me as the waves were very calm and I promised it would be worth it. For once the sharks cooperated and we saw more fish than I had seen on the previous dives. I stalked a pair of small Napoleon Wrasse for a few dives and when I was finally within range decided against shooting them preferring to turn and hunt some long nose emperors that were playing with me. The dive ended with a good sized long nose and another Pearl Perch of a few kilos and a very happy girlfriend. The water was incredibly clear and the seascape nothing short of spectacular with huge drops and tons of fish. We ventured out in to the blue water in waters deep enough that on a 25 meter dive I could still not make out the bottom. There are plenty of pelagics out there but location is very important and with nothing but shore access and my own set of cojones I was limited in my diving opportunities.
That night I waited till the tide had dropped out and walked a few kilometers down the beach to a massive cut in the reef that look like it might hold some deep water and possibly some pelagics. The entry was easy stepping from knee deep water into 50 feet straight down. Another spectacular drop off as expected but the visibility from the dropping tide was down to only 6 meters. Thinking that the best diving would be near the mouth of the cut I swam steadily out along the inner dropoff and watched as the occasional reef shark passed by me on his patrol of the edge. So far I had found that the sharks tended towards the shallower water and would pretty much leave you alone if you went out a little deeper. As I neared the open ocean the waves increased in size and I started to see some good sized trevally but also noticed that the occasional one or two sharks had turned into an entourage of 6-10 and most of them were in the 2.5+ meter range. Combined with the increasing current and the dropping visibility I made a smart decision to turn around just as I hit a spot in the reef that was swirling with at least 20 big sharks. Swimming deeper got rid of the foamy water but the sharks followed dutifully at my fin tips, in front of me and everywhere else I looked. What fun!! Thankfully I didn’t have any fish to excite them even more and after 10 minutes of kicking hard I was back in the relative safety of the Reef Pass. Once my breathing slowed I started diving again and over the next hour saw plenty of good fish. I would dive down along the edge with my float line coiled in my hands and swim into the shade of the drop off and then slip silently along at about 15 meters searching the cracks and crevices while also keeping a close eye on the passing trevally and hoping a mackerel would eventually show. In this way the first fish I took was a small Brassy Trevally that I quickly dispatched with my knife and put on my float and away from me. A little later I was working a rocky outcrop and saw a movement at the edge of my vis on the other side of a small cut in the reef. The fish materialized into a small trout in the 8 kilo range and as I waited he swam slowly across and around the corner from me completely unaware of my presence. Keeping in the shadows I moved around the side of the rock to find him still waiting unawares facing the other way. Whoosh! The shaft released and I dropped the gun to watch him flail around unable to escape with my float line wrapped underneath the ledges I had been hiding in. Untangled and on the float I ended the day with a gift for my Fijian cook by shooting a nice sized parrot which would be greatly appreciated. The walk back with my gear and fish was hell until I saw a beautiful blonde haired girl strolling towards me with a big smile on her face and a cold beer in each hand, immediately the load was lightened and the stoke of being in Fiji returned, I love vacation!
Last morning and I was keen to try another spot and get some good shots in for the people that worked at the hotel we were staying at that had taken care of us. I jumped in to a small cut in the reef that was only 3 meters wide, 12 meters deep, and was a full 50 meters from the ocean. As soon as the foam cleared I saw tons of fish and despite the numbers of whitetip reef sharks there weren’t many others to speak of so I was straight into the fish. The first big hole I dove into had a school of a few dozen Mangrove Jacks and shot three 6 kilo ones out of it before leaving to try and capture some of the other fish I knew would be around. The 110 gun I had brought worked perfectly and even after getting bashed up in the rocks it had but a few scratches on it that always make for good battle scars and stories. The sharks had started to get a little braver as well and every fish I shot they would be right there trying to knick it from me so I swam out in to the deeper water and way from them. Out to the open water and the fish were everywhere, trevally, trout, Emperors, Perch, Wrasse and Parrots. In 20 meters I found a good sized coronation and made a dive on the opposite side of the reef from him and waited as curiosity overcame him and he peaked over the top only to receive a piece of steel through the head and a free trip to the surface. While I was trying to get him on the stringer two silver tip reef sharks made their appearance and I swam slowly in with the fish in my hands until they lost interest and departed. Releasing the float I continued to wards shore only to feel a significant weight on my float line and to see whitewater where my fish were tethered to my float. I pulled like hell and kept swimming in and after a few minutes I was back in the cut and the tug of war ended. Inspecting the float I found that only one of the jacks had been bitten and even then he was still in one piece. The sharks kept their distance and as I reached the hole with all the fish I had found earlier the float and fish drifted on top of the drop into the shallows and safety. Three dives into the hole and I had just found a significantly heavier Jack when I was greeted by my two silvertip friends who were both snapping their jaws and looking especially fat. A few seconds later they started taking turns rushing me and I said screw it and figured I would cut my losses and go home happy with the fish I already had. Standing up in the 2 foot deep water on top of the drop I pulled my float to me to find the bastards had already been up there as well and taken all 4 of my beautiful fish as payment for visiting their waters. Damn! So with nothing to show but a tall story for the morning and a chewed up stringer I had to make the walk of shame back to the beach, happy for such a wonderful chance to spear here and even happier to have only donated a few fish to the taxman and nothing attached to my body that would have been missed much more.
Next stop Australia!