Why Fiji exactly? For me, the main factor was the pleasant (just two hours!) time difference with Khabarovsk! Just kidding, of course. Well, I reasoned, planning our autumn trip, something like this: The Maldives aren't going anywhere, everything is booked on Sulawesi - can't get through, Cocos and Galapagos can wait... And finally, Fiji - how beautifully it sounds! Plus, the end of October is the most wonderful time on the islands, the height of their spring, the dry season.

We flew out of Khabarovsk on October 22, 2008. Due to the bankruptcy of "Dalavia" company, we were forced to exchange tickets for an "Asiana" flight and spend an extra day hanging around Seoul airport. The airport hotel has tiny rooms, but with everything necessary for rest. In the relax room on the top floor of the hotel there's a huge cinema hall. You can watch your DVD on a projection screen. Internet is free, download as much as you want. By the way, I haven't encountered this anywhere else. Seoul Airport itself is, without doubt, one of the best in the world.

On the evening of October 23, we left Seoul and flew to Fiji on a "Korean Air" flight. 10 and a half hours over the Pacific on a Boeing. Having mastered two side seats, I tried my best to rest.

The international airport is located in the city of Nadi on the west coast, more precisely in the northwest of the "main" island Viti Levu (as the natives pronounce it, Viti Levu). This is the third largest city in the country, lying on the shore of the bay of the same name.

The transfer from the airport to the five-star "Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa" takes an average of 20 minutes if you don't stop anywhere along the way. Fijian mobile communication didn't respond to our Russian operators' SIM cards. The only exception was "Beeline" and even then not near all islands. To buy local SIM cards, local currency was required. Fijian dollars had a previously stable exchange rate (0.7), then it fell to 0.5 due to the global crisis. You can't buy practically anything in the country with American dollars; only sometimes they're accepted as payment, but at a special rate.

Three SIM cards purchased for the entire Khabarovsk team for a hundred Fijian dollars were quite enough for 10 days. Mobile communication exists everywhere near populated islands. In the open sea, it depends on luck. Quite often the local operator announces in a narrator's voice: "You have problems with your SIM card!" As it turned out, this happens when the called subscriber's phone is simply busy. Just keep dialing the number "until victory" and there it is - happiness: "Hello, Russia!?"

On the way to the hotel, I grilled the taxi driver about the details of life in the former British colony. The native readily told me that 50% of the Fijian population are Indians, brought long ago by Anglo-Saxons to work on cotton plantations. The Indian presence draws attention everywhere: traditional Indian clothing flashes in the crowd, only Bollywood films on posters of a huge multi-screen cinema. Only once did I catch sight of a Hollywood poster. Practically everywhere music like "Jimmy, Jimmy" plays. Lots of Indian discos, nightclubs.

30% of the islands' population are Fijians, 20% are others. "Others? Who's that?" I ask the taxi driver. "Well, you, for example, are other," answered the descendant of cannibals. By the way, souvenirs are sold everywhere, returning to the terrible cannibal past of the archipelago. Wooden clubs with spikes, all kinds of forks for human meat. Br-r-r... Just the sight of these devices makes you queasy. The Republic of Fiji Islands is perhaps the only country in the world whose inhabitants not only aren't ashamed of, but are proud of their cannibal past.

The five-star "Sofitel" hotel in Nadi is one of the best. My impression was confirmed by the enthusiastic reaction to the hotel from a group of Americans. The hotel is among about 10 hotels located on a small peninsula. Golf courses everywhere, gorgeous landscape. Only the sea in this zone doesn't shine with cleanliness, so I took a catamaran and sailed for a couple of hours. "Sofitel" has the best cuisine in Nadi, as I was told, and dinner on the open veranda confirmed this. Well, in the morning we experienced a little culture shock - champagne was served free at breakfast. The Yankees couldn't believe the sparkling wine was free; I had to convince them with my example.

The main attraction of the town of Nadi is a Hindu temple, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, rising into the sky almost 30 meters.

On the day of our arrival in Nadi, there was a run organized by the owner of "Sofitel" - this way, the islanders were collecting donations for the local hospital. First, participants of the charity event enjoyed a concert by Fijian artists, and then rushed along the mini-marathon route. For two weeks local TV savored this event!

