17/09/2026
Very special memories are created when passionate ocean lovers with a serious lifelong love affair with the sea, have the opportunity to share their deep appreciation for all things aquatic with beautiful souls who cherish nature and find the underwater world to be filled with wonder, adventure, mystery and intrigue.
Where do we even begin to describe such an incredible holiday with the most phenomenal bunch of diving peeps?
We have to begin with a heart-felt "thank you" to our wonderful group of
divers who came on this journey to paradise with us - we could not have
shared this incredible experience with a better, more appreciative group of
humans - taking each one of you with us was an absolute delight!! What a joy it was to celebrate our combined 70 years of scuba instruction with you!!
Our recent dive expedition to Paradise Taveuni was filled with special
experiences right from stepping on the plane with the most incredible group
of divers, all with elevated excitement and anticipation, through to flying
on specially arranged link flights (3 zippy bug smashers flown by talented
pilots) to get our group and all our dive/photographic equipment over to
Taveuni Island (known because of its natural beauty, as the ‘Garden Island of
Fiji’).
The aerial views of endless turquoise, aquamarine and emerald tropical reefs
we long to explore made us all the more eager to get submerged! The road
journey alongside the ocean from Matei airport to our quaint resort was
laden with palm trees, tropical foliage rich with colour, and happy Fijians
smiling and waving as we passed by.
The warm resort welcome, with the beautiful Fijian smiles of the resort
staff, and each of us spoilt with a foot massage, was only topped by the fun
engagement and much humour and laughter with the resort dive staff who
absolutely loved sharing their incredible aquatic realm with us. Manasa and
his wonderful team constantly busied themselves by organising and executing our magical dives and underwater adventures on the truly magnificent Rainbow Reef and the fringing reefs of Taveuni, Fiji! Add to all of this - ongoing full body massages whilst listening to the lapping of the ocean waves, multiple daily delicious tropical meals from produce grown at the resort and on the island, snorkelling and diving 10m from our bures (3 and sometimes 4 dives a day - woohoo!!), lots of laughter, fun, cocktails, music and singing with the most wonderful people, and you have the perfect recipe for the ultimate diving vacation! Oh wait - the home made, freshly baked 'Fiji-style' cinnamon rolls offered to us every day during our surface intervals on the boat dives were super-delish! Then there was the unique introduction to the exquisite Costasiella kuroshimae - more commonly known as the ‘Shaun the Sheep’ nudibranch all of 2mm long fully grown (whom we diving nutters were chaffing at the bit to meet) and the extended fly-by of the magnificent and mysterious all-black manta ray, all of this bound in crystal clear visibility - heaven on earth!
Paradise Taveuni is one of - if not THE - most beautiful, personalised
resorts in the world and their staff work incredibly hard to make it so!
The magical, dreamy location with immaculate, lush tropical gardens and
swings (yes - swings!) right on the crystal-clear water's edge (a hop, skip
and jump away from our bures - oh, how we love being this close to the
ocean!!), the swaying palm trees laden with fresh coconuts, the serenity,
the environmental beauty, the exquisite views from every single angle and
the unparalleled warmth and personalised care for us by our resort and dive
staff!!
The Fijians have a special word for the sparkle that the sun's rays create
on the surface of the ocean - "rasarasa", and sitting on the swings on the
edge of a small volcanic cliff right at the ocean provides the perfect
opportunity to enjoy this magical place, not only during the day but also
for one to drool over the ocean draped in moonlight each night!
This is just the beginning of our phenomenal adventure to Paradise Taveuni
and what an honour and a privilege it was for us to share this trip to
paradise and some of the world's best diving with such a beautiful group of
divers! We cannot wait to share more about this truly amazing trip over the
next few weeks!
Fiji - "we love you full speed, no brakes!"
All underwater pix on this post are taken by the very talented Kylie Jonasson with our sincere thanks for letting us share these amazing shots with you all!!
