DIVE LOG DECEMBER 25 ISSUE 415

Fiji Diving Life Aboard! - an underwater photographer's South Pacific Dream'. text and photos by Alison Smith

Jerry’s Jelly in the Somo Somo Strait. Rainbow Passage

I f you are reading this its highly probable you are an avid scuba diver. You will love the ocean - the incredible feeling of being immersed by the blue, the weightlessness, the intrepid journey from the topside to the realm of marine cities filled with colourful darting fish, critters and corals. However, for some people the pull of the ocean is so intense it consumes your life - for Fiji underwater photographer, Alison Smith, she didn’t fight her addiction - she quit her job trading financial instruments in London, bought a sail yacht and a dive compressor and headed to Fiji .

12 years later and she’s still afloat - despite an immense configuration of uncharted bommies around the 330 islands and an absence of nautical marker buoys. She lives by the rhythms of the tides and the seasons and their effects on the life of Fiji’s coral reefs. Alison dives solo - with a safety bottle for security and personal epirb. ‘Every time the clear water comes in with the incoming tide I feel an urge to disappear underwater for a couple of hours. The gearing up routine, the sense of peace as you descend, the colourful majesty of Fiji’s coral scapes and the bustling array of reef dwellers going about their daily business. Even when you go for a meander around the same reefs there is always something new and

Male Tiger Cardinal fish use their huge mouth as a brood chamber for protection of the eggs.

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DIVE LOG Australasia #415 - December’ 25

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