Tag Archives: dive

Rainbow Reef Dive

Diving Rainbow Reef and the Great White Wall has been a dream of mine for a few years.  We had tried to dive here last season, but Matt injured his ear and then we tore our main sail and couldn’t get to the site.  So, this trip back to Fiji was focused on diving this spectacular area.  We arrive in Viani Bay which is our launch point for the dive sites on Rainbow Reef.

Rainbow Reef is legendary and has well over 20 pristine dive sites.  It has been called the “soft coral capital of the world” but I might beg to differ when comparing it to Bonaire.  Some of the most popular dive sites include The Great White Wall, The Fish Factory, The Zoo, and Cabbage Patch to name a few.

Where is the Rainbow Reef Located?  It lies in the Somosomo Strait which is the passage that runs between Vanua Levu (Fiji’s second largest island) and Taveuni Island (Fiji’s third largest island).  In Fijian Somosomo Strait means “good water” and it is called this because the strait has strong tidal currents, providing a good supply of nutrients, just the right ingredients for healthy and diverse soft coral and abundant fish.

Photo courtesy of Taveunit Dive Resort

The Great White Wall Dive

Our friends on Pogeyan who have been diving this area for years take us out on our first Rainbow Reef dive.  They take us to the Great White Wall which happened to be in full bloom (a rare occurence evidently).

Matt and I had not been diving in awhile so we take it slow.  First we wanted to make sure his ear (which he perforated last season) was ok and second we wanted to make sure all of our gear worked properly.  Our friends took the adventurous way down to the wall which was through a tunnel.  But I was not having any of that!  So, Matt and I took a leisurely descent down to about 12-15 meters and swam over the edge.  And let me just say “WOW”

It was as if snow had fallen on the soft coral under water!  The top left photo shows the white coral with the naked eye (25 meters/85′ below the surface) and in the upper right corner is the same white coral with a light on it (from our friend).

I am not sure how it happens but the white wall actually glows and shimmers!  It doesn’t come out so great with my little GoPro and no light, but it was glorious.

Once you swim past the Great White Wall you get into tons of color.  It is obvious why they call this the rainbow reef.  So many purples, yellows, and greens!

The dive takes my breath away with its pure beauty!

So many bright colors, tons of schools of fish in all sorts of varieties, and hard and soft coral intermixed on the wall.

We found a rather large clam with a personal guardian and a beautiful black soft coral growing in the center of a larger white hard coral.

Our total depth for the Great White Wall was about 26 meters (85′) and the water was moderate but we did have wet suits on (3mil).  There was a slight current pushing us along the wall.  A truly amazing dive.  I wish we had more time to do this multiple times!

The Zoo

Our next dive with with Dive Academy at the Zoo!  We hired a guide to dive with us on the Rainbow Reef “Zoo” because there can be dangerous currents.  It is super nice to be picked up from the boat, borrow tanks, and be picked up and dropped off at the dive site.  Our guide, Ian was full  of excitement at diving the zoo.  This particular dive site is known for its large pelagic fish and it is also known as a mating grounds for gray sharks!

We saw schools of barracuda, two gray sharks (not mating) several white tip sharks, a few trevallis and groupers. Of course, I did not get any photos of these big guys as they were a bit too far away for them to come out good.  But I did get a couple of sharks playing with Matt (top two photos).

We saw lots of soft coral with little nemos protecting each of them.  I don’t know why, but I always want to stick my finger in the center of the soft coral….but I never dare to!

And we saw lots of these hard corals with little protectors.

So much beauty in one spot on the reef.

An Octopus!

It is always a special treat to find an octopus and this one wanted to check us out too.  He was huge!  Can you spot him in the top photo??  He blends in so well with the coral.

He was so curious!  It reminded me of the documentary “The Octopus Teacher.”

It was the perfect way to end a perfect dive!  Truly wish we could spend a month here exploring the other dive sites at Rainbow Reef!  An absolute must see when you are in Fiji!

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occured toward the end of August.  In our last blog we have a posse part at Nawi Marina.

Resting turtle

Turtle Diving in Mo’orea

Diving in Mo’orea brings us up close and personal with over a dozen turtles and many curious fish.   It had been a long time since I dove.  Like almost 3.5 years, since Galapagos.  I was more than a bit anxious, but I was diving with Matt and two of our friends who each have hundreds of dives and safety certifications.  Our goal was to find Rachel’s friend “Sonny” who is a racoon butterfly fish and a turtle or 12.

We load all the dive gear in Sweetie and head to the pass.  There are a few floats to tie our dinghies.  We jump in and my stomach is full of butterflies.  We descend slowly and I can see the coral bottom clearly.  It is not far, maybe 20 meters (60’).  Once I remember to stop exhaling through my nose, I get a little more comfortable.  The air exhaled through my nose caused my mask to separate from my face which leaked water down my cheeks.  It was a back and forth I played with my mask before I figured it out.  Yep, a little out of practice.

Sonny immediately comes out to join us.  He is a raccoon butterfly fish that Rachel met 2 years ago.  Every time she dives this spot, she has an interaction with him.  It is really quite amazing to see their relationship in person as I’ve watched it blossom on her Instagram account (moore_rachel).  He is a curious little guy and thoroughly checked out Matt before returning to Rachel.

