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Fiji: Namena

40-50 metres visibility; fantastic fish life and corals. It's called Namena Island, in Fiji.

Location: South of Vanua Levu in the Koro Sea, Fiji.
You get there by chartered seaplane or by boat. Turtle Airways fly there in a Cessna Caravan, landing in the lagoon. You will then stay at Moody's Namena Lala resort and they will take you diving. Or, join one of the Fijian dive boats such as Matagi Princess or the Naia.

Namena is one of those spots where everyone would like to dive, but only few actually get there due to the island's remoteness.

The island itself is on the southern side of a circular coral reef about xx nautical miles SSW of Savusavu Bay, Vanua Levu.

Because the island is away from the main islands of Fiji, the visibility is good most of the time. There are spectacular walls, archways and marine life.
We did a dive called "Fish Patch" near the North Passage of the lagoon. With a visibility of at least 50 metres and good sun above we got very colourful shots of sweetlips at about 17 m depth. There is an underwater gully going in toward the reef with sandy bottom and corals on either side, full of fish. Sharks are resting on the bottom with their heads into the current to provide for continued oxygen flow.

Next to the gully there is an impressive arch of coral at about 8 m. Looks like you could get a submarine through the arch, probably exaggerated, but it is really big. Just west of the arch is the Fish Patch with a very beautiful coral head full of all colours of fish in many sizes, at about 6-8 m depth. The fact that it is so shallow means that colours stand out really well, it is beautiful to film. Thousands of assessorfish stay put wiggling in the current or swarm around the bommy in sync.
This is the ideal place to shoot a diver or model with fish and corals between camera and diver. We got some really nice sequences with a diver slowly following a clown triggerfish around the coral head.

Don't forget to decide whether to use or not to use your filter once you get back up to the shallow part of the dive. With a colour viewfinder you are almost prompted, when you work with a black and white viewfinder, it is so easy to forget. Sometimes I find, though, that even at a shallow depth, use of the filter is justified, specially in overcast conditions. At other times the colours just don't look right to the trained eye, but the novice would think it looks great.

There are other good dives at Namena, once you get there, get the locals to explain the best and then go for it.

Hans la Cour
hans@tradewind.co.nz