DDNet Trip Report
| Where: Taveuni Fiji When: 05/02/2004 - 05/16/2004 By: Tortuga | Type: Land based Accomodations: Garden Isle Resort Dive operator: Aqua Trek / Swiss Fiji Divers Overall photography friendliness: Excellent Camera tables/prep area: Not applicable Camera rinse tanks: Average Charging facilities: Not applicable Voltage: 220-240 AC |
So many new things. I’d never been below the equator. Never crossed the dateline. Never seen soft coral in such abundance. The 2004 Digital Shootout was held on the island of Taveuni Fiji
We stayed at the Garden Isle Resort on Taveuni, which was fantastic. The people that worked there knew every one of our names by the second day and would great us with a “Bula!” and a bright smile every day. They had never had a group of this size visit before. There were 50 attendees and maybe 10 staff. A few too many for the resort to handle evidently since one guy had to stay at a resort up the road and they had to borrow 2 boats and crew from Swiss Fiji Divers to handle the diving. But they did it well and with smiles on their faces.
Rand and I were there almost a week early so we were able to experience the resort and dive sites with and without the Shootout crowd. Both were exceptional.
When we arrived there was a full moon, so we experienced the currents at their strongest. Good news for the spectacular soft coral exhibitions – they open to feed during the strong currents - but difficult for photography. As our 2 weeks sped by, the currents lessened until it was relatively non-existent by the last days.
The entire reef we were diving was called Rainbow Reef. Individual dive sites on the reef had names like Great White Wall, Yellow Tunnel, Blue Ribbon Eel Reef, and Jack’s Place. The Great White wall was the most famous and with good reason. Right off the boat, you drop to about 40fsw, and enter a tunnel that lets you out at about 75-80fsw. Here you are on a wall that is totally covered in white soft coral. When the current is strong here, it’s all you can do to just drift and marvel until it takes you around to another tunnel that will return you to the boat. When the current is weak, the top of the reef near the boat is a fun place to explore the hard and soft corals and plenty of little macro critters.
I alternated between shooting still and video on the dives. I tried to access the conditions of the dive and take the video when I thought the currents were strong. I wasn’t real successful at that.
It didn’t take long for the DMs to realize 3 things: We were all pretty good divers, we moved slowly, and we all were basically solo and just wanted them to be spotters. They were very accommodating. The briefing quickly became a sketch of the reef and the direction of the currents and maximum depths. We pretty much dove where we wanted and came up when we were done. Most of the time, we would stay in areas protected from the current and then do a safety stop at full current – 2001 space odyssey style. It was a little disconcerting at first to be tumbling alone in space in the open sea for 3 minutes or so but as I got used to it, it was fun. Once you came to the surface, the current was gone, and the boat would travel around picking up the divers scattered all over the ocean. There were never any swells, so it was easy enough to see the divers.
Another fun thing was going to a beach for our surface intervals. We could walk the beach, play with splits, snorkel, or eat cookies, papaya, and oranges. We usually did a little of each.
My only regret was that I didn’t bring a good laptop. Had I thought more seriously about the contest, I may have invested in one but as it was, I only had an old beater that had no screen resolution to speak of so I couldn’t even see my pix well enough to tell the good from the feeble. We were allowed to enter 12 and I only entered 5. Of those, there were three that embarrassed me when I got home and saw them on a real computer. But what do I know. One of those won an honorable mention. Go figure.
Here at home, when I load my kayak on the beach, I often have people see my camera system and ask if I am a professional photographer. On the boat at the Shootout, when the DM asked which camera was mine, I would have to mumble meekly, “It’s the little one in the corner.” Everything is relative. At first, I was asking everyone about their fancy dSLR rigs and contemplating a new purchase. Then, after a few days of seeing and hearing about the equipment problems they were having with those complicated buggers, I felt a little better about my 4 year old, simple Ikelite system with the ancient compact G2 inside. When I took a 2nd place with it, I was feeling a lot better. Not that I don’t still want a dSLR, I just feel better about waiting for them to get the bugs out and bring the price down.
Bottom line: Great time. Learned a lot. Wonderful locals. Helpful Shootout staff. Interesting group of photographers. As soon as I can afford it, I’ll do it again!
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14 comments:
I'm sorry for the loss of a child. No parent should have to go through that.
However, as stated above, where were his parents, and/or caregiver between the last time he was seen, and when he was found? Given his health, that lapse in time is disturbing.
"I just read that he wasn't being treated because Scientology doesn't allow it."
It is amazing how these religious cults manipulate people's brain to the point of taking chances at losing their child. I really don't feel sorry for John and Kelly, as they chose their own path
God bless their poor innocent Jett (he had no choice otherwise)
John and Kelly devastated? I doubt it....their cult already brainwashed them so they don't feel any guilt/remorse. It is sad that these people's mind become so weak as to allow such a crime
Scientologists and the Jehovah Witnesses should all be ban in this country
'It seems a little odd that this boy was not seen too much or known about, maybe the Travolta's were trying to protect his privacy however if the story is true it is curious. #1...When I am with my children and one of them goes into the bathroom and doesn't come out after 15 minutes then he gets a shout out "You ok in there" , something along those lines. It is hard for me to imagine a scenario in which my child fails to leave the bathroom and is not noticed to be MIA for such a long time and then only the caretaker stumbles upon him. Of course I live in the real world and people from Hollyweird don't, so maybe it's normal for them not to notice their son isn't around for longer periods of time. Don't know...However if there is a single ounce of truth to the rumors that the child was denied standard medical care due to religious beliefs then what has happened here should be criminally investigated. Too many children suffer unnecessarily because their parents have gone whacked over some absurd religious nonsense. I hope this child wasn't another example of that type of thing. In any event it is a tragic loss for the family and in spite of all of us putting in our 2 cents in reality we should stay out of their business . I don't know why we feel we want to comment on other people lives when we don't know them. We just do. I would really be interested to know the real story behind this , enquiring minds want to know.
This is a tragedy, and I feel terrible for the Travolta family. But hopefully some good will come from this in bringing attention to the $cientology cult and the damage they do to their members. I doubt there will be the type of investigation in the Bahamas as there would be in the US, but it would be nice if the COS was held responsible if medicine and proper treatment was withheld from this poor boy.
Yes Jill, Greta has been covering it a lot but I really parse any info she puts out due to her scientology beliefs. It does make her suspect as a legitimate journalist. So spooky that scientology crap. I can't understand why anyone would own up to being a member. I certainly wouldn't if I had a public career.
I wonder like most people, if they idea that they are scientologist prevented them from giving their son medication that would have helped him live longer. I am guessing that they didn't. It is sad and I think as more celebs who are scientologist are having children where some will need medication that they won't receive, we will see mothers with post natal depression and children dying because of the scientology stance. With that being said, it is truly sad that this family has suffered tradegy. It doesn't seem to me that I can remember ever hearing anything bad about this couple. Very sad and I am sure they have a tremendous amount of support but of course that will not bring their son back.
A lot of people will say the death has nothing to do with scientology but I bet the autopsy will show he could have been saved if he was allowed medication to at least stop the seizure..not a cleansing at the Church of Scientology,
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