Snorkeling
Our next stop for some snorkeling was at the famous Namena Marine Reserve, not far away from Savusavu. Established in 1997, Namena is the largest no-take reserve in Fiji. This reserve’s beautiful high-biodiversity reef boasts an incredible arry of invertebrates and corals, as well as over 1.200 fish species. Besides Namenalala Island is an important seabird nesting area, protecting over 600 pairs of red-footed boobies, and is a nesting ground for the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle.
As Namena has so much to offer, we went twice. First just for a couple of days as the weather forecast said “no wind”, which of course sounds tricky while being underway on a sailboat! I know,… all you want is WIND! But…. for this Island the snorkeling is most impressive without wind! So that was what we were after….
The second time was on our way South to reach another Island great for snorkeling too, called Makogai. I tell, you visiting Namena more than once was a dream! It has been my best snorkeling so far! The first time we literally swam from the boat into the crystal clear ocean to the nearby “Hope Reef” fringed with coral reefs and the most colourful fish!
Captain Craig pointed me several out. I was overwhelmed when I saw my first turtle, wasn’t scared anymore, but intrigued when spotting reef sharks, couldn’t get enough of the yawning damselfish or when being surrounded by impossibly large schools of bigeyed trevally, yellowtail, numerous pink, orange and yellow anthias, and bannerfish. There were too many fish to name them all… especially being a novice as myself!
Reef wonderland
It was great to see, that Craig was impressed to. Apparently to see a Napoleon wrasse on a dive is a treat,… but how about seeing four of them snorkeling! The unicorn fish were funny, lots of black and white dotted fish, …. I called them “zebra’s” as not knowing better… , the sweet lips and the most colourful creatures with turquoise-purple-green-blue shades such as the parrot fish and emperor angelfish.
My legs got totally sun burned! Never thought I would be able to swim for that long. Our first snorkeling was over 2,5 hours! We got a rest at the boat and went out to explore another reef. This time further away, taking advantage of the perfect windstill weather conditions. I was in awe again! Drifting around attached to the dinghy this time we effortless kept going with the current. Every day in Namena was about at least 4-6 hours of snorkeling!
The coral was impressive too. We just got an alert on our phone a day before about coral bleaching. The truth is, the ocean was hot! You would think of a refreshing dip… but no. The water was way to hot, which is not good for the coral. I have nothing to compare…. but now after a few times, I can say… I have seen a lot of white, pale coral around. Here fortunate enough there were plenty of lively colours to observe. I loved the antlers, and variety of hard and soft corals. Craig took some pictures with his Go-Pro… but they don’t do any justice to the colours we experienced!
Namena Island Resort
From the sailboat we could see that construction work was going on at Namena Island Resort. The Island was badly hit by the tropical cyclone Winston in 2016 in which the Resort “Moody’s Namena” was completely destroyed.
We had a chat with some of the workers, on their Sunday-off about all the units they were building. Landscapers were doing a great job and a steep path along flowers was leading us uphill for a breath-taking view.
We spotted a million of red-footed boobies. Beautiful to watch, but very loud especially at the time the sun would go down. The smell of them was very present too. But what a pleasant Island to discover both the beauty of the “under-water-world” as well as the lush forest full of screaming and singing birds!
