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Ten terrific days for our film production crew and guests. Your graciousness in fulfilling all of our requests, your good humor, and your superb quality of service – from every person in each department – has been truly appreciated. Your lovely music added a special note to a trip full of diving, whales, great food and fun.
- Beth Davidow, Tom Campbell Productions, USA
- A Coup for Fiji's Coral Reefs
- NAI'A family grows old, err, sorry, grows up
- WANTED: Video & Photo Pro
- Cyber NAI'A: online booking launched
While coral reefs are increasingly gaining prime-time coverage around the world, the news is generally horrifying. Global warming, bleaching, overfishing, pollution. Coral reefs are dying. Right?
Maybe not. Certainly not in central Fiji where the reefs continue to flourish or have recovered from past stresses at an unprecedented rate. Marine conservation and research here has taken some exciting turns and twists. And NAI'A divers are seeing Fiji reefs at their most divine as well as finding new spots of diversity and abundance.
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Helen Sykes, a marine biologist who monitors many sites throughout Fiji including several NAI'A dive sites, announced in the latest Coral Reef Monitoring Network "Status of Coral Reefs" report that overall "Fiji's reef system is remarkably resilient" with "exceptionally rapid coral regrowth" on key NAI'A dives sites in the Vatu-i-ra Passage.
"Many reefs returned to pre-bleaching coral cover levels in less than 6 years," Sykes wrote.
At our celebrated Mount Mutiny seamount in Vatu-i-ra waters, Sykes discovered more reef cover than before the bleaching event of 2000! Other sites in Vatu-i-ra revealed shallow reef with the "highest coral cover of any reef surveyed in Fiji". And on deep Vatu-i-ra study sites, Sykes recorded "more than 80% coral cover, of which 40% is Acropora, the highest seen during the Fiji surveys."
Meanwhile, on Vatu-i-ra Island, new species of birds have moved in after the rats were moved out. At the urging of the traditional landowners, Birdlife International joined forces with the New Zealand Department of Conservation to eradicate the rats from the 2 hectare bird sanctuary where a major rat infestation decimated eggs and chicks. The Kiwi conservationists also teamed up with University of South Pacific scientists to eradicate rats on the 60 hectare island of Viwa at the westernmost edge of Fiji.
With the correct mix of expertise and poison, the Vatu-i-ra operation took only one day in July 06. The island today remains rat-free with far more chicks surviving and an influx of previously unrecorded bird species residing or nesting on the island. As team member Dr Craig Morley of USP said, "There's nothing fun about killing animals, but this was crucial for these islands and the project has been hugely successful."
Some NAI'A passengers will remember beautiful Viwa from our handful of journeys out there when the seas were calm enough! But regular NAI'A itineraries include an explore-ashore stop on Vatu-i-ra Island which is uninhabited – except, that is, for at least eight species of nesting seabird including Red-footed Boobies Sula sula, Great Crested-terns Sterna bergii, Black-naped Terns Sterna sumatrana and up to 30,000 pairs of Black Noddies Anous minutus. Don't look up with your mouth open!
Northeast at Namena, the country's largest and only legislated Marine Park is thriving under the watchful eye of the traditional "Qoli Qoli" owners and with the help of organizations such as Coral Reef Alliance and Wildlife Conservation Society. It's been a year since the ambitious protected area was established and already the villagers and visitors are experiencing the obvious effects of conservation management with more fishlife visible especially close to shore areas.
Namena's no-take marine reserve zones cover 70 square kilometers of the 260 square-kilometer traditional fishing ground of "Kubulau". In 2006 alone, 2500 tags were sold to divers visiting the marine park, the income from which provided 21 children with tertiary education scholarships. The money also built three 3 bus shelters, paid for boat-based reserve enforcement and bought a year's supply of toilet paper for the two Kubulau district schools!
The majority of the reserve area encircles spectacular Namena Island – a nesting ground for turtles and many bird species - and includes favourite NAI'A dive sites such as North Save-a-Tack, Kansas, School House, Thumbs and Fantasea.
The important work of a National Central Fiji Seascape, in particular the project to award World Heritage status to Vatu-i-ra, goes on. We were also recently involved in government discussions about a shark finning ban in Fiji's EEZ. We'll report more on this in following newsletters.
NAI'A family grows old, err, sorry, grows up
Foresail \fôr-sāl\ n: 1: principal sail forward of the foremast 2: deliberate misspelling of sale offer.
I can barely bring myself to write the words! But after 15 great years building and managing NAI'A, it's time to sell.
We have been fortunate to live our dream through NAI'A and Fiji. But our family's lifestyle priorities have changed dramatically. Our love of diving, specifically Fiji's stunning reefs and fishes, has not waned. But our day to day demands have. I turned 50 this year. Cat and I now have two gorgeous little girls under four who are increasingly curious about the wild wide world. I now spend more time in our kitchen than the ship's engine room, not to mention more time in our office than the ship's wheelhouse. Meanwhile, my business partners (sister and brother-in-law, Alexx and Todd) are just now launching their grown children into independence beyond school.
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NAI'A's strong reputation in our niche market almost demands that we expand the business. But, I have to admit, I'm more interested in taking my kids kayaking and joining the PTA.
People keep telling us we have breathtaking diving, a great ship and the best crew in the business. We also have solid forward bookings and the infrastructure in place to develop another ship or a land-based resort. Fiji remains one of the most adored and desired sea-change destinations. So, this is an ideal opportunity for someone to buy into a fantastic South Pacific lifestyle or a growing business.
Sounds intriguing? Call me in Fiji or find me at DEMA in the NAI'A booth (1039) in the South Pacific Village.
And the Oscar goes to…
"Sounds good, Rob. I might even apply for the position myself!"
- Howard Hall, Filmmaker, Photographer, Author & all-round nice guy
How does a sabbatical of tropical Pacific diving from NAI'A while building your photo and video library sound? We are searching for a series of the most talented, enthusiastic and charismatic underwater image pros to set up shop producing and selling trip videos onboard NAI'A for four to six months at a time. There is also the prospect of renting out still camera gear or teaching photo/video classes.
You will need your own shooting equipment and computer plus accessories. But we're looking for someone with a broader vision and probably a deeper understanding of marine ecology than the standard tourist-trip-video maker.
Interested? Email us right away. Even better - bring a sample of your skills to DEMA so we can see your work and get to know you personally.
Cyber NAI'A: online booking launched
NAI'A 2.0
Not long after NAI'A was launched, one of our passengers took me aside at the end of a trip.
"We love what you are doing and we'd like to help," she said. "Can we build you a website?"
"A website?" I replied, "Oh, I know all about the World Wide Web."
Well, 13 years after starting www.naia.com.fj I understand less about the Internet, not more. But our website has proven invaluable and we are about to take our virtual presence to the next level: Online Booking. Our enthusiastic and knowledgeable office staff remains just a phone call or email away. However, much of the mundane reservation and tracking detail can now be handled automatically and thus even more efficiently. Now you can scan our schedule for available slots or recent cancellations and reserve your place instantly. Returning passengers will find their application forms automatically populated and their discounts already calculated.
We were churning out tell-all trip diaries long before divers entered the Blogosphere. But soon enough we'll figure out how to feed the RSS. So look out for wiki NAI'A.
Best fishes,
Rob Barrel and Cat Holloway for the NAI’A Family
