Jewel of Fiji

I met the Jewel of Fiji and she’s not me. She is much more beautiful, a native girl with long dark curls, eyes the color or chestnut and skin like a chocolate bar. She likes magic tricks, glow sticks, and her grandmother’s crepes with golden syrup. I first met her on the beach. She was wearing great yellow swim fins, ten sizes too large for her tiny feet, and a diving mask and snorkel bigger than her whole head. She is four.

And she is the name sake for her family’s business – Jewel Bubble Divers – our hosts for five days of incredible diving.

Diving the Somosomo Straits Fiji makes you feel as if you have been plopped down in some underwater Disney feature film. It is gloriously beautiful. The abundance of soft corals in shades of lemon, lime, mango, lavender, cherry and coconut will astound you. They are everywhere, gathered up like huge, underwater, tropical bouquets.

The giant clams swirled in bright purples, reds, and greens and nudibranch (little day-glow colored snails-like creatures) look almost cartoon like - as if they might burst into song any minute. (Under the sea, under the sea, darling it’s better down where it’s wetter…) It is diving for artists as it offers an unparalleled pallet of colors.

And it is diving for thrill seekers, with the ripping currents, spooky swim-through tunnels, walls that stretch hundreds of feet deep, big, toothy sharks, banded coral snakes, lion fish, and a number of other poisonous creatures that can wreck your day should you become too cheeky with them.

And the dive shop to go with is Jewel Bubble Divers. Small boats that carry only 6 divers, good quality equipment, and outstanding divemasters – with safety their number one priority. I was able to dive with the most feared creature of all (teenage sons at a depth of 60 ft) with confidence.

Jack and I even did the great white wall –a wall of coral that plunges hundreds of feet and is covered in white (actually pale lavender) soft corals. It looks like a million feather dusters unfurling as far as you can see. It is a deep dive – 100 ft with 3 swim through tunnels. Not for beginners. But the dive master – Jewel’s daddy- made us so comfortable. It was the best!

You can find them at http://www.jeweldivers.com/. And say hi to Jewel for me.