Turtles, Turtles, Turtles everywhere

We don’t have to swim far to spot our first turtle as they are everywhere!  They are perched on top of the coral…see the yellow fish hiding under his back flipper?

Just hanging out, resting

Resting their little heads on top of the coral as if it were a comfy pillow


This just doesn’t look comfortable to me…but he is clearly in the “zone.”

Resting turtle

Resting turtle

Some blend in with the coral

And others sandwich themselves under the coral. I wonder how he will get out of this predicament?

We caught a few as they were heading up to get a sip of air.

We also come across a beautiful porcupine puffer who seemed to be challenging Matt.

Rachel and Josh from Agape (Voyages of Agape).

Rachel and Josh, Agape

Rachel and Josh, Agape

You might remember my blog about the very special Turtle Sanctuary, Te Mana O Te Moana.  They rescue turtles from all over French Polynesia.  I wonder if any of these beauties are around as a result of their rescue mission.

We jam Cruiser style in our last blog.  Events from this blog post occurred the end of September.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Fakarava airport

Tetumanu & THE Teitelmans

The town of Tetumanu is at the Fakarava south pass. It is not really a town, but it does consist of a church, two small pensions (lodges) that each have an eatery, and two dive centers. That is it. No magasins (markets), nada, zilch. We came here to explore the many motus, dive the Tetumanu (south) pass, and hide from the weather system and it was worth it.

In our last blog we explored Santa Suzanna Island and its pretty pools of waters. It was time to take a dive. Our friends on Chasing Waterfalls organized a dive with another boat and we decided to join them. The problem was that we did not have time to rent tanks and BCDs for Josh and Sara. So, Matt and Josh used our equipment and Sara and I snorkeled. With amazing clarity we could see the divers 70+ below us with no problem.

Diving the Pass

Diving the Tetumanu Pass

Everyone thought it was “slack tide” but in reality, it was not. It is very difficult to calculate slack tide as every day has different winds, waves, moon, etc… We tied three dinghies to the mooring and all jumped in. The divers descended and immediately latched on to rocks and dead coral to prevent themselves from drifting away. They looked like spiders with all four limbs spread out! It was really a funny sight. Unfortunately, the photos I took did not come out as they were 20+ meters below us.

They hung out by the shark wall where they watched a shark get his teeth cleaned. Yep, a fish was stupid enough to swim in and out of the shark’s open mouth to clean his teeth (see top photo). There were dozens and dozens of sharks here.

Diving with Sharks

Diving with Sharks

We slowly drifted to the lagoon before hopping back in our dinghies. Sweet, but short drift. We swung by the Tetumanu Dive shop and they had different fittings for dive tanks. So, we could not fill ours. Then we stopped by Top Dive and they were never home.  They did have a handy map showing the incoming and outgoing tides (see red and blue diagram)

Top Dive and the Currents in the pass

Top Dive and the Currents in the pass

The next day we decided to snorkel the pass closer to the reef. What a difference. Not nearly as many sharks. However, we did encounter several HUGE fish, some grouper, some with a bubble on their head. Lots of schools of fish and many, many coral species.

Fish in the South Pass

Fish in the South Pass

We took our time drifting from the pass opening to the lagoon. The current got much stronger as we entered the lagoon, but it did allow us enjoy the underwater sea life.

Super pretty coral and lots of fish

Super pretty coral and lots of fish

We organized a pizza dinner at Motu Aito Paradise earlier in the afternoon. Our friends on Rhapsody (John and Ada) and Chasing Waterfalls (Steve, Johanna, Mia, Eva, Layla) joined us. It was really nice hanging with our cruiser friends and swapping stories.

Pizza night at Motu Aito Paradise

Pizza night at Motu Aito Paradise

Full Sail Back to North Fakarava

It was nearing time to return back to the North side of the island. Josh and Sara had a flight to catch, despite our attempts to get them to stay longer. Surprisingly, after three visits to Sugar Shack (BVI, San Blas Islands, Fakarava), they had never seen our boat under full sail. We had hoisted each sail individually, but the winds were not right for a full sail. However, our passage to the north side of the island was perfect!

Up went the main and the jib! We had a lovely 10-12kts of wind on the beam which gave us a steady 6-7kts of boat speed. At one point we encountered a squall, so we reefed the jib, but within 30 minutes she was back out.

Full sail in the Fakarava lagoon

Full sail in the Fakarava lagoon

Even though they had to leave the next day, we celebrated like rock stars. We had an impromptu fiesta on our boat after our friends on Gizmo gave us fresh Wahoo. Mike from Easy, cut it up sashimi style, Janet and Darryl from Maple stopped by and Steve from Chasing Waterfalls made an appearance. It was a goofy night that led to Thing 1 and Thing 2 passed out on the bow.

Celebrating a great trip

Celebrating a great trip

We did a little shopping the next day, ordered some more bread and danishes and a wee bit of internetting. Matt picked us up at the little beach. Josh and Sara in front of Sugar Shack (background).

Fakarava near Rotoava

Fakarava near Rotoava

It was sad to bring them back to the airport, but they had a plane to catch.

Fakarava airport

Fakarava airport

That night we had a stupendous sunset that turned the sky red.

Sunset at Fakarava

Sunset at Fakarava