North Save-a-Tack Passage
North
Save-a-Tack Passage is the dive site which drew Cousteau
to Fiji. This site has it all (when the current is right):
concentrated schools of big fish and phantasmorically
beautiful soft coral bommies. With an incoming current
(which is not synonymous with a rising tide), divers drop
into the deep blue and swim along a sheer wall which tops
out in about 100 feet. On the plateau above the wall,
giant schools of bigeye trevally, scad, and barracuda
are watched over by several gray reef sharks. On the periphery,
white-tip sharks lie napping on the bottom in preparation
for their night-time forays.
When
your computer finally signals the end of your time on
the plateau among the big guys, you let the current carry
you deeper into the channel, where a line of bommies rise
nearly to the surface. Two of the bommies are connected
by an arch you could drive the ALVIN through. The sides
and tops of the bommies are alive with color: gorgonia
fans, black coral, soft coral, and every reef fish imaginable.
As if this weren't enough, you can allow yourself to drift
even further into the channel to Kansas, a small bommie
covered with Sinularia soft coral which looks just like
wheat fields swaying in the wind. This spot deserves at
least two days of diving to appreciate fully.
