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 The winds continued to blow as we went back to meet with the owner of Crystal Divers, Dan Grenier, to discuss our diving activities for the coming week. And I knew there was a problem already. They didn't have a boat.
Well, they actually did, but the court had it due to a partnership battle, which Dan had just won. The boat however, was still in Suva.
Dan explained the situation and said if all went well, he'd have it back in a couple of days. In the meanwhile we could go out on one of Ra Diver's boats, which was pretty small for the task, but better than no diving at all. Which was pretty much where the weather had us anyway. Breaking seas, blowing winds and pouring rain for the next day and a half. A huge tropical low was moving through which we promptly named Tropical Storm Donna after our travel agent that wasn't there to defend herself. Better her than I.
Luckily, through superior trip planning, I had figured in a by day to the middle of the week, which we moved up to cover the rain delay. So we had plenty of time to get into Fiji time. Senga  Na Lenga (no worries) was our theme.
After a rough start on the crowded small boat, the diving was fine. Great even, as we dive Hi-8, Black Magic Mountain, Vatu Express and many other of Dan's favorite sites. The walls were covered technicolor hues of colorful soft corals and gorgonian sea fans, with hard coral gardens on top, housing an awesome variety of fish. No where that I have dived, from the Caribbean to even the Red Sea have I seen such diversity.
Water temperature was a constant 84-86F. Visibility was pretty good at 80-100', with some plankton in the water, which was worst on the close in reefs (we only dove those once).
Dan's boat the Crystal Explorer is by far one of the nicest day boats I've ever been on. A 40' jet boat, it flew over the waves and had a broad covered deck to shade us from the very hot sun, which decided to come out. He even threw in a third dive one day to make up for the problems. (continued on page 3)
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