The resort's centerpiece is its large, attractively furnished, high-ceiling Great House, with a bar, lounge area, and dining area (though most meals were served outside on the well-kept grounds). For three nights, my buddy and I were the only guests, so I had time to thumb through the library, quaff Kava with five sweet-voiced guitar players and a ukulele [sic] player from a nearby village, and chat with the friendly manager, Lynette Mercer, who was always available to handle a request. Most Fijian resorts make people feel like family, but Lynette brought us into the inner sanctum. Before our bags were unpacked, she apologized for a minor sewage problem they were having, gave us a tour of the dive shop and the out-of-the-way staff quarters, and introduced us to everyone she could find. Having managed resorts on Fiji from 1970 (she and her ex owned Namale), Lynette has put together a comfortable operation in a place supplied mainly by an occasional barge from the big island. It ain't easy.

Perhaps the biggest difficulty is getting top quality food, Lynette explained. While there were always plenty of fresh mango, pawpaw, and pineapple at every meal, main courses were simple. Lunch: noodleless eggplant and hamburger lasagna, tuna melts, or hamburgers and fries. Sample dinners: cole slaw with peanuts, lightly battered and fried trevally, with vegetables and a birthday fruit cake; lamb chops and steak with potato salad and green salad, and ice cream over chopped fruit; or creamy pawpaw-and-ginger soup, baked half chicken, carrots, roasted potatoes. The wine was decent, drinks inexpensive, beer and soda gratis. While the meals fit right in with this distant outpost, my vegan buddy struggled -- though Lynette did her best to accommodate.

I did have a little trouble sleeping, since the fan didn't move enough air in the hot summer. But the large bed, shrouded in mosquito net, was comfortable enough, and so was the 700 square foot bure, decorated in Tongan and Fijian prints. There were three small couches in the living area, plenty of storage room, a refrigerator stocked daily with soft drinks and beer, and a sizable bathroom with plenty of hot water for a shower or bath (if you let it run for five minutes) and fresh beach and bath towels. Downright comfy living.

While Loma Loma measures up to this traveler's standards, it is the diving that stands out. I made eleven dives; not one would I consider only average. My initial shallow dive at South Beach, on the afternoon arrival, was the least in corals -- antler, brain, finger -- and plenty of fish. I spotted a man-sized thorny ray with a missing tail, floating blue jellies (a couple with fish, probably juvenile trevallies, inside), and a remora that spent the dive trying to latch onto my buddy, only to fly off with joy when a ray came by. Here also I spotted a lionfish -- oddly, the only one I saw. At Cori's Place, three to six foot whitetip sharks ambled by every few minutes. The next dive, while my buddy studied a spider shell, a hundred trevallies swam past; she missed them. At the Never Ending Story, we drifted along a wall below 100 feet, past a forest of soft yellow corals -- not as dense as Fiji's famous White Wall, but fascinating nevertheless. First dives went as deep as 110 feet, with total bottom time about 50 minutes. Ben would signal when he wanted us out. Often we would offgas in resplendent shallow coral gardens. I would return with 700 to 1,000 psi, but we always started with our 3,300 psi Cochran aluminum tanks full.

On Sunday we skipped a dive to attend church; the service was indecipherable, but the choir was melodic. I wore a sula -- a Fijian man's skirt -- that Lynette had on hand. Another church serves the residents of Tongan heritage, who still wear the traditional mats around their waists. A few afternoons I snorkeled, once circumnavigating the resort island. I found sea cucumbers and pipefish weaving like cobras, little triggers, upside-down jellies, lots of nice hard coral, clownfish, and anemones, and several large live cowries. You can also take a 20-minute stroll around the island, water ski, wind surf, or just pass hours playing with Frazier, Lynette's playful puppy.

While at Loma Loma, I dived three dives with Italian photographer Frederico Busonaro, who is about to publish a book on underwater Fiji sponsored by the Fiji government and other organizations. While Beqa has its soft coral lagoon and Taveuni the Somo Somo Straits, Loma Loma, says Frederico, has it all. That's my take too.

So if you make this journey, give a little thanks, especially to your fellow readers, who trust you will respect the virgin diving; there's so little left in this world.

- Ben Davison