Winged Pipefish at Manta Rock

First dive of the charter onboard Island Dancer II, Fiji. The very unique Winged Pipefish found on Manta Rock, Wakaya Reef. Great way to start the diving!

Wayne B. Brown

It is always the unexpected experiences you hear all the chatter about once the dive is over. On our first day onboard Island Dancer II, we saw a rare winged pipefish and a hammerhead. As we were pulling away from the dock, one of the guests asked me if they ever see any hammerheads in Fiji. We do occasionally but this week had them on most days!

As the 'Soft Coral Capital' of the world, Fiji lives up to its names at dive site like Mellow Yellow, Hi 8 and Chimneys. It's like seeing an underwater rainbow as you gently pass along the walls.

Cruising to the soft corals at Hi 8 dive site

One of our favorite dive sites for showing why Fiji is the Soft Coral Capitol of the World!

Wayne B. Brown

At Nigali Pass, we descend into a dozen or more reef sharks that are waiting for their weekly lunch. Our divemaster, Moses, ties a couple of fish heads to the rock as guests and the sharks eagerly await him to back off. Once Moses signals for the feeding to begin, the snapper are first in and the sharks quickly follow. It is always over too quickly but the thrill lasts forever.

One of the highlights of Island Dancer II is the village visits and kava ceremony. We visited the village of Gau (now), where we were greeted by the friendly locals and led on a short tour of the village before entering the community house. We always elect one of the guests as our 'Chief' and that person accepts the first drink of kava from the village elders. The villagers then put on a great cultural show with traditional music and dancing, and they always invite the guests to join in.

We celebrated two of our guests' birthdays on this trip. Then raised a toast to Dimay and Austin on their honeymoon; we appreciate them sharing it with us!

I also gave a couple of presentations about sharks and underwater photography. I was happy to help two guests improve their underwater shooting skills. As a side note, if you want to kill a couple of hours, just get me talking about photography!

Shark at Nigali Pass

As a diver, everyone knows you can never get enough shark encounters!

Wayne B. Brown

As the trip ended, we parted ways as new friends heading back to the real world and looking forward to the next Aggressor/Dancer charter in our futures.

Click here for more information on Fiji Islands itineraries with Aggressor Fleet & Dancer Fleet or click here to check out the Komodo National Park Owner's Trip Report.

To dive with the owners, visit www.aggressor.com/dwo.php.