CJBCJ C-K-SBkX^C-K-k

LaucalaThe Ultimate

Island DiveRetreat

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHYBYJACKAND

SUE DRAFAHL

Let's face it. Most people today have lives thatcan get pretty stressful. When you finally

have a chance to break away from it all, you wanta dream dive vacation that truly lets you unwind.We've found a special place that offers world-class diving, first class treatment and an islandatmosphere that registers a zero on the stressmeter! The first time you visit Laucala (La-THAH-La), Fiji, you may even have to pinch yourself justto make sure you're not dreaming!

Laucala is a small, 3,000 acre island that wasoriginally the getaway for publisher MalcolmForbes. It has since become one of the mostprestigious resorts in the world. Still owned andoperated by Forbes Magazine, the resort is all in-clusive: food, drink, deep sea fishing, diving,snorkeling, sailing, hiking, tennis, waterskiingand laundry services. Everything is designed to

make your stay as comfortable as possible.Before we tell you more about the

resort, let's get you there. This is-land retreat is remote but easy to

access. You fly first to Nadi, the inter-national hub of Fiji, on the main island of

Viti Levu. Nadi can be accessed fromAustralia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Japan but

the most common approach is a direct 10 hour

Left: Latticed Butterflyfish (Chaetodon raffles!)

Top: The color streaked sky above Laucalais reflected in the calm Koro Sea, which ca-resses the palm strewn 3,000 acre island.Above: Soft corals flourish in Fiji's nutrientrich currents. Below: A fleet of five diveboats is at the disposal of Laucala's guests.

24 SKIN DIVER OCTOBER 1996

Above: Cassiopea sp. undulates throughinky waters. Below: Beachfront buresmay entice divers to spend more time onthis paradisiacal island than on the reefs.

able, just about any combination of time,destination or dive group size is possible.You can easily make two to four divesper day depending upon what other ac-tivities interest you.

If you're not spoiled enough, we'll addmore. The staff picks up your dive gearfrom your bure, sets it up on the boat,rinses it between dives and has it readyfor the next day of diving. They offermore than 20 regular dive sites, includingwalls, coral bommies, current passagesand reef diving in depths to 130 feet. Ifyou tell them what type of diving you like,

us a view of what seemed like acres offluorescing red and yellow anemones.

One of our most unusual night diveswas on Boat House Reef. It actually isthe boat dock. You pick the time for thedive, show up at the dock; your dive-master and dive equipment will be readyand waiting. As you sit on the edge of thedock, you will be helped into your gearand then taken on an incredible under-water tour featuring a variety of animallife. At depths from 15 to 50 feet we sawjuvenile Sweetlips, lobster, Lionfish, her-mit crabs, squid, puffers, starfish, UpsideDown Jellyfish, Batfish, shrimp andmoray eels. Oh, what a night!

If your quest is for larger fish, you canask to dive The Wall. This vertical,2,000 foot wall is home to larger pelag-ics such as Bronze Whalers and tuna.When you tire of the big fish, you canmove closer to the wall and swim overthe thickly populated soft coral and gor-gonians. In addition to the 20 standard

Air Pacific flight from Los Angeles. Youthen board Sunflower Airlines for a short190 mile flight northeast to Laucala.

At Laucala you will be greeted byfriendly staff members who will transportyour luggage to one of seven bures(Fijian cottages) along the beach. Eachexquisitely decorated bure has an air-conditioned bedroom and fan ventilatedliving room, bar and kitchen. Yourkitchen is well stocked with drinks, fruitand snacks. There are five single buresand two bures that offer two bedrooms.Considerable spacing among bures pro-vides privacy found in very few resorts inthe world today.

Each morning your breakfast is pre-pared in your bure by your "bure girl."You decide the night before when youwant breakfast and your bure girl willhave it piping hot, ready for you to en-joy. Lunch can be served most any-where—yourbure, Malcolm Forbes'house, on the dive boat, in the Tree-house or on the beach—you choose.The evening meal is usually at the mainPlantation House unless a barbecue isscheduled near the beach.