80 percent of Fiji's population lives on two main islands. About 400 thousand people live on Viti Levu. Between many of the 320 islands of the archipelago, sea or air communication is established: small seaplanes fly. Every third island is uninhabited.

On the west coast of Viti Levu there's more sun, rains are quite rare. That's where most resorts and extensive sugar plantations are concentrated. The green and abundantly moistened eastern side of the island receives up to 2500 mm of precipitation per year. They're connected by a highway running along the coast for about 160-170 kilometers. We covered these 160 km in about five hours (including one hour for rest) on a half-destroyed bus. The country has left-hand traffic, lots of used Japanese vehicles. Our half-dead bus crawled uphill, smoking. On the passes, we probably would have been faster on foot. We passed by small Fijian and Indian villages, sugar plantations and coral lagoons...

From provincial Nadi our path led to the capital - Suva - a city sprawling on a hilly peninsula. The main attraction of Suva is the Fiji Museum in the heart of Thurston Gardens, next to Government House. Suva is literally drowning in tropical greenery; the city counts up to 80 parks of all sizes and types. Practically all of Suva's life is concentrated on the main street Victoria Parade with colorful buildings from the colonial era, banks, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs. There you understand, Fiji is an exotic mix of Melanesian, Polynesian, Micronesian, Hindu, Chinese and European traditions.

The local cuisine is a culinary reflection of the same mix. However, if we talk about characteristic local Fijian dishes, I'll mention fish marinated in lime juice ("kokoda"), salad from taro leaves ("rourou"), fried or baked tapioca with coconut milk, sugar and bananas (sweet puree), boiled vegetable like asparagus "duruka," breadfruit in all forms, assorted meat, fish and various fruits "lovo," fried in closed earth ovens, fried sea worms "balolo" (a local delicacy). Among Fijian Indians, "idli" (dumplings), "masala dosa" (rice pancakes with coconut sauce), as well as all kinds of curry from lamb, goat or poultry are popular. For Fijians, curry has long become a national dish; they prepare fish and seafood using the same principle.

 On Board the "Aggressor"

Both ships of the "Aggressor" company are based in Suva port. "Aggressors" have the same standard technology everywhere: check-in on Saturday, boarding the ship, and at noon departure to sea. All ships have the same blue carpet finish. "Aggressor III" has five double cabins. The lower bunk is wider, the upper one slightly narrower. A couple, for example, can comfortably settle below. One of the cabins is equipped with a "king-size" double bed.

The dive deck on the yacht is quite low, convenient. Conditions for a photographer are very comfortable - there's room to maneuver, even if two are working. I haven't seen better treatment of underwater photographers anywhere than on "aggressors." You come out after a dive, and your underwater camera housing is immediately taken and lowered into fresh water. The boats have specially equipped places for photo equipment.

What else distinguishes "aggressors"? Everything is included. For example, alcohol. White and red wine, beer - only local, but drink as much as you want. On the first evening we were invited to onion soup, fried chickens, green beans and jacket potatoes. What culinary delights the "aggressors" have! In 10 days I gained 4 kilograms! Captain Ned once admitted to me that only with Russians at sea is it so great - good party, fishing, etc. I have no reason not to believe him.

Apparently, previous groups from Russia taught the crew to cook proper fish soup, fry fish "a la Russe." The Fijians on "Aggressor III" even added vodka to the fish soup! Without reminders. Every lunch we had fish soup from the morning and afternoon catch. Trolling went on constantly. Big mahi mahi fish with unreal yellow coloring is caught there. Very beautiful and tasty. By the way, as soon as mahi mahi is pulled out, it's immediately gutted and the raw, still hot, trembling heart is eaten instantly! It continues to contract for a couple of minutes. From aboriginal experience, the raw love organ of mahi mahi has a very positive effect on male potency. I agreed to try the heart, but only with soy sauce. While they were looking for it, the diesel mechanic didn't miss the moment to raise his potency...

Pearl of the Great Barrier Reef

On Saturday, around one in the afternoon, "Aggressor III" left the Tradewinds dock and headed north. The weather was magnificent. At 7 pm we dropped anchor at Wakaya Island.

