So Leslie's brother, Matt, and his girlfriend, Kristen, are in Fiji right now. They arrived May 1. We had been looking forward to their visit for a while since they are the last visitors we anticipate having before leaving the country. Matt, Kristen and I just returned from a trip to Leleluvia island for a PADI Advanced Open Water Course. Leslie was planning on coming as well but she was stricken by a horrible illness, the details of which I probably shouldn't post on this blog. So Leslie was stuck in Suva while the three of us were enjoying fantastic diving off Leleluvia. The Advanced Open Water course was, in my opinion, a bit of a joke since we really didn't learn any new skills, but the dives were a lot of fun. The best dive, by far, was a site known as "The Market". We saw at least 6 or 7 white tipped reef sharks, a grey reef shark, a hawksbill sea turtle, and a group of about 5 massive bumphead parrotfish. This was the first time I had seen bumphead parrotfish as they are highly endangered. Matt an Kristen seemed to really enjoy the dives.
I am hoping to take Matt out on the Dadakulaci (my boat) but the wind has picked up considerably in the past week so we may not be able to.
I don't know if Leslie mentioned this in her last post, but we have a definite date for Close of Service (July 14) and have already bought our tickets to Southeast Asia. The plan is to travel for about 4 months to Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia before heading back home. We are going to visit Phoenix, Portland, and Dallas when we return to the U.S. so we should be able to visit most of our friends and family.
Here are a few fish pictures I took during the dives:
Freckled Hawkfish
Regal Anglefish
White spotted Grouper
Freckled Hawkfish
Regal Anglefish