Timetables and schedules at Laucaladon't exist. At first, this may surprise youbut when the staff asks you when andwhere you want to dive, you'll knowLaucala is a special place. If you want todive in a small group or just with yourbuddy, no problem. With five boats avail-

Vanuabulavu

Fiji Forbes Laucala has seven immacu-late bures for its guests. Each has a liv-ing room, bar and kitchen and eitherone or two air-conditioned bedrooms.

they will do their best to find sites that fityour needs.

On our trip we wanted to photographfish, fluorescent anemones and make acouple of night dives. "No problem," wasthe reply. For our fish dive we went toFrank's Place and saw triggerfish,puffers, fish cleaning stations, severaltypes of wrasses and a couple of sharksoff in the distance. Our fluorescentanemone dive on Anemone Reef gave

dive sites, Laucala's dive boats canreach at least 30 other sites aroundMatagi, Qamea, Taveuni and the end ofthe Somosomo Strait.

If you're still not impressed, read on.Each boat is run similar to the skiffs offmany worldwide live-aboards. You swimwherever you want. When you haveused about 80 percent of your air, comeup; the boat will be there to pick you up.This is absolute comfort in diving. Thereis no swimming against currents, nostrain, no stress.

There is a full photo lab at the Plan-tation House. You can get your slide filmprocessed, rent photo gear or talk to Ricand Carol West about getting a video-tape of your trip. They have a full-blownediting system that allows them to makehigh quality tapes of your dive trip.

The adventuresome birdwatcher or hik-er can walk all or part of the 1 1 mile roadsurrounding the island. Just decide where

(Continued on Page 14 1)

SKIN DIVER OCTOBER 1996 25

made to record white tones accurately invarying light conditions, such as indoor oroutdoor. Most cameras have white bal-ance controls for indoor (video light), out-door (sunlight) and automatic; somehave automatic white balancing.

WIDE-ANGLE LENS: A lens with an angleof view wider than the angle of view of thehuman eye.

ZOOM (ZOOMING): Changing the imagesize (from wide angle to telephoto) with-out changing camera to subject distance.

ZOOM LENS: A lens that is adjustable fora range of focal lengths from wide angleto telephoto.

ZOOM RATIO: The change in focallength a zoom lens can produce. An 8x(8:1 , "eight to one") zoom lens magnifiessubjects when set for the telephoto posi-tion, as compared to subject size in thewide angle position.

FIJI FORBES LAUCALA(Continued from Page 25)

you want to stop and start and you will betransported to the drop-off site and pickedup afterward. A bus tour includes an islandoverlook and a glimpse inside the lateMalcolm Forbes' house.

GETTING THERE

Flights to Fiji are available throughAir Pacific and Qantas. The nonstopAir Pacific flight from Los Angeles toFiji's International Airport in Nadi is ap-proximately 10 hours. The outer is-lands can be reached via the local car-riers, Air Fiji and Sunflower.Air Pacific(800) 227-4446Air Fiji(800) 677-4277(310)670-7302

Qantas(800)227-4500Sunflower Airlines(800) 224-0220

The key to Laucala is that you can cus-tomize your vacation around your likesand dislikes. This fabulous Fiji getaway istotally inclusive of everything your heartdesires. Everything, that is, except stress!The friendly folks at Fiji Forbes are waitingto pamper and spoil you and you'll loveevery minute of it. We sure did!

For information, contact Fiji ForbesLaucala, P.O. Box 149, Fort Garland,Colorado 81133; (800) FORBES-5 or(719) 379-3263; fax (719) 379-3266.

PHOTO-VIDEO

The Professional's Source.

212 444-6649FAX: 212242-1400

To Order Call Toll Free

1 -800-947-9979HH KH CZ]

119 WEST 1 ZTH STREET • NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1001 1

NIKONOS

Nikonos RS AF SLR13/28R-UWAFFi$heye28/2 8 R-UW AFSO/2 8 R-UW20-35/2 8 R-UW AFSB-104 UW TTL SpeedlrteDouble Bracket

CALLCALLCALLCALLCALLCALL

21995

CALLCALLCALLCALL

CALL

Mounting Bracket Set SK-104 199 95Extension Arm 189.95•Nikonos V Body 5*9.95• Nikonos V with 35/2 5 73495Ong Nikonos Case 49 9515/28 14M.K 20/2 8 7*9.9528/3 5 UW 379*535/2 5 1(7.15 80/4 UW 3(9.95SB-105 Outfit (39.95Nikonos Close Up Kit wo Case 2*9.96Case For Close Up 79.95DF-10 Optical Findw (9.95D F - t l 299.95 Of 12 189.9528mm Finder 19 9535-80mm Finder 19.95Double TTL Sync Core) 15995Double Bracket *10214 159*5Double Bracket Set'10201 319.95Extention Arm Set /10203 13*.*5Sync Cord «10208 89.15

