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We went on our second day of shark diving today, this time with Aqua Trek. The diving was amazing just like it was yesterday with Beqa Adventure Divers and we're so glad we went with both companies as each one gave a different experience and we got to see different things!
Like yesterday morning our pick up was late, so Chris ended up calling the company to find out where they were. They finally got us and apologised over and over, we didn't really care that much though, we were too excited about diving today to be annoyed. So we got to the office and paid for our diving which was 270 Fijian dollars each, then we sorted our gear out and boarded the boat. We noticed (and could smell) the large wheelie bins at the back of the boat filled with shark goodies. They smelled a lot worse than the bins on the boat yesterday, we found out this company didn't use only large tuna heads to attract the sharks, they also used guts! I gagged every time the stench wafted over, thank god the dive site was only fifteen minutes away!
This dive site was called Lake Reef Bistro. Unlike yesterday's site the sea here was really choppy which made it awkward to move about on the boat, especially with heavy tanks on your back. So not to waste any more time than needed, the guys got the briefing over with and we all jumped in. We were surprised and stunned as soon as we got under water, thousands of remora fish surrounded us! We had only seen the odd one or two, usually attached to another creature like Manta Rays or Whale Sharks but this was ridiculous, there were so many! Up close we noticed how weird they looked, long and grey with a flat square patch on their heads which they used to stick to almost anything. Hundreds were now attached to the bottom of the boat and they were also attaching themselves to the dustbins the feeders were carrying. While we were still getting over the sight of so many remora fish I suddenly felt my arm grabbed by one of the dive masters. He was pointing towards a three meter nurse shark swimming directly beneath us! We told the guys earlier that we really wanted to stroke one just like Elise had done on her dive so they took us down towards it. As we swam closer it was obvious the shark wasn't interested in us, it wanted what was in those wheelie bins! Like a dog searching for scraps, we watched the nurse shark stick its head inside one of the bins, the rest of its long golden body and tail was poking out and wagging gently. I was first to go over to it, without gloves on I was able to feel its rough sand paper like skin as I stroked gently across its body. It felt strong and solid and I couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous that it might suddenly jolt once it realised I was there, but the shark just kept eating. After a minute I swam back to Chris, then he went over. Unlucky for him the shark swam away, Chris was gutted!
We carried on down to twenty five meters where we sat and waited for only a moment before we were surrounded by seven different species of shark. Two huge lemon sharks, three nurse sharks, at least ten fat bulls and black, white, silver and grey tip reef sharks, all large in size. It appeared the smaller younger sharks tend to stay at shallower depths. The remora fish were still everywhere and Chris managed to stroke one as one swam by him. There were also giant travelli about, they were huge! We were all shocked to see one the size of a small car!!!! They all had evil looking faces and sharp teeth and this particular massive one looked more intimidating than the bull sharks!
Yesterday we were all told to keep down low and away from the sharks, incase of an injury! But these guys were a lot more relaxed and were happy for some of us to get involved. Me and Chris got to swim out into the middle of it all while two large three meter nurse sharks were still feeding. This time Chris got to stroke the shark from head to tail and also thought their skin felt like rough sand paper, not smooth and silky like I thought yesterday.
The first lot of food started to run out after twenty minutes so we all began to move again, at first we weren't clear where to go, everyone was splitting up! We followed the two dive masters that let us stroke the sharks as they were fun to be around. They took us into the space where the sharks were still feeding to help us look for shark teeth on the floor, the sharks and travelli's were swimming above and in between us! Chris found four bull shark and a couple of grey tip teeth but I didn't find any, I was too distracted by the sharks all around us. The guys pretty much let us swim where we wanted after that so we carried on looking for teeth and watched the sharks until we had to do our safety stop and finally go back up.
Getting back on the boat wasn't easy, the sea was still really choppy and we almost smashed our bodies against the boat ladder on every wave. After several failed attempts we stripped our gear off in the sea and finally climbed on board.
The sun was out but we felt chilly from the wind so we sat and warmed up at the back of the boat. Remora fish were swimming around our feet which we dangled in the water so Chris grabbed some left over fish guts which were just behind us and started feeding them. They went crazy for it! One of the guys saw us then came over and challenged Chris to try catch one. For fifteen minutes he tried but just couldn't get a grip on their slivery bodies. I thought it was really funny watching him get frustrated but it also wasn't a fair contest. The guy then had his turn but he had a glove on so caught one on his first go. We were shocked when he pulled it up, it had three huge chunks taken out of it, probably by a shark! We were surprised it was still wriggling and so alive!
We sat there chatting until it was time to get ready and go back in again, then we dived down to twenty meters to watch the feeding frenzy. This time we saw two three meter nurse sharks, about twenty big fat bull sharks, a mixture of black, white, grey and silver tip reef sharks, but no lemon sharks. It was wicked seeing them eat again, we got to move closer to them, right next to where the guy was feeding them. This time they also had a box which was full of fish heads. I looked around us and suddenly noticed two massive moray eels right behind us! They were both looking directly at us with their jaws open as if to be begging for food. So one of the feeders gave us a chunk of fish and let us hand feed them. I felt sorry for one of them, it had a broken jaw so it couldn't grab hold of the food easily, which meant I had to bring my hand in closer!
Chris said one of the bull sharks came within half a meter of us, it literally swam straight towards him and turned at the last second, he thought for a moment he was going to be food lol. After a while we started looking for teeth again, Chris only found one this time and I found two. We went to stroke another nurse shark but it swam off just before we got there. Before the dive ended we all swam around a small boat wreck. We saw some lion fish which to be honest we are a bit bored of now and a really weird pipe fish. Hundreds of remora fish were stuck to the side of the boat, all lined up together. One of the guys caught one by hand on the way up because it had a hook in its mouth, so he pulled it out! I don't know how he spotted it within the thousands that were there but he did, it was really cool! Then he showed us how they use the square pad on their head to suck and stick to something by sticking it to my leg! Chris tried again to catch one but he couldn't, they were just too slippery, but it was funny watching him try as he snuck around the bins and they edged them selves away from him lol.
The dive lasted fifty five minutes, longer than it should have. Chris said he didn't piss in his wet suit this time, he said he learnt his lesson yesterday lol ew. I was freezing on the way back to shore, probably from being at twenty meters for so long and the wind and sea spray didn't help. Thankfully one of the guys gave me his towel, which was nice of him.
When we got back to the office we filled out our log books and chatted with the other divers for a bit. We gave our email address to the guy that had a camera so hopefully he will send us some really cool photos.
We thanked the staff and got a lift back to our hotel, stopping at Beqa Adventure Divers on the way to collect our DVD which was nice of them. Then we moved back into the private room and went out for lunch. Diving these last two days was brilliant, it was just a shame we didn't see the tiger shark. We spent the rest of the evening chilling out and then had an early night. We're heading back to Nadi tomorrow before finally leaving Fiji and going to Bali.
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