THE SIRENE CALL OF FIJI: San Diego Shark Diving at Aqua-Trek, Pacific Pearl Beach Resort, Beqa Lagoon

The Pacific Pearl Beach Resort is located at Pacific Harbor, a few miles from Suva on the road to Nadi.  It is situated on the beach of famed Beqa Lagoon which has gained a reputation for dramatic shark diving as well as beautiful reefs.  San Diego Shark Diving Company owned and operated by “Doc” Paul Anes organized a trip that offered a chance to dive with the company that had brought international attention to the shark diving activity: Aqua-Trek.  Their shark-oriented dives had been featured by such dive leaders as Howard and Michelle Hall and Stan Waterman who filmed the activity and they had been chosen as finalists in a competition sponsored by the World Tourism Group for eco-based entrepreneurship. 

The Pacific Pearl package offered room with breakfast for a week and a daily two-dive boat trip including two days of shark dives.  Additional dives were available if desired.  The large pool and scenic grounds provided a luxurious resort atmosphere.  Convenient village shopping, restaurants, and a selection of tours were available.  Some guests went river rafting, for example.  One night a native foods dinner was enjoyed at a condo resort next door complete with kava ceremony and entertainment.

The coral reefs of Beqa Lagoon were surprisingly lovely and the photo results were gratifying.  The group that made this journey turned out to be funny and delightful companions who were lively and eager to get the most out of their Fiji experience.  Because these guests were “spread out” all over the resort, the contact was not as close as on a liveaboard, but, nevertheless, a community spirit developed during the course of the week that yielded a strong bond of friendship and commonality.  We shared photos, experiences, and good wishes for each other. 

The highlight of the trip was probably the shark diving especially the day the tiger sharks appeared.  The group was grateful that the two big tiger sharks were “friendly” and that they thrilled us by coming very close without using any advantage of their awesome size and power.   In fact, the shark “wranglers” of Aqua-Trek had more on their hands to “control” the divers than the sharks!

We were able to obtain some terrific video and stills of the variety of sharks that showed up for the feast: nurse sharks, bull sharks, white tip reef sharks, gray reef sharks, black tip, and, of course, the tiger sharks!  A huge collection of tropical fish gathered around also, and the activity even attracted a large napoleon wrasse.  The only problem with diving with Aqua-Trek was that they did not offer Nitrox.  That would have been helpful for the profiles we were diving.

In general, the diving was well organized with proper safety lines, arrangements, briefings, and space on the dive boat.  However, there was little consideration for photographic gear in terms of rinse buckets or other special provisions.  There was no shower on board.  BYO rinse water.  We were given drinks and cookies after the first dive.  Dive gear could be left on the boat, rinsed by the crew, and prepared for the diving the next day.  Items such as computers and cameras were taken off by individuals.  We wore our suits back to our room where we washed everything in the tub and hung it out to dry on our patio. 

Staying at the Pacific Pearl was definitely a change of pace from being on a liveaboard.  And, doing two dives a day was a reduced “diet of dives.”  However, this level of activity provided more time to edit photos and deal with the increased demand of energy to move gear and fit in other activities such as shopping, having a look around, seeing something of other sights and sounds of Fiji.  We enjoyed the opportunity to “kick back” and slow down a bit before racing off to another week of intense liveaboard diving.  Doc runs a good trip!

I found a nice video of the shark dive on You-Tube that shows the shark dive that we had with Aqua-Trek.  The link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S7mWjRqcMg

Our own video is quite similar.