SEA KINGw/fean wDnieor

I* 51(1185x14 5x5 7) M.M —M (13 (14x10 6x6 5) (4.15 -«71(1175x11 6x7| M.M 1N.9S«711(185x145x72)'M.M 14995$1*21 (21 5x14 5x9)'Kl.M 1M.MW (22 (22 5x19 6x9) 1M.M -SK827 2MH -

AnilaMe in Mack. gray, yellow•Black Only. Other Colon Call

DOSKOCILWATERTIGHT CASES

Seal Tight Lg17!4x12x7X 5995Seal Tight Ex Lg 184x14* x8'« (9.95

Available in Gray or Black

ACCESSORIES FOR NIKONOSIkeUe Optical V«wfmder «002 119.95IkeMeExt Tube Set MOM 03 9995

SEA 1 SEANEW! 12/35FtsheyeNEW' Vwwtinder tor above15/35 CALL 20/3516mm Conversion Lens I/ 35mmHigh Eyepomi Vewfinder

1/15.16. 20mmOptical Finder lor 15.17. 20mm CALL

EXTENSION TUBES W/FRAMER35mm 1 1 CALL 35mm 1 2 CALL35mm 1 3 CALL 28mm 1 2 CALLYS-50 TTL w/arm 4 tray CALLNew' YS-300 TTL CALL

SCUBA VIDEO TAPESCathy Church Instructional 29.(5Basic Introductoo Usng N*onos V 24 95Advance Course UsngW A Lenses 29.95Advance Course Usng Macro ( One* HM

WORLD OF J. COUSTEAUPioneer of the Sea 24.95Dragons ol the Galapagos 19.95

PIONEER ewa-marine

35mm Automatic Dive Camera• Fully Automatic

1/U/WorLand• Motor Driven Film Advance i• U/W Color Correction Flash j• Operational to 60 It depth

$99.95NEW ReelmasterOperational to 164 ft 199.00

AQUATICAWe are a

FULL STOCK Dealer!

UA Housing 112.00UA-X Housing 20500UA-XP Housing 2S4.NU-F Camera

and Winder 114.95UF-X Camera

•/small Zoom &Shoe Flash 1M.M

UFX-P Camera w/Motoi Dnve 4 Flash 111 KU-FZL Camera w/long Zoom 1M.M

U-MM Compact Auto Focus Camera M.M

Hurricane Hood M.M

U-WL For Sharp Viewcam 24* M

U-VST For Sony TR5. 6. 7 242.M

U-VML For JVC compact. Canon ES-2000.

Panasonic EZ-t 24600

V-1000 I/Sony OCR VX-1000 Digital 4M.M

VCX lor Canonn L-2 273.00

Price Includes camera adapter rings

MX-10 Camera CALLMX-10 Kit w/YS 40 Flash CALL20mm lens MX 10 CALLMotor Marine II Camera CALLMotor Marine II Kit nrtS-50 Flash CALL16mm Lens MM II CALL 20mm CALLOptical Viewlinder »S0140 CALLHigh Eyepomt Finder »S0150 CALLMacro Lens 13 CALL Macro Lm 1 2 CALLYS-50 TTl -II Flash Kit CALLNEW Complete Gwde to Sea 4 Sea 22.95

PELICANBlick.'Silrer Orange or Yellow

Injidt Dimension wlojm Dlrldere1200(9<x7Xx4/!) 35.51 —1300 (9Xx7Xx6X) 40.50 —1400(12X<9X>SX) (150 80501450(15x10X16) 79.50 104501500(17x11Xx6X) 17.50 116501520(18x12Kx6K) 107.50 138501550(19x14x7X) 114.50 158.501600(22x17x8) 137.50 180501650|29i21l11) 159.5* —1750(50>oi13Xx5( 1(4.5* —NEW! 1526 (1520 case w/Gadget

Bag Silver. