Scuba Diver Ocean Planet Issue 06/2016 | Page 96

ISLANDS AND LIVEABOARDS FIJI Fiji Siren Liveaboard Text by RENSKE LAUTERBACH Images by SIMON LORENZ Fiji is often referred to as the “soft coral capital of the world”. Healthy reefs thrive and burst with a kaleidoscope of pristine soft corals which, along with untouched hard corals, guarantee unsurpassed diving experiences in Fiji’s SDOP 94 underwater world. However, this is certainly not all that Fiji has to offer. In Namena Marine Reserve and Nigali Passage there are sharks – grey reef, silvertip and whitetip sharks, and more. During Fiji Siren’s liveaboard cruise in July 2016, the guests were absolutely thrilled by a school of no fewer than 40 scalloped hammerhead sharks cruising along with them on their dive. More than 1,000 different species have been identified living in and around Fiji’s reefs. Turtles, dolphins and eagle rays cruise around the Siren’s dive sites, while May and October are manta ray months. Key to this varied abundancy of fish and