Dive plan
This is our dive plan for our first dive, to 32 metres...the list on the right is the types of shark we are likely to encounter...
Our trusty dive boat
It could carry enough tanks for about 22 people to do two dives...
The Beqa Lagoon
I did 4 dives here, all of which were spectacular...I saw all kinds of things including Lion fish, Scorpion fish, Ghost coral, Moray eels and sharks coming out the wazoo
The Beqa Lagoon
On the way to the dive site, the weather was perfect, and the lagoon was as flat as a mill pond
The Beqa Lagoon
And the weather was glorious...
The Beqa Lagoon
Beqa is pronounced 'Bengga' in english...this is the view back towards Pacific Harbour
Dive Site
To attract a wide range of 'large' fish, and especially sharks...we brought 500 kg of raw fish with us...
Let's go!
Giant stride entry for the first dive to 32 metres...
Sharks
One of the many sharks attracted by all the blood and dead fish...
Maori Wrasse
These friendly guys will happily follow you around for a full dive...
Approaching maximum depth
I'm on the left, attempting to equalise my ears
Feeding time
One of our Fijian divemasters swims towards us carrying about 100kg of dead fish in a wheely bin
At maximum depth
Everything's OK at 32 metres...no tigers here yet
A gray reef shark
These guys grow up to about 2 metres
Two gray reef sharks
There were about 20 reef sharks, black tip, white tip and gray, swimming around us for the duration of both dives
Black tip reef shark
These guys don't grow much over a metre in length
Bull shark
These guys can grow up to 3 metres in length...and were being hand-fed...
Bull shark
...being hand fed...
Bull shark
...making off with his 'prey'
Dive #2
The second dive was to a depth of 16 metres, and was when we saw the tiger..
Tiger shark
This guy was 4.5 metres long, and is a known man-eating shark....and he was being hand-fed...
Tiger shark
Not only was he hand fed, but he was stroked as well! Just after this, the tiger swam past all of us in a line and gave us the evil eye - very very very scary
Tiger shark
Beginning his fly-by
Tiger shark
Hand fed his second dose of fish
Tiger shark
He could have cheerfully swallowed any one of us whole...I can safely say that swimming with that guy was the scariest thing I've ever done
Tiger shark
Here you can clearly see the stripes which give him his name...
Tiger shark
While everyone else is staring at the tiger, I'm catching the camera man's eye, letting him know that I'm fine!
Tiger shark
Comes back for his third dose of food. At about this time, we start to run out of fish to give him, so we get out of the deep water...
Tiger shark
Apparently, this tiger is one of three that regularly comes to the dive site - one of the others is about a metre longer
Gray reef shark
Once we're back in about 6 metres of water, we only encounter reef sharks - which none of us would ever fear again...
White tip reef shark
These guys were everywhere...
Moray eel
In return for some food, this eel let us tickle him!
Back to the boat
After all that excitement, it was nice to get back to the safety of the boat and have some tea and biscuits...
Pacific harbour
...and back to Pacific harbour to tell Susan I'd survived...