I just spent the best week of diving I’ve ever had with Dan Grenier’s Crystal Divers. The coral reefs off the coast of Fiji’s Nananu-I-Ra look like they were visited by a manic underwater landscaper who felt compelled to fill every nook and cranny with some form of soft or hard coral! I think I saw every anemone fish, personal favorites of mine, that I’ve ever seen in the books. At just one site I saw schools of large bumpheaded parrotfish, chevron barracuda, unicorn fish, surgeonfish, three free-swimming remora and an 8’ gray reef shark. We saw 4’ gorgonians, unbroken elkhorn corals 25’ in diameter, and huge, unbroken sea fans that would fill an archway view to the surface. Just about every site we visited was so full of undamaged corals, fish and invertebrate life that there was little reason to do any swimming.

On top of all this, Dan was a wonderful guide. He has many, many years of experience and has the ability to take new divers by the hand, if needed, while allowing more experienced divers to dive their own profiles. He instilled both a great sense of confidence and a sense of adventure for this pristine area. I’ve made numerous dive trips through the Caribbean and Pacific and plan to make this one the first to visit for a second time. If you go, please tell Dan "Bula" for me and ask him about Grandma’s Fantasy Dome.

Jane Killa

E-mail: Jane.Killa@Digital.Com