After months of doing most of our diving independently from Noxoma, we tied up outside the Paradise Taveuni Resort for a few days with a slightly different purpose. The captain had signed up for an underwater photography course with Backscatter, a perfect opportunity to learn some new skills while diving one of Fiji’s most famous areas.
The course had 30 participants from the US, who flew in to Taveuni island and stayed at the Paradise Taveuni Resort. The resort has free moorings on a first come first served basis. We were lucky, and got a mooring the second day we were there, which we stayed on for the duration of the 10 day course.
Paradise Taveuni Resort is at the southern end of Taveuni island, with the Somosomo Strait and the famous Rainbow Reef within reach. The resort is the most cruiser friendly resort we have ever experienced, and every morning we heard “bula” (“hi”) by our boat. That turned out to be one of the staff members, who paddled out to the boats with freshly made cinnamon rolls.
The days quickly settled into a routine where the captain would jump off the boat to dive the house reef in the morning, and attend classes in the afternoons. The classes shifted between photography tutoring, like framing, digital editing skills and photo critiquing. He was truly a happy camper, and some of the results from the week are below.
The captain particularly likes to take macro shots, and is patient under water. He can spend several minutes zoning in on one little creature he has spotted, and wait for the perfect photo opportunity.
As Fiji is considered the soft coral capital of the world, he took several macro images of the different shapes and colors of these corals.
Every day, the students had to deliver a couple of images, and received a critique from the teacher in the evening.
The captain was very content with his course, which he was very lucky that he was able to attend. The organizers take these courses to some of the best diving places in the world, and we just happened to be at the right place at the right time. A big thank you to Susan from SV Wiz, who made him aware of the course in the first place!
