Dive Review of Aqua-Trek in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa

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Aqua-Trek: "Watch Out and Be Prepared", Sep, 2019, by Alexander Armintor, AL, US ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 11106 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation	N/A	Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Ours was the first boat on site, so I jumped in with a snorkel to kill some time and could make out sharks laying around on the seafloor 60 feet below. A shark or 2 would cruise in and out of the blue from time to time. As my eyes got adjusted to the gloom I realized there were a lot of sharks laying around waiting for breakfast. 30 or so divers, along with 4-5 employees armed with aluminum poles to push the sharks off, line up shoulder to shoulder in the kneeling or prone position behind a low coral wall, watching a trashcan full of chum-sickle being lowered on cables to a twirl-pool of sharks about 20 feet away. Our guide estimated 20-30 bull sharks, some in the 8-9 foot range, at least that many nurse sharks, a lesser number of lemons, a few reef sharks and the odd giant grouper, along with thousands of smaller fry. A steady parade of sharks pass by within spit’n distance on the other side of the wall for close to 30 minutes. There’s few places where you’ll see that many different animals in one spot, quite the show. The second day I found myself the last person in the line, on the far right flank next to a large coral boulder. As the carnage began, the unmistakable stripes of a tiger in the 12-13 foot range came in out of the blue to take its share. The suddenly small looking 8-9 foot bull sharks took the better part of valor and got out of its way. When it sailed back into the blue I became hyper vigilant having been on 4 Jupiter tiger feeds previously. On every single past tiger feed, the tigers tried to bite at least one, if not several of the divers and I had to push one off myself once. I find myself getting annoyed listening to other divers talking about these animals like they’re some kind of friend and explaining away the mouthy behavior as curiosity – they’re curious allright, curious what you taste like. Well this time was no different, the tiger came back and crashed into the line, about 10 divers away from me, those divers scattered and the guides all swarmed in on the tiger and pushed it away, snapping at the poles as it swam off, no injuries. I’ll admit to being a little nervous around tigers, but I get real nervous when I can’t see them, especially when I became acutely aware the boulder next to me didn’t allow me to see anything coming from that way until it was almost on top of me. I was so busy looking behind and around me I couldn’t watch the show, which turned out to be good thinking, because sure enough here it came around the boulder from behind me and I happened to be looking that way. As slow as they look, they actually come up on you pretty fast when you don’t see them until they're within 10 feet. I just had time to yank the guides arm to turn around and between the 2 of us we pushed it off, or up really. I got a closer than close look at what a 2 foot wide tiger shark head and mouth look like. Looking down the line, I realized everyone was focused on the action in front and I don’t think more than 1 or 2 had any idea what happened. By now I was really focused on behind us and sure enough, here it came again, but from a different direction the guide and I were able to get everyone’s attention in time to turn around to face it and the guides pushed it away. About then the show was over and my buddy and I wasted no time leaving. Telling the story back at the hotel, one of the guests asked if I’d seen the youtube videos from a couple of months before. I hadn’t. I'm convinced the that tiger tried the frontal assault the first time and it didn't work, so it changed tactics and came in from behind for the second two attacks. I do think they're that smart. Bottom line is, if you go on one of these tiger feeds, you better watch out and be prepared to defend yourself. These are not reef sharks or puppy dogs. If I hadn’t already been around tigers, I don’t think I would have had the presence of mind to watch behind me, or known how to push them away. Hate to think about that what if. These are the videos the other diver told me about: [bing.com link] [bing.com link]
Websites	Aqua-Trek
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Southern US, Bahamas, T&C, Roatan, Cozumel, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Polynesia, Red Sea
Closest Airport	Suva	Getting There	Midnight LAX redeye to Nadi at dawn 2 days later. 2.5 hour taxi ride
Dive Conditions
Weather		Seas
Water Temp	-°F / -°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	- Ft/ - M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Aqua-Trek in Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa

Aqua-Trek: "Watch Out and Be Prepared", Sep, 2019,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Aqua-Trek in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa