Fiji is the Sky

Golden Canyons of the Pacific

Fiji is all about the sky.  First one must spend many hours in the sky to get there from nearly anywhere except Australia.  Those flights yielded some wonderful sunsets in the clouds.  Travel between the islands is by light aircraft so I captured landscapes from the sky.  On the ground or the sea clouds form in a most beautiful way.  I did some of the best scuba diving ever there, but I don’t shoot under water.  The dive guides are seated facing the camera in the group of Fijians.

After a stop in Honolulu and changing planes in Guam, we landed in Fiji and were picked up at the airport in Nadi for a three hour drive to our hotel.  After a few days there we returned to Nadi and flew to the remote island of Taveuni for another week of diving.   To get home we had to reverse the process.  The tickets were a steal at $1,100.  I don’t think I could get there for twice the price today.

Golden Canyons of the Pacific

High Altitude Sunset

Garden by the Sea

Fisherman in Contemplation

Rocking Dive Boat Special

Fiji from the Sky

Blue Chanel

Pastel Evening

A Small Island

Sugimoto Knockoff

Taveuni Gold

Taveuni Hotel Staff

Lovely Australian

Rocks from the Sky

Old Manila

Mango Vendor

Mango Vendor

Banana Vendor

Melon Vendor

Man in a Cab

Exile

Security Babe

You Want Wires?

Manila From the Pacific Lounge

These photos were taken in Old Manila, the Capital of the Philippine Islands.  I went into a supermarket in a nearby shopping mall and found food to be nearly expensive as in the US.  Ordinary working people in the Philippine Islands buy their food at stands out on the street and several of those are captured here.  The poster with girls in uniform clothing is an advertisement for a men’s club, Exile.

Anilo, Batangas and Puerto Galera

Joe Rags

Sombrero Island

Across From Anilo

Golden Portal

Red Sun Hotel

Red Sun and Palms

Rocks at Laguna Beach

Early Morning, Sabang Harbor

Four Korean Girls

Shell Station, Batangas

Joe Rags

Man On a Rock Jetty

Dive Guide

These images were captured in the Philippine Islands.  We first stayed at Arthur’s Place, a secluded scuba diving resort in Anilo, Batangas.  The hotel is old style Asian.  Windows had shutters but no glass.  It is built on a hillside near the beach and it is pretty.   The scuba diving in the area was exceptional with beautiful soft corals abundant.  Arthur’s seems to be mostly a weekend place used by folks living in the Philippines.  One night mid week we were the only guests there.  We had to take our meals there because of the lack of proximity to  other restaurants, although  we did discover one nearby.  The food was good, but it did get repetitive after a while.  We then transferred to Sabang in the Puerto Galera area where we stayed and scuba dived at La Laguna Beach Resort.  They had a nice pool and a good restaurant on premises and lots of other places to eat nearby.  Prices for food and beer were low.  The rooms were of modern motel style.  There were a lot of Russian divers staying there.  The PADI dive shop is run in the highly organized dive school style.  That means no advanced card, no deep dives.  Actually, most of what there was to see was in the shallow water with some of the best dives being in the 10 to 14 meter range.  I remember doing one deep dive that ended at an anchor.  There were wild currents on that one.  The dive center has technical diving instructors and closed circuit Inspiration rebreathers available, If you are up to that sort of thing.