Snorkeling Holidays

17 – 23 July and 2 – 9 October, 2010

A fantastic week of snorkelling, learning and exploring in Fiji.

The reefs around Vanua Levu provide some of the most rewarding snorkelling in the world. If you don’t want to dive the reefs, this week will give you the chance to see sharks, rays, turtles and many species of reef fish and corals.

In the evenings, an experienced marine biologist will give talks on the marine environment and brief you on the next day’s snorkel. He will come with you to guide the snorkel and point out some of the wonders of the ocean on an all-day field trip.

Below the water is definitely the centre of the week, but we’ll also show you a lot of Fiji above the water. Visits to schools, farms and villages are included.

This is a week of learning and a fabulous holiday as well.

And you are welcome to arrive earlier in the week or stay on later – we’ll just charge you at regular room rates less 15% if you’re on the course.

Saturday
Introductory lecture and field trip with Johnnie Singh, marine biologist, to Nuggets.

Sunday
Field trip day with Johnnie Singh to Lighthouse.

Monday
Morning: Snorkel to Split Rock.
Afternoon: Town Visit.
Evening:  Lecture on Conceptual Coral Reefs

Tuesday
Morning: Snorkel to Cousteau Marine Reserve.
Afternoon: Snorkel to Charlie’s Reef.
Evening: Lecture by Robin Irwin, former Government Minister, on Fijian politics.

Wednesday
Morning: Snorkel to Mystery Reef.
Afternoon: Excursion to Pearl Farm
Evening : Lecture on ‘Cities under the sea’

Thursday
Morning: Snorkel to Lesciaceva Reef.
Afternoon: Excursion to school at Urata village.
Evening at Yacht Club and dinner at Surf & Turf Restaurant.

Friday
Morning: Snorkel to Lighthouse.
Afternoon: Visit to Vivili village
Evening: Lecture on Coral Critters

Saturday
Leaving Ceremony and departure to Nadi.

And you can snorkel off our beach whenever you want – we have a small but pretty reef right outside the front of the resort.

Cost: F$1615 twin share. F$1615 is approx AUD$1050 / US$850 – we take payment in Fiji dollars and your bank will advise you the rates they charge.Single supplement F$400.
Includes accommodation, all meals, excursions, equipment.

Not included: Travel – but we are happy to help book your domestic flights if you’d like, and we’ll pick you up from Savusavu airport.

Bookings: This week can be booked directly with Daku Resort on reservations@dakuresort.com

Sites in more detail

Split Rock
Split Rock is 200 metres off shore; a large coral head, it is named for the distinctive split down one side. At the bottom of the split you can see purple gorgonian fans and pale yellow soft corals. At the entrance to the split a fierce clown fish defends her anemone and the male takes refuge in its fronds. When a female clown fish dies, the male changes sex and becomes female, and he next male moves up the hierarchy. There’s a large school of inquisitive black and white sergeant fish nearby; they will come right up to you and often give your fingers a gentle nip. There is a glorious abundance of orange and purple anthias and golden damsels near the surface; a little deeper, parrotfish can be seen nibbling away at the coral, and a large brown spotted grouper glides shyly away. There are two large clams on the rock, and several small green fern corals. Split Rock is one of the most colourful and enchanting sites of the bay, and endlessly fascinating in visit after visit. The top of the coral head is 3 foot deep, and the base is about 30 foot deep.

Golden Nuggets
Some 700 metres past the point of the peninsula, the twin pinnacles of Golden Nuggets offer anther magnificent display of smaller fish. The first pinnacle has purple and orange anthias, the beautiful iridescent blue sapphire damsels, Moorish idols with their lazy grace, and the blue damsel fish guarding his garden against intruders – human or fish. On the second pinnacle you will see schools of surgeon fish and snapper fish. Quite often a white tipped shark is around, utterly arresting in its fearsome power – but not aggressive to humans and very well fed on the fish life. You will also see magic coral which turns from bluey-brown to white when threatened and is hardly known outside Fiji.

Lighthouse
At the edge of the reef which runs out from Savusavu Bay is a lighthouse, which gives its name to the site. There are numerous plate corals, soft spaghetti corals with tentacles swaying in the currents, and many fish – trumpet fish, pale green damsel fish, humpbacked wrasse and maori wrasse. We sometimes see a turtle at this sight,
always a treat – and occasionally a shark cruising deep below.

Charlie’s Point
About half a kilometer past the end of the peninsula, Charlie’s Point offers reefs in two directions. One way is a relatively shallow reef with coral heads on a sandy sea bottom; the other way goes out towards the deeper sea and there is a wall dropping down to about 50 metres. There are mainly hard corals here, with many of the blue-tipped corals. You will see clouds of blue damsel fish; trumpet fish, wrasse, damsel fish – and possibly cuttlefish who are likely to disappear, leaving only a squirt of black ink as evidence of their presence.

Mystery
This is an isolated reef out in the bay, a bit further than the other sites. It’s scattered with coral heads covered in multi- coloured soft corals. You’ll see Spanish mackerel, coral trout and unicorn fish.

Coral Gardens
The Coral Gardens are best dived at mid to high tide as they are in relatively shallow Water. They are a reef running along the shore line near Split Rock – you’ll see many types of coral including staghorn coral, brain coral, finger coral, table coral and cabbage (lettuce) coral. Fish life is abundant. One of the pleasures of this area is the sense of swimming through the maze of interlocking coral heads – and if the tide is low, be cautious as you can easily cut yourself. And because its shallow, you’ll also see mushroom corals and sea cucumbers on the ocean floor.

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