Volume 7 Issue 1 ..................................................................January, 2000
"Far and away the best. The variety of diving, the critter encounters and the wonderful comfort and warmth of boat and crew place NAI'A in a class all of her own."
New Millennia, Old Friends & Good Times
"On the 180th meridian with champagne and video cameras in hand, NAI'A and her divers became the first in the world to greet the new Millennium and then, the next evening, the last on the planet to farewell the 20th Century."
As we fly from the tropics to the desert for DEMA in Las Vegas, NAI'A prepares for her regular dry-docking here in Fiji. She has proudly hosted yet another exciting and varied year of diving and discovery throughout the South Pacific. So now it's her turn for some TLC.
NAI'A's facelift includes a brand new hull extension aft that will replace the current stern deck entirely and bring her total length to 125 feet. The spectacular wooden wing mast that has served NAI'A through thick and thin is also being replaced with a simpler design enabling more frequent and efficient sailing - especially crucial to comfort during our many long voyages planned for 2000.
Our seventh year, 1999 inspired milestones aboard NAI'A in diving discoveries, staff additions, the number of both returning and new passengers and the sheer amount of ocean we crossed and explored. Prior to our most successful season yet of humpback whale research and diving trips throughout Tonga, NAI'A was again called upon to return to Nikumaroro in equatorial Kiribati. Dedicated TIGHAR researchers continued their relentless search for proof that the famously missing aviator, Amelia Earhart, landed and perished on the remote atoll with her navigator Fred Noonan.
Among the many old friends we welcomed back were Stan Waterman and Paul Humann, who each led one of their regular NAI'A expeditions. Both of these fascinating diving pioneers and naturalists will join NAI'A in 2000 for several journeys through Vanuatu and Fiji.
Home in Fiji, favorite old haunts such as Nigali Passage (a bumper crop of shark pups in ?99!) and E6/Mount Mutiny remain diving highlights, but we've also sought out and stumbled upon some astonishingly beautiful new sites - especially in the Bligh Water and Namena region, where corals and schooling fish are at their most vivid and dynamic.
To top off this tremendous year, NAI'A won the honor of the 1999 Fiji Visitors Bureau Excellence in Tourism Award for Diving "including a commitment to conservation and education". We are most proud of our crew and staff and we will endeavor in every way to uphold this high standard of service and spirit.
And our traditionally bizarre final dive of the year? Well, it was actually also the first dive of 2000. We sailed to remote Rabi Island to dive at midnight on the dateline (formal attire, darling), learn the the intricacies of guzzling champagne underwater (blow into the bottle) and then "gas-off" on the top deck under the Southern Cross (the Veuve Clicquot method of bubble replacement therapy).
This debaucherous bacchanalia was sustained throughout the journey among Fiji's northern islands. On-board celebrations were rivaled by our surprise invitation to a stirring Millennium performance of the exotic Micronesian Banaban dancers visiting their home village and the inspiring efforts of nesting turtles and their tiny courageous hatchlings negotiating sand crabs and boobies at Duff Reef!
Please accept our most sincere gratitude for your support of this NAI'A dream - and for the invaluable friendships we have forged through her. If you have traveled with us, you know that NAI'A is much more than a business, and we greatly look forward to opening up our floating home to more underwater adventurers in the coming years. To all our friends, clients, colleagues and potential passengers, here's to a New Year of more healthy oceans and exhilarating exploration.
The NAI'A family - Fiji Islands
Explore & Discover
Phoenix Rising: Kiribati 2000
Just three places remain on our 22-day exploratory diving and scientific research expedition throughout the Phoenix Islands in Kiribati, more than 1000 miles north of Fiji.
This exclusive and ambitious project is a collaboration between NAI'A divers and New England Aquarium (NEAq) scientists. The eight uninhabited and mysterious Phoenix atolls lie in one of the last places in the world where coral reefs and coastal fish populations exist unaffected by human settlement and development. It is ideal from a conservation biology perspective as a point of global comparison. For divers seeking new frontiers, Phoenix Rising is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Our dives among mantas, sharks, fish schools and turtles off Nikumaroro during the Amelia Earhart quests (97 & 99) so stunned and amazed us that we vowed to investigate the entire region. Limited to 8 passengers, the project funds a 4-strong research team led by Greg Stone and Austen Yoshinaga of NEAq, to survey whale and dolphin populations, assess coral and algae health, find new fish species and film deep water and benthic creatures - sperm whales once gathered here in thousands!
Please inquire directly for full details of this exciting expedition: June 24 - July 15, 2000: $15,000pp
Volcanoes, Whales & Virgin Reefs
NAI'A's Tonga seasons among humpback whales continue to thrill and delight. So much so that we have extended the length of our Tonga journeys in 2000 to 9 days. A complete Tonga experience is so rare and varied that we found it impossible to fully achieve in just a week - and still have time to relax!
The extra two days in the remote Ha'apai Islands not only fit in with airline schedules from USA and Fiji, they also allow for more precious time to swim or dive with giant whales as well as to explore the myriad never-dived reefs, idyllic tropical atolls and volcanic islands that we sail throughout during our search for the ultimate humpback whale encounter.
Our most popular itinerary - the annual 13-day Tonga to Fiji Expedition - is open again in 2000 due to a recent cancellation! Several berths are suddenly available on this extraordinary adventure that includes 6 days among whales and volcanoes in Tonga and 6 days diving Fiji's finest soft coral reefs and shark passages. One full day is spent sailing across the ocean between Tonga and Fiji. Contact us immediately to join us as this trip normally sells out 2 years in advance!
Double Click, You're Here!
Book NAI'A and your airline tickets online
The South Pacific's finest diving is now truly as close as your computer screen! Booking a berth on a NAI'A trip is now even easier thanks to the energies and expertise of Ed Staffin and Todd Jable of ePlanet Solutions. This technoduo have created an online reservation system that connects our friendly, knowledgeable staff in Fiji directly to international clients, maximizing the immediacy and accuracy of the World Wide Web.
Officially launched at DEMA this month, the new system is custom built to fit into our existing and much-loved website designed by Bonnie Pelnar of Under Watercolours. It allows the ever-changing availability aboard NAI'A to be updated and reflected constantly. This means that using a credit card, you can sign yourself up to join a journey right as you browse our website! Having our office book your airline tickets and side-trips is also just a click away. Living in Fiji, not only are we closely connected to what's fun to do and where's best to stay, but we can also get very competitive deals on air.
This secure and automated system clarifies and simplifies special requests such as Nitrox, video or camera rental and dietary needs. Soon, the site will also allow you to choose and purchase NAI'A merchandise and souvenirs. Behind the scenes, this technology will streamline the many administrative items such as applications, payment confirmation, waitlists and our mailing list!
Of course, we are still only a phone, fax or e-mail away for queries or just to say BULA!
NOW AVAILABLE: Spaces in 2000:
Feb 12-19 : Fiji
Feb 27 - Mar 8: Vanuatu
Mar 23 - Apr 2: Vanuatu
Apr 29-May 6: Fiji
May 6-13: Fiji
May 27-Jun 3: Fiji
Jul 24 - Aug 2: Tonga
Aug 3-12: Tonga
Sep 6 - 19: Tonga to Fiji (13-day expedition)
Sep 23-Oct 7: Total Fiji (14-day with Stan Waterman)
Nov 25 - Dec 2: Fiji
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