Sometimes what seems like the biggest challenge turns into the biggest blessing. In American Somoa we noticed a problem with our dive compressor, sure enough when we arrived in Fiji, it would not fill tanks beyond 1500psi (half full). With good internet in Savu Savu we contacted the dealer in Sydney Australia and they suspect the fourth stage has failed. They have a piston and cylinder in stock and we arranged to have it shipped to Nadi later the month. Yet, the reality is that we are in some of the world’s best diving without a compressor.
Running between the moorings in our “micro dinghy” we stopped and chatted with a couple from Chicago on “Eagle’s Wings”. They have been cruising for 9 years, and this is their 3th season in Fiji, returning to NZ for each cyclone season. They offered that they were going to the Namena Marine Reserve and would be happy to fill our tanks.
Arriving in the Namena we anchored near Eagle’s Wings, and arranged to dive with Ken and Beth the next day. A couple days later, 3 NZ boats arrived – one of them, “Just In Time”, carry a big dive compressor unit onboard – 10 minutes a tank – Mark is having serious compressor envy. Soon enough, we were doing 2-3 dives a day with all these new diver friends we just made and having a blast.
We logged 12+ dives in the week at Namena and Makongai- absolutely spectacular – the best soft and hard coral we had seen. Check out the action in the video.
Namena island
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