TIPS?SNORHELINGPHOTOGRRPHV

WORLD'S BEST READ SCUBA DIVING MAGAZINE '̂ f̂ 1:

WHY SHARKS $ £ A

DON'T BITE DIVERS!MEMORABLE SHIPWRECKSLusitania •Bismarck •MonitorTitanic • Andrea Doria

TROPICALSIZZLERS!Cozumel • Palau *YapBay Islands • FloridaTurks & CaicosBermuda • BelizeThe Cayman Islands

SHARKS YOUSHOULD KNOW:The Bonnethead Shark

1996 SDM INDEXA Wealth of Information

LIVE-ABOARD ADVENTURES:The Sere cruises the Fiji IslandsOkeanos Aggressor to Coco IslandMike Ball Dive Expeditions to Coral Sea & PNG '""-

DIVE GEAR REPORTS:Blue Reef Agressor Dive Computer • Saba Regulator & OctopusFisher M-Scope Metal Detector • Bauer Portable Compressor •

I LEARNED... Florida Cave Diving Puzzle- IWhich Way Up, Which Way Out?

'70989"34812""7

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK AND SUE DRAFAHL

Top: After being spoiled by Fiji'sfine diving, Sere guests can

relax in luxury on the 101 footlive-aboard. Above: A territorial

dispute brings a pair of damselswithin kissing distance.

'our initial consideration whendeciding where to spend yournext dive vacation wil l be

choosing a land based orlive-aboard operation.

There are advantagesand disadvantages to

both and manydivers have a hardtime making a deci-

sion. In recent years,live-aboards have evolv-

ed into a high quality divingchoice. New dive boats are

constantly being added. One ofthe newest is the Sere and she is

one beautiful boat! No expense wasspared in her design; she was built solelyto spoil her guests. Launched in January1995, this custom built vessel is ownedand captained by Greg Lawlor, a fourthgeneration Fijian. He takes great pride inmaking each trip one to remember.

Built specifically for diving, the Sere is101 feet long, with a 22 foot beam. Sheaccommodates a maximum of ten diversand a crew of four. With this manysquare feet per diver, you quickly beginto realize what diving comfort is reallyabout. It is very easy to be on a part ofthe boat and not see anyone else.

Four large, individually air-conditionedstaterooms are below decks, two oneach side of a long hallway. Each room

has a large double bed with a single bunkabove it. There are drawers under thebottom bunk for clothes. There are addi-tional drawers in a desk/dresser on theopposite side of the room. The bathroomis very large and has its own private sink,toilet and a shower big enough for two.

A specially designed fifth stateroom isnear the lounge on the middle deck. This"honeymoon suite" boasts a very largebed, private bath and several large win-dows on the port side.

The lounge on the middle deck hasseveral large couches and chairs ar-ranged around the video center. Diverscan watch prerecorded videotapes orview the results of guest videos recordedon a previous dive. A large dining table isaft of the lounge and accommodates allthe guests comfortably. Food is preparedin a very large kitchen below decks andbrought up to the dining area. BothAmerican and Fijian foods are served.The crew is also able to prepare meals forguests with special dietary needs.

For those who want to catch a littlesun, there are lounge chairs on the for-ward sundeck and on the upper andlower aft sundecks.

At the Sere's stern are two spiral staircases that lead to the dive deck. A largebench on the swimstep allows divers tocomfortably sit down and put on theirtanks. Once they are fully geared, they

104 SKIN DIVER DECEMBER 1996

simply stand up and take a giant strideinto the warm Fijian waters. When guestsreturn from the dive, their tanks areplaced back on the bench and filled forthe next dive. Fresh towels are availableat all times, as they are constantly recy-cled through the boats' laundry system.

The Sere accommodates the specialneeds of the underwater photographer.Crew members hand you your cameraand take it from you as you go in and outof the water. A freshwater rinse tank isnear the two camera tables. There is onecamera table outside and another inside,for more delicate camera systems.

Diving aboard the Sere is just aboutas good as it gets. Even though the boatis 101 feet long, Greg moors it right ontop of most of the dive locations. Thismeans you merely jump off the swim-step and descend to the dive site. On

Above: Greg Lawlor, the boat's captainand owner, gives a dive briefing. Below:Spiral stairs lead to a large dive deck,where guests have ample room and a wa-ter level swimstep for an easy entry.

