{"id":4373,"date":"2016-09-24T20:28:58","date_gmt":"2016-09-24T20:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=4373"},"modified":"2016-10-16T09:47:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-16T09:47:22","slug":"jaws-pacific-harbour-fiji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=4373","title":{"rendered":"Jaws – Pacific Harbour, Fiji"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shark-dive\"Are we crazy? Maybe. Certifiably crazy? Possibly. Why else would we willingly and knowingly jump in the water with dozens of bull sharks renowned for their voracious appetites and \u2018bite first, ask questions later\u2019 attitude? Because it\u2019s the world famous Shark Dive run by Beqa Adventure Divers. And as you\u2019ve probably guessed by now, we\u2019re not averse to a little adventure here and there.<\/p>\n

However, we didn\u2019t realize the adventure was going to start long before we got in the water. For starters, Pacific Harbour is the worst misnomer ever. It\u2019s a bay, a big bay open to the prevailing wind and swell from the south. There\u2019s a creek running through the mangroves that leads to a lagoon, but the road bridges and thin water make it a no-go zone for yachts. Happily we\u2019d picked a calm weather window so we opted to anchor in the bay just to the east of the creek entrance, in front of the Pearl Resort. (We\u2019ve since discovered the Pearl Resort has a new marina just inside the creek which could be available if the bay was untenable for anchoring).<\/p>\n

\"Anchored
Anchored off the Pearl Resort. Despite no wind we still had to contend with the rolling of a beam-on swell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The marina at the Pearl Resort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We arrived the day before our dive, and once the anchor was down we decided to go for a reccy to find the dive shop. We knew they were somewhere up the creek so armed with our ipad for navigation and phones, we took to the dinghy. The first dive shop we came to was just past the bridge on the right (Aquatrek). They also do shark dives, but we\u2019d heard so many good things about Beqa Adventure Divers that we went the extra mile (or two as it turned out).<\/p>\n

\"Aquatrek
Aquatrek is easy to find…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"but
but we were on a mission to find Beqa Adventure Divers – somewhere up the creek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So on we went, into the mangroves, past some rather nice homes on the banks. Every so often we\u2019d come to a junction in the creek and took a guess which way to go (because asking for directions is the Great Australian Crime, right?) We persevered in the hot sun until the tempers began fraying. We admitted defeat. I rang the dive shop and had a lovely conversation with the receptionist but by the end of it I was not much wiser about where the dive shop was. Finally we asked a local in his longboat who pointed further up the creek, and at last after 45 minutes of searching we were there! By road it\u2019s probably much easier to find as the dive shop is located within the grounds of the sadly run-down and neglected Lagoon Resort.<\/p>\n

\"At
At last success!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The unappealing pool at the Lagoon Resort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"complete
complete with rotting hulk in the backyard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now that we had our bearings it was easy to get there the next morning at 8am, and we tied our dinghy up to their dock. We\u2019d brought our own dive gear but used their tanks, and for a two dive package it cost us FJ$350 each. Not cheap, but as we can attest, well worth it. They run a very professional operation with good safety operations, and have never had any accidents or incidents. Well, that should help the confidence a little! When we arrived one of the boats had already gone out to the reef to \u2018chum\u2019 the water. I wasn\u2019t sure whether this was a very good or a very bad thing \u2013 will the sharks be satiated by the time we get there, or just wound up enough for a feeding frenzy??<\/p>\n

On the way out to Shark Reef we got a comprehensive dive and safety briefing \u2013 we\u2019d be descending first to \u2018the arena\u2019 at 30m where we\u2019d kneel behind a low coral wall and watch the bull sharks feeding off tuna scraps from a wheelie bin towed by a diver, then ascend to 18m where the grey reef sharks and other species come in, and finally up to 5m to the feeding station for the white and black tip reef sharks. Then after an hour break we\u2019d go to the second site where we\u2019d get even closer to the bull sharks while they were hand-fed. For this we\u2019d need to lie flat on our stomachs. No sticking your head up or holding your arm out on this one!<\/p>\n

\"Divers
Divers lined up behind the wall, watching the show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"I
I can see the whites of your eyes Bruce!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All I can say is WOW \u2013 what an experience. It\u2019s not every day you get up this close and personal to 20 or so bull sharks the size of combi vans zooming over your head! Of course, there are myriads of fish everywhere too. It was really very beautiful and I can honestly say I never felt at risk. The staff (there were a lot of them) obviously knew what they were doing and were ready with long metal prodders to deter any shark that came too close. Here\u2019s a link to our video on YouTube so you can check it out for yourselves:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VZ6YaIByZ0s<\/a><\/p>\n

The conservation and research components of the operation are also very impressive. They\u2019ve worked hard with the locals and the government to make the dive sites into marine reserves, so no fishing is allowed. In return, the local villages who \u2018own\u2019 the reefs receive compensation by way of a FJ$25 levy per head for the use of the reef. This way the sharks are hopefully protected. It\u2019s also a perfect opportunity for research \u2013 the sharks are named and listed on their website, and many are tagged to establish their range and habits, and which rivers they go to when breeding. During our dive we watched them take a tissue sample from one shark via a dart gun, to establish what percentage of their diet is made up of the tuna they\u2019re fed during the dives \u2013 they don\u2019t want them to become reliant on the hand-feeding and it seems they\u2019re not as their diet is full of many other species too (hopefully no humans in there!).<\/p>\n

It was truly one of the highlights of our trip so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are we crazy? Maybe. Certifiably crazy? Possibly. Why else would we willingly and knowingly jump in the water with dozens of bull sharks renowned for their voracious appetites and \u2018bite first, ask questions later\u2019 attitude? Because it\u2019s the world famous Shark Dive run by Beqa Adventure Divers. And as you\u2019ve probably guessed by now, we\u2019re … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Jaws – Pacific Harbour, Fiji”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Jaws - Pacific Harbour, Fiji\r\nCheck out the blog and video of our recent shark dive!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-svtoucan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6B46t-18x","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4373"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4378,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373\/revisions\/4378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}