The abundance of "soft coral" reefs is what brought the Fiji Islands worldwide fame. The archipelago rightfully bears the titles of "world capital of soft corals," "Kingdom of soft corals." The islands and atolls of Fiji are part of the Great Barrier Reef. Water temperature year-round stays in the comfortable range: from 25°C in winter (May to November) to 30°C in summer. Between the islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu stretch two extended barrier reefs. The richest ichthyofauna, fed by currents and runoff from the islands, is one of the most diverse in the region. National parks and reserves, including underwater ones, have preserved the island world as it was hundreds of years ago - civilization has practically not affected the amazing nature of these places.

Sunday. First checkout dive in Vatu Vai. Mantas gather in this place, turtles are found, but neither appeared to us, but... Countless small nudibranchs, lionfish, critters, blue ribbon eels! For the first time, more than enough impressions. I understood from the briefing that the dive would be devoted to corals, of which there are up to 400 (!) species in this part of the Earth, so I took a wide angle with me, but below there were so many small interesting things, reef fish! For example, small bluish moray eels - I hadn't encountered them before. Too bad I didn't have macro with me...

The second dive of the first diving day was in Wakaya Passage, where hammerhead sharks gather in schools. Good visibility was pleasing - sometimes up to 50 meters! A couple of whitetip sharks lay on the sandy bottom, as if waiting for us at a depth of 12 meters. Moving along the reef wall and rolling over it, turning left, we came out to a 40-meter drop-off. Someone from our team claimed they saw a hammerhead on the first day. There, according to the dive master, eagle rays, turtles, barracudas and much more are found. We finished the first diving day at a place called Christines, not far from Makogai Island.

The second day (Monday) we met at the northern tip of Namena Island (Namena or Namenalala Island). Open sea and quite serious rocking. Namena is marine reserve territory. 10 km long, 2 wide. The diversity, multicolor of underwater flora and fauna are unimaginable. First dive at North Save-a-Tack. We dropped on the eastern edge of the reef wall and immediately ran into feeding barracudas. There's very strong current during high tide. Descending lower to 25 meters along the edge of the drop-off, we met whitetip sharks and larger gray reef sharks. At a depth of about 30 meters, on the bottom lurked a large grouper, which when we approached shot up like a rocket, laying an incredible trajectory.

Bula! Bula! Bula!!

Fourth day at sea. We're back at Makogai Island. First we dove at Becky's site, then at Rick's Rocks. Scorpionfish, chromodoris, golden shrimps - the morning was clearly going well! By lunch we came to the southern tip of the island, to the Wakaya reef wall. The crossing to Gau Island promised a pleasant evening - we were invited to the national village of Nawaikama for beach rest, relaxation, acquaintance with Fijian culture (songs and dances) and the folk drink kava.

"Aggressor 3" entered a bay protected from the sea by two small islands. On the shore, a national village stretched for half a kilometer. Once about five thousand people lived on Gau Island. Now 96 live there. To go ashore, according to strict etiquette requirements, it was necessary to wear sarongs or "sulu," as Fijians call them. The more you respect local customs, the warmer the reception awaits you - this has long been the rule in Fiji.

As the organizer of the trip, I had a special mission - direct communication with the chief of the Nawaikama community. The meeting with him took place in a warm friendly atmosphere. My unofficial status as head of the Russian delegation was confirmed by a special garland, which according to local tradition is hung around your neck. The rest got "ordinary" garlands of orchids. The chief is about 60 years old. This man evoked sincere sympathy with his openness, friendliness and excellent sense of humor. Sometimes he joked very successfully, despite the rather official atmosphere.

When visiting a Fijian village, you should prepare a small gift for the chief, the so-called "sevusevu." Usually it's a half-kilogram package of dried yangona root - a shrub from the pepper genus. Fijians grind the dry mass in a mortar (or another option - chew it), dilute it with water or coconut milk. The kava drink is ready. It's served in "bilo" (a bowl from half a coconut shell), everyone drinks in turn. Kava, saturated with flavonoids, is considered an alcoholic drink. Its effect on the body is compared to the action of tranquilizers, and addiction to it resembles alcoholism in symptoms.

In the village, stretching for half a kilometer, there's only one street. It's decorated with... lamp posts. Let the islanders live without communication, TV and radio, but they have street lighting! Electricity is supplied for several hours a day, and it's generated by a 1911 generator! Australian!

