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HEARTY SHOUTS OF ‘BULA’ – THE FIJIAN
for ‘life’, used as a near-universal greeting –
greeted us from the platform at the back of the
Fiji Siren, our dive liveaboard home. Captain
Sei and boatman Big Ben were stood awaiting
our return, their massive bodies quivering with
laughter at our timid replies. Such was the ritual
each time we moored the dinghy after a dive.
The welcoming committee was usually the same
two men, and it seemed as though there was
a competition for the loudest greeting and the
laughter that always followed. Unshakable good
humour is definitely a Fijian hallmark.
“I’ve been working as a cruise director on the
Siren for three years, but the cordiality and the
way people treat each other overwhelms me again
and again”, says New Zealander Rani Veitch. “Even
when a typhoon caused considerable damage last
year [Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston in February
2016], the people’s happiness was unbroken.”
Along with a healthy tan, such observations
are the most common souvenir among visitors
to these South Pacific islands. Throw in the
world-class reefs and pelagics we enjoyed on our
counter-clockwise tour of some of the country’sdive highlights and we were in a sunny mood
indeed, even if our cultural background didn’t
allow us to show it in the same ebullient fashion
as our captain and crew.Bligh Waters
Like most visitors to Fiji, our journey started
and finished on the main island of Viti Levu.
Although this is discovery enough for many
backpackers and honeymooners, the country’s
322 other islands and atolls offer an incomparable
explosion of marine life forms and so are an
inevitable magnet for divers. Luckily for us our
liveaboard, which we boarded at VoliVoli Resort
at the northernmost tip of the island, granted us
freedom to roam.
In Fijian culture, the concept of ‘much’ or
‘many’ is often conveyed by repeating a word two
or more times. ‘Voli’, for example, means ‘sand’
and the resort’s name refers to the expansive
beach on which it sits.
The fact that it is the base for the Fiji Siren
today is testament to the efforts of the owners,
the Darlings, and their employees. On February
20, 2016, Winston, the strongest typhoon that Fijihas ever seen, raged through the resort, almost
completely destroying it.
Today everything is rebuilt. Talking to the
employees, often referred to as “our family” by
the Darlings, I could feel the pride of what this
extended family has achieved together. Besides
that was the laughter heard throughout the resort,
as though the staff were all on a personal mission
to prove the Fijians’ reputation as the friendliest
people in the world.
From VoliVoli, we headed out into the blue,
to explore an underwater world best described as
‘lase lase lase lase’ – many, many corals. It’s not
for nothing that dive literature often refers to Fiji
as the ‘soft coral capital of the world’.
These waters are also historic. Lying between
Viti Levu and the other main island of VanuaLAZING AT ANCHOR
A quiet moment on board the Fiji
Siren as she lay off Namenalala in
the Namena Marine Reserve.— March/April 2018Sadly, in November 2017, the Fiji Siren sank
after being holed during the night. Prompt
action by the crew ensured all guests were
safely evacuated but their efforts to save the
craft were in vain.