I

Nadi

Above: The Sere's guests reside in simpleelegance in four ensuite staterooms; afifth ensuite stateroom (not shown) pro-vides a double bed and large windows.

those few occasions when theSere cannot be moored over thereef, a skiff is used to transportthe divers to and from the site.All traveling to different areas isdone at night in order to maxi-mize the number of dives dur-ing the day.

Most of the diving is in ornear an area in Fiji called BlighWaters. This band of nutrientrich water, between the twomain islands of Viti Levu andVanua Levu, has an extremelyhigh level of animal life. Each Seretrip differs slightly owing to divers' needs,weather and overall conditions.

It's hard to say which site is the best,everyone has his/her favorites. For-tunately, the Sere dives most of the fa-vorite spots, such as Beqa and AstrolabeLagoons, Wakaya, Namena, Savusavu,Taveuni, Lau Group and Vatulele.

Wakaya is one of our favorite Fijian crit-ter dives. The main dive spot is a narrowchannel where the tide exchanges. Large,deep walls at the end of the channel giveshelter to Leaffish, Blue Ribbon Eels andfriendly octopus. A large HammerheadShark frequents the area. Night dives hereare spectacular, with possible sightings ofcrabs, lobsters, shrimp, cuttlefish, octo-pus, squid and nudibranchs.

Gau is a very popular drift dive and iswhere the Sere makes its village trip. TheSere's skiff takes you to one end of the60 to 90 foot deep channel, drops youoff and picks you up at the other end.The current is usually mild and featuresschools of sharks and Barracuda.

A two to three hour village trip is usual-ly scheduled during the tidal changes.Here you have the opportunity to meetand be entertained by some of thefriendliest people on earth. You can drinkkava, dance and listen to music per-formed by the villagers.

Namena Island has several dive sitesaround it but the best is Grand CentralStation. The edge of the deep channel,where it dumps into the deep blue, isfilled with large schools of Barracuda.

One of our favorite bommies is calledKansas, because of the yellow softcorals that completely cover the top. Thesides of Kansas are a macro photogra-pher's paradise, where you'll find your-self trying to decide which animal to pho-tograph first.

E-6 is by far the best dive spot in Fijiand, weather permitting, is one of Sere'sstops through the Bligh Waters. This3,000 foot high seamount requires aspecial mooring setup.

The best dive spot on E-6 is Cathe-dral Cave. It starts on the face of E-6 atabout 40 feet, goes into the reef a shortdistance and then turns back out to the

Sample Sere

Nukura uvula

I anlnk.-i E-6

ViliLevu

VanuaLevu

Namenalala / \

Wakaya

GETTING THEREFlights to Fiji are available through Air

Pacific and Qantas. The nonstop AirPacific flight from Los Angeles to Fiji'sInternational Airport in Nadi is approxi-mately 10 hours. The outer islands canbe reached via the local carriers, Air Fijiand Sunflower.Air Pacific Qantas(800) 227-4446 (800) 227-4500

deep wall. The actual shape of the cavelooks very much like a bent horseshoe.The cave can handle six divers at onetime and has some of the most diverseanimal life we have ever seen. We havespent at least 30 dives in this cave andalways find something new to photo-graph. We have seen five foot tall softcorals with base stems more than teninches thick. On these soft coral branch-es, we have found coral cowries, cam-ouflaged shrimp, fish and crabs. Thecave walls are loaded with nudibranchs,flatworms, sponges and every type ofsoft coral imaginable.

The Sere is based in Suva, Fiji. It is eas-ily reached via Air Pacific's ten hour flightfrom Los Angeles to Nadi. You thentransfer to Suva via either SunflowerAirlines or Air Fiji. The Sere is based nearthe Tradewinds Hotel, where you canstay if you arrive early or plan on doingsome additional sightseeing after the trip.

The luxury and comfort offered by theSere makes live-aboards the diving an-swer. Now the question is, "How fastcan you pack your gear to leave?"

To book your dream vacation, contactFiji's longest established live-aboard oper-ation, Captain Greg Lawlor, Mollie DeanCruises Holdings, Ltd., P.O. Box 3256,Lami, Fiji Islands; (800) 443-0799, 011(679) 361-171, fax 011 (679)361-137.

SKIN DIVER DECEMBER 1996 105