Once the island had the first cinema in Oceania, built by the British in the 1920s. In the late 1950s "there was no more cinema." Only the bare concrete walls of the projectionist's booth remind of the cultural center. The rest was swallowed by the jungle.

Cannibals once lived in the mountains of Gau Island, and on the coast - simple fishermen who served as food for the aforementioned cannibals. Now the islanders peacefully breed scallops, receive grants from UNESCO for preserving local nature, successfully work on coral protection programs. Children up to 12 study at school on the island, and then leave for the city and most don't return home.

Part of the community gathered in the community house "bure," settling on mats along the walls. I present the chief with a gift - those very yangona roots. Teenagers pretend they just ground the product and immediately start preparing the hellish mixture by hand.

Drinking kava is a local festive and ritual tradition, mandatory for any important event. After the guest or chief takes the first sip, the bowl with kava is filled again and passed around. Only after the "bilo" has gone around all the guests is the official part of the ceremony considered finished and the cultural program begins: feast, music, dancing...

Kava is first offered to me. Nothing to do - must drink! The right way to drink: the drinker makes his palms into a boat, claps loudly and says: "Bula!" After drinking, it's necessary to repeat three times: "Bula! Bula! Bula!!" Our delegation got worried: well, how is it? I say: "The taste is disgusting, but drink - otherwise they'll eat us!" Everyone was offered in turn. They gave me some special version of kava, not like the others. In terms of sensations, by the way, nothing special - only my tongue went a little numb. However, perhaps the effect of kava was blurred by beer drunk on the ship for courage...

And then the show began. And what a show! The last 10 years I haven't danced, but here... The evening's cultural program was opened by very small children, then teenagers performed, and finally, adults. Children in the tropics always amaze me - they have such an open look, they absolutely don't feel self-conscious, they like being photographed. And there's no better subject for shooting. On Gau there's a complete absence of show for tourists. Everything is very natural and pleasant. The chief suggested dancing with island girls. And they came out to us, so big... We danced local folk dances with them!

We brought meat, chicken, breadfruit to the island. Especially for us, the islanders heated stones in a pit-like hearth for several hours. Having wrapped the meat in palm leaves, they threw them on the coals, covering them on top with some kind of leaves. After four hours all the dishes were ready. We dined on the ship.

When saying goodbye, according to the rule established here, each of us donated 15 dollars for the needs of the local school. All the people came out to see us off. The atmosphere is fantastic: a Fijian village, natives under the unreal stars of the Southern sky!

We spent the night on the ship, right there in the bay. Early in the morning a beautiful view opened: the bay, the waking village, smoke spreading over the water, smells, sounds...

Torn Fin

Fifth day at sea. Traverse of Gau Island. First dive in Nigali Passage. This is a narrow, bottle-neck passage in the reef, where conditions are ideal an hour and a half before and after low tide. At other times, visibility at this point drops sharply, and current speed sometimes reaches 3 knots! Large groupers, barracudas, snappers, gray reef and silvertip sharks, mantas, jacks are found there. We weren't lucky with visibility. Second dive at Jim's Alley - at a depth of 5 meters, three huge coral outgrowths of soft and hard purple and red corals, gardens of red anemones, lots of various chromodoris.

After the Gau Island reef wall, we went to Nigali Passage to feed sharks. The day before I convinced everyone: "Don't worry too much, we'll see sharks in Beqa Lagoon. There'll be a show!" But the "guys" from "Aggressor III" gave us a shark dive cooler than any Beqa.

Nigali Passage. Dive master Moses takes a bucket of fish heads with him. We dove and sat down like in a theater. Falling from above, we saw that there were already enough sharks below. As soon as Moses opens the bucket - the show begins... I took more than 200 photos. A record! Shot in all directions!

On the second dive, Moses armed himself with a harpoon. As soon as the fish is hit, the whole shark crowd (20-30 sharks) pounces on the victim. Quite a sight! A huge frantically spinning ball of shark bodies. I continue shooting, and suddenly I see that one of the fish heads is flying in my direction, and behind it rushes the whole pack: some large fish, sharks... Stick your hand in there - they'll tear it off instantly! Had to turn around and with one of the flashes beat this head away with all my might. Barely made it! A moment later, gray reef sharks pounce on it. One of them, by the way, bit through and tore one of my fins. What did she want? The mark remained as a souvenir. According to "Far East Divers" members, this one amazing shark feeding justified the entire week-long diving in Fiji!

