Diving with Phantasea Divers from Denver

 I heard about this dive trip from my long-time traveling friend whom I met on our first trip to Europe. She and 38 other people from the Denver area have come to Volivoli Beach Resort. The:group was split between 2 large and one small boat. I started on the large boat the first day, then switched to the smaller boat the rest of the time which allowed me more time in the water. The diving here was wonderful, albeit visibility was about 30’. Moses/Mo, our dive guide moved slowly in the water, which gave him the opportunity to see such small stuff as an almost invisible spider crab, razor fish and tiny nudibranches, but we didn’t miss seeing the Bumphead Neapolitan wrasse and White and Blacktip sharks. Most exciting was playing with several octopi, one very sizable on top of the reef. 

We enjoyed a village visit with a welcome ceremony, horse riding, and a water slide and diving hole. We were treated to a show offering insights into the local customs, with dancing and singing and feasted on fish and pumpkin for Thanksgiving. Of course, we feasted every day on two and three course meals. I didn’t get the recipe for the Volivoli Reef dessert, but I did get a couple of recipes—of a ceviche type soup with coconut milk and a pumpkin stew. 

The Fijian staff at Volivoli was fantastic. They were so friendly, knew all of our names from the start and went out of their way to make us happy. Tua, Esa, La, Va, Mo, Tina, Peter, and so many more that it’s embarrassing I didn’t get to know all their names. They all spoke English, that being one of the three official languages of Fiji, but the communicated with each other in Fijian. All signs were in English, another official language, with Hindi being the third.

The island of Nadi was very beautiful.  Lush green, mountainous from the volcanic activity with nice waterfalls. Birds sang right outside our patio, goats were heard on our forays off the resort, and I saw my first mongoose crossing the road. But of course, my focus was on the water. We snorkeled and kayaked on our last day post diving.

Kudos to my roommate, Torie. She and the other divers on the boat— Tom, Lucy, Bob and Adele, we’re all pretty chill and made for a fun time even off the boat. We may even dive together at Lucy and Bob’s new home in Cozumel. Nice.

I now can say I was halfway around the world from Greenwich. The longitude is 178 east, latitude is 17 south. That might come up in next season’s sailing classes.