A quick donning of gear and a good dive briefing preceded the back roll into the Kings Crown. Multiple pinnacles covered with yellow soft corals lent the name to this dive site. The pinnacles were honeycombed with swim throughs and a large 15 foot sea fan anchored the dive site. The current was moving at a pretty good clip as we spiraled up and through the pinnacles. Strong, straight legged kicks propelled you up current to locations in the lee of a pinnacle where you could stop and gaze into grottos full of soft coral designed by Salvador Dali and painted by Matise and Peter Max.Crazy! The tops of the pinnacles were a riot of corals, anemones and fish. In my first dive with Crystal Divers I saw more fish than in a week diving another location in Fiji. We dove this same pinnacle formation 5 or 6 times and never saw the same scenery twice. Our second day took us to a reef and wall structure 12 miles off shore. We saw 6-8 foot bump-head parrot fish, turtle, shark and the shallows awash with vividly hued animal and plant life. The trip to this off-shore oasis required relatively calm seas, which we experienced only once during our dives. Of course, on the day we left Fiji the sea was flat as a pancake.

Other dives took us through mazes of coral channels cut 60 ft. deep by 3 ft-8 ft. wide. Everywhere we dove the hard and soft corals predominated the view. There was so much color you began to get used to it until a new combination of coral, sea fans, clams and tunicates made you stop and gawk. Watching a 12 ft. Great Hammerhead Shark glide by at a distance of 12 ft. makes gawking an understatement. The open boat is comfortable for the six divers we had on board. There was adequate room for all the gear and a dry spot for storing towels, shirts, hats and glasses. The one hour surface interval was spent on board sipping hot and cold beverages and munching on goodies, telling stories and enjoying the sun. All part of the Crystal Divers experience which also includes a Splash Mountain return trip to shore! The return trip is invariably spent driving into the prevailing easterly wind with the accompanying wave action. Crashing into miles of whitecaps, it felt like there was a person standing on the bow of the boat hurling buckets of water into your face. One of the divers wore his mask for the trip back but left his snorkel off. After you slipped into the lee of a protecting island, the last half of the trip was merely bouncy and the chance of drowning while sitting in your seat was nil. A couple of buffet dinners with Dan, former Loma Loma manager Lynette, and Dan’s wife Alisi on Nananu-I-Ra made for a nice break from the fare at the Wananavu Beach Resort. We got to see another side of life in Fiji. Life is good.

—Kevin and Julie Cedergreen

E-mail: kevceder@gte.net

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