SavuSavu - Fiji Islands
In June of 1995, my wife Janine and I took a group of fish-loving divers to the
Fiji Islands. Although our original plan was to go to Kandavu, we ended-up having
to go to Savusavu. When I was told by our dive travel agent that they neglected to
save us the space at Kandavu, and that Savusavu was an adequate substitute, I must
admit I was a bit suspicious! But, I was pleasantly surprised with our diving
experience at this less popular location. The first thing that struck me about
this area was the terrestrial beauty. It definitely rates as one of the most
picturesque places I have ever seen! We did our diving with Eco Divers, a
small set-up that caters to the avid underwater explorer. They have two zodiacs,
which can make for some rough rides when the wind blows, but fortunately most of
the dive sites are less than 20 minutes from the dock. Liz and Curly, the owners,
were very accommodating and safety conscious.
Although the diving was not the best I had seen in the Fiji Islands, it was certainly
good. There were extensive stony coral gardens, walls, reef pinnacles (i.e., bommies)
and rubble slopes, which provided suitable habitat for a fairly rich fish fauna.
One of my favorite habitats were the rubble slopes. Here, at a depth of about 20 m,
I was able to find the redmargin fairy wrasse, a beautiful member of this diverse
family that is not regularly encountered by divers. This wrasse was observed
mingling with groups of the more ubiquitous fine-spotted fairy wrasse. These
slopes are also home to loose groups of juvenile bluehead tilefish, which mixed
with feeding purple queen anthias (or fairy bass). The juvenile tilefish are
thought to be social mimics of the anthias. The most noteworthy resident on the
reef walls were the fathead or hawkfish anthias, which were common at depths
in excess of 17 m. I have never seen this species in any numbers any where else
in the Indo-Pacific, but it was abundant here! One of the most beautiful dive
sites is known as "The Nuggets." This dive site consists of a series of reef
pinnacles that are truly topographical gems! The base of the pinnacles is at
about 14 to 15 m, while the tops were about 6 to 9 m feet under the water's
surface. The shoreward sides of the pinnacles are veneered in yellowish-orange
soft corals known as Scleronephthya. There are gorgonians and stony
corals on the top of the pinnacles, with clouds of lyretail anthias hanging
over the multicolored substrate. At the base of the pinnacles, there are sea
anemones, with resident blackfinned anemonefish (the unusual Fijian color form),
mantis shrimps (including a stunning orange species), slingjaw wrasse, bicolor
angelfish, maiden or orange-spotted gobies, dash-and-dot goatfish and a number
of other piscine residents. I also found a Fiji blenny, an endemic to these
islands, on the top of one of these pinnacles. There were also nudibranchs,
sea stars and a plethora of other inverts. The night dives at "The Nuggets"
were also very fruitful. Some members of the night crew included the zebra
lionfish, the raggy scorpionfish, a beautiful orange-marbled shrimp of the
genus Saron that has yet to be described, and decorator crabs, one
of which had placed false corals (corallimorpharians) on the top of its
carapace.
Although it does not have the large pelagic fishes and soft coral gardens of
Taveuni or Bequ, Savusavu is a scenic place to visit and does have some good diving,
especially for the underwater naturalist interested in seeing some different fish
species and a variety of reef habitats.
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