Some of you may know that I write more than one blog – my alter ego is Dive Mistress .. a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, technical diver, underwater photographer and very enthusiastic traveler.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been living my days and nights as this character on the tropical island of Fiji.  Feejeeeeeeee … where the water was warm and the beer was cold.  And there were lots and lots of fishies and I took a shit load of photographs.

Tara as Dive Mistress diving the Garden of Eden / Photograph by Martin Wallis

Obviously I didn’t take that one, because that is me!
I don’t look very good in photographs at the best of times (I’d rather pose for 5mins trying to take a self portrait) but even I have to admit that diving, in Fiji with my camera housing – well that is a great photograph.

We spent 7 days up in the north at Volivoli Resort.
This is the second time that I have stayed at this gorgeous resort.  I didn’t take a lot of photos of the resort back in 2010 either!  It seems there was always something else happening plus my camera stayed largely set up for the next days diving.

We had booked in to do 5 days diving with Ra Divers – specifically diving the gorgeous Vatu Ra Passage otherwise known as the Bligh Waters.
Looking at Volivoli Beach on Google Maps, you can see the coral reefs that we were diving off to the right hand side.

Volivoli Beach and the Vatu Ra Passage

Here are the blog links;

• Days One and Two (and a night in between)
• Day Three: Nudibranch Sunday
• Day Four: Wide and Totally Wicked
• Day Five: Currents and Corals
• Day Six: A Little Extra

On the seventh day we traveled.  We left Volivoli and headed for Pacific Harbour down on the southern coast.  Whilst we were all excited about what was coming next, I think the majority of us would have been quite happy to stay at Volivoli for ever.  Nick and Steve and the team take such good care of us and the whole resort is lovely.

By the time we got back to Nadi to leave Fiji, we had driven right around the whole island of Viti Levu (I think that’s pretty cool).
We stayed at Uprising Resort and had booked a day out Shark Diving in Beqa Lagoon.  Shark Diving gets capital letters because … it was that cool!!

Our bure’s at Uprising were so cute.
Deralie and I shared a bure in the garden – which was like being in the jungle.  Possibly because it pretty much poured with rain for most of the time that we were there.

Even though we were going to be diving for a day, I would have liked for the last couple of days of our holiday to be fine. I was a bit over being wet, all my clothes were damp, and I had the basis of a tan … well face and hands anyways.
But the weather is just something that you can’t do anything about.  So we relaxed for the afternoon when we first arrived and the next day we got up and went to see the sharks.

• Day Eight: Sharks, Sharks and Sharks

It was Anna’s birthday so that night we had a few drinks (we started to realise we needed to consume the rest of the Duty Free alcohol we had bought on the way in) and in Fiji trip tradition, there were balloons to make balloon animals with.  This deserves a whole post on its on.

… To Be Continued