Dear Fellow Diver:
Drifting across the face of the gently sloping reef known as The Fish
Factory in the Somo Somo Straits between the Fijian islands of Taveuni and
Vanua Levu, I noticed my dive buddy looking up at the surface. I followed her gaze and saw the unmistakable silhouette of an undulating krait -- a banded sea
snake -- 50 feet away, resting on the surface to breathe. I haven't had many
encounters with them in my 30 years of diving, but as I looked back at my buddy
to check her position and then up again, the snake had disappeared. We continued
our drift along the reef, as I marveled as always at the colorful abundance
of fish and corals. Then minutes later, I caught sight of a four-foot-long
krait not 10 feet from me, poking its head into crevices looking to corner and
consume a hapless fish.
Kraits pack a lethal venomous punch, so I was startled when our dive guide,
Sau Bay resort owner Nigel Douglas, reached down, clasped two fingers just
behind its head and slowly lifted it up from the reef. He held it for about
10 seconds and then let go. I watched it casually swim off to resume its hunt.
After the dive, I asked Nigel about the risk of handling kraits. Having been
born in Fiji and dived there for decades, Nighel replied that he had no reservations
about gently handling them, explaining that the kraits' venomous fangs
are set well back in their small mouths, so they are unable to inject venom
into people-size objects wearing wetsuits. Still, I kept my distance on the
off chance that a krait might think one of my fingers looked edible.
Just another day underwater in Fiji. I went in December for my third dive
trip there, and my first visit to Sau Bay Fiji Retreat, on the southeast corner
of Vanua Levu, Fiji's second-largest island. Nigel and his Australian wife
Carol opened it in late 2012. Nigel is the son of Noel Douglas, the owner of
Matangi Private Island Resort. Nigel and Carol took over a failing backpacker-
on-a-budget operation in Sau Bay and transformed it with new construction
while renovating the existing cottages, all elevated and just a few feet from
the beach.
The setting is truly South Seas idyllic: a small sheltered bay with a
gently sloping beach and three enormous "Rain Trees" at the high-tide line.
The kitchen and dining building has a large deck, where I sat for drinks and
good conversation, while listening to the wind and water (insect repellent is
highly advised at dusk). The dining area is spacious, with only a few tables
because the resort is small; I doubt you will see more than eight other
guests at a time.
Chef Danny did remarkable things with local ingredients. One night featured
a traditional and delicious Fijian Lovo meal, while another night offered
a wonderful Indian dinner. There was never a lack of delicious food no matter
what the hour. If we got back late from the morning dives, it was no problem to
have lunch at 2 p.m. This is an advantage of a small resort with personalized
service as compared to a larger operation with more guests, where they have a
more regimented meal schedule.
The comfortable cottages have corrugated steel roofs, and front and side
walls with floor-to-ceiling louvered windows (and curtains for privacy, of
course). There is an A/C unit over the bed, but sea breezes through the louvers
kept me comfortable. The bathrooms have
dual sinks, a separate area for the toilet,
a shower, and a heavenly private outdoor
shower on the side of the cottage. A
two-bedroom unit under construction is an
"African safari tent" style accommodation,
which will have its own private pool.
Being but 30 minutes by boat from
the Somo Somo Straits, Saue Bay offers a
host of top-notch dive sites. On Annie's
Bommie, during a rising tide, extended
soft corals in a multitude of colors were
awash with fish. I spotted multiple nudibranchs
and a tiny yellow-striped conch on a sea fan. At Rainbow's End, I
dropped down through a dense school of
fusiliers surrounding four threadfin
trevallys, then spotted a three-foot
Napoleon wrasse meander across the
reef. A mature white-tip reef shark lazily approached me, then reversed
course when I exhaled bubbles.
Drifting with the current, I rounded
the corner of the reef and saw a sixfoot
manta ray winging over the top
of the reef, feeding on the plankton
that had bloomed in November's warming
82-degree water. While visibility was
less than 50 feet, it did not adversely
affect my enjoyment of this incredible
dive site.
Perhaps the peak diving experience
in the Straits is the Great White
Wall. It starts at 40 feet but the preferred way to experience this site is
to enter a steeply sloping tunnel through the reef (keep an eye out for dwarf
lionfish as you drop down) through which you quickly see the exit point at 80
feet. Then just "hang a left," and if your guide has timed it right, a current
will take you for a drift along a solid wall of white soft coral extending many
feet above and below you. After maybe 10 minutes, it's time to slowly work your
way up the wall, where you can appreciate brilliant areas of purple, red, and
yellow soft coral as well. At the top of the wall, I enjoyed watching an octopus
tease us with an extended display of its camouflage capabilities.
While I was there, Nigel was using a boat on loan from Matangi Island,
awaiting delivery of a new 27-foot aluminum dive boat, which should now be in
service. The dive operation runs smoothly, with assistants transporting your
gear and tanks -- aluminum 80s filled to 3000 psi -- from the beach out to the
boat and setting it up, if you desire. While they now use an inflatable to make
that connection through the long, shallow bay to the dive boat, Nigel plans to
dredge a shallow channel to the dive building beside the dining hall so he can
dock his new dive boat there.
While Nigel was my only guide during my four-day visit, he sometimes hires
guides from nearby operations on Taveuni. He was adept at pointing out anything
of interest during the dive and let my buddy and I keep to our preferred speed
underwater: slow. We often spent nearly an hour per dive at 60 feet or so. At
the start of each dive, Nigel would
sometime drop below us for a bit but I
could tell he was keeping an eye on us.
It was difficult to find much fault
in paradise. Oh, the internet access
was painfully slow and often unusable;
however, a follow-up communication from
Carol says that they now offer "highspeed"
access for a fee. There was no
towel rack in the bathroom, so in the
humid tropical climate, my bath towel
didn't fully dry when I draped it over
the shower wall. Well, life is tough
in Fiji, isn't it? Seriously, the cottages,
food, service and diving were
all outstanding. Fiji has a number of
good, small resorts that Undercurrent has reviewed over the years, and while
it's not a dive-focused resort, Sau Bay offers terrific diving with luxurious accommodations in a stunningly beautiful
tropical environment. If you're a casual diver, what more do you want?
-- L.E.
Divers Compass: I paid $2,670, double occupancy, for four nights
in a studio cottage, three two-tank dive days, all meals, the
taxi from Matei airport on Tavenui to the boat pickup point,
and round-trip transfers for the 45-minute boat ride to Sau Bay
and back . . . There are twice-daily flights, early morning and
late afternoon, from Fiji's main airport in Nadi to Taveuni,
but those flights can change at a moment's notice; if the plane
is full, don't assume your luggage will get on board with you,
so grill the gate agent about whether your bags are being loaded
onto your flight or the next one . . . Water temperatures in December hovered
between 80 and 82 degrees; I wore a full-length 3mm torso/2mm extremities
suit and usually added a 3mm vest for the second dive, but I typically "dive
cold" (I also wear a neoprene hood) . . . Air temperatures were consistently in
the high 80s by the afternoon, rain was infrequent, but you'll probably get a
few showers over a one-week period; T-shirts, shorts and a rain jacket are all
the clothes most people need . . . Tipping is not expected or necessary . . .
Website: Sau Bay Retreat Fiji - http://www.saubayfiji.com