Friday, June 28, 2013

Hiking and Snorkeling at Viani Bay

Well we had a break from all our fun yesterday with a heck of a thunder and rain storm. Collected 80 liters of water from the scuppers and had one lightening strike in the bay a few hundred meters away - Yikes!

The day before we had a strenuous but rewarding hike through very tall (2 meter high) grasses along a ridge above the bay and back down through a forest and taro plantations to the shore. Today we snorkeled again at the Cabbage Patch and also at a deeper spot called the Fish Factory. The latter had a current running at 1-2 knots, but gave us some good sightings of sharks and even a turtle. Pictures follow.

Rani and Pat from 'The Rose' in the grasses at the top of the hill above the anchorage.

Pat from 'The Rose' had been up the hill once before and was our leader on this hike.

The grass was very tall and in places we followed what we think are wild pig trails.

Come out with your hands up.

View from the grassy ridge looking out to Taveuni Island - taken with our new Olympus camera's panorama mode 

View from the forest edge on our way down

The path to the first look-off is in the center. We landed our dinghy near the white house to the left.

This island is leased by the families that live there from the government. It has been occupied by the same Fijians for 80 years and we met four generations who lived there.

View from our anchorage - the island above is to the left.

Rani and Jona. Jona is a civil engineering student in Suva. He was visiting Jack, our guide for the snorkeling trips. 

Outrigger dugout canoe.

More lovely corals - the red ones are soft.

Parrot fish.

Lovely shell

Long-nosed butterfly fish

Jack called these ''bait fish". They are used by fisherman to catch bigger fish and are themselves about 25 cms long.

Bait fish feeding/

Somewhat grainy shot of a white tipped shark - about 1.75 meters long.

Peek-a-boo. I think this is a type of damsel fish?

Rich from "Legacy"uses his 'James Bond"style  hand-held sled. This uses an electric motor and propeller to pull you along , permitting deeper and longer sessions under water.

Rani goes for a shallow dive with  Kari from "Merilelu"

Butterfly fish.

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