Friday. Last dive in Nigali Passage, then a six-hour crossing to Suva. The sea was rough, there was light rain, one of two we saw in 10 days in the archipelago.

The "Aggressor" crew is at sea from Saturday to Saturday. On the evening of the last day, after a farewell party with the yacht's guests, the guys go home to their families. Captain Ned has four children. Upon arrival at port, the cap reserved tables for us at the best restaurant. We spent the day in Suva. Still a funny little town. Locals play rugby like crazy. Beer is advertised by a rugby team and so is mobile communication. Very few football fields. Nightlife takes place in clubs that are no different from, for example, Indonesian ones. Tropics, they're tropics everywhere... on weekends all of Suva goes to an island in the bay, where there's everything necessary for a picnic or active recreation.

Beqa Lagoon

We're leaving Suva and along the same coastal highway heading to Beqa Lagoon. By the way, Fijian traffic police "disguise themselves" better than Russians. I recognize ours from afar, but I noticed islanders only at a distance of 30 meters. In Fiji everywhere the speed limit is up to 80 km/h. The fine for speeding is considerable - 100 dollars, as the driver told us.

We searched for "Beqa Adventure Divers" for a long time, since their base is in the jungle, not on the coast. Beqa is a widely advertised dive site with a sure-fire "feature": hand-feeding sharks. At "Sofitel" 50 percent of advertising was from Beqa Lagoon: seven species of sharks in one place! The lagoon itself is the crater of an extinct volcano 16 km in diameter.

The company "Beqa Adventure Divers" has recently had two yachts. Unfortunately, this circumstance ruined everything. 30 people sat in a row on the bottom at once! Along the shore goes a reef wall with platforms at 15, 10 and 30 meters. First dive, 30 meters. The people from Beqa had 200 kg of rotten fish. Their boss, nicknamed Papa, fed gray and whitetip sharks like cats. There were also large fish that are more dangerous than sharks. Visibility left much to be desired. In the first dive I took only four shots. To our disappointment, we didn't see anything new. Hand feeding. Sharks like they're tame. Two feeders, the rest are assistants beating off sharks with metal hooks. Americans and Australians diving with us were quite upset and disappointed.

The second dive in Beqa promised a bull shark. I descended below the others and took a strategic position. On the 10th minute a bull shark appeared. A serious carcass, up to five meters! The bait didn't work on it. After 25 minutes it appeared again and disappeared. Either it was disturbed by the diver crowd, or the shark wasn't hungry.

The organizers were most upset. According to them, in a year, only four groups from Russia visited Beqa, and they really wanted not to fall flat on their faces...

Ni sa moce

Waiting for the Seoul flight, we spent two days in Nadi. There were thoughts to go to the mountains for rafting on bamboo rafts, known among Fijians as "bili bili" (advertising photos impressed us very much!) or rent a yacht and go somewhere to Bounty, but both ideas didn't find enough supporters. Two from our team jumped with parachutes. Moreover, they persuaded a local pilot for reasonable money to rise from the traditional two thousand to 4 and a half thousand meters. They jumped tandem with instructors, this feat is captured on video.

The return journey went through Seoul, where we safely arrived, having survived turbulence over Japan. I took the team, missing familiar food, to an excellent German pub. It's famous for gorgeous pork knuckle. We also visited the "Everland" amusement park, where completely insane American roller coasters were recently put into operation.

It's believed that a shell doesn't fall twice in one crater. I often hear from people that they don't go to Fiji twice. But I don't think so. From a photographer's point of view, Fiji is a real paradise. In the library on "Aggressor III," besides ordinary books, there were quite a few gorgeous photo albums with underwater photography. Each of them, imagine, was personally signed by the author and presented to the ship's crew. By the way, in Suva I met a couple of Americans who admitted they were visiting Fiji for the 4th time. And they have the Caribbean, Galapagos right nearby...

For me, Fiji is soft corals, disappointment with Beqa Lagoon, gorgeous shark photography. Well, and the unforgettable kava drink, of course.

Ni sa moce and safe diving, as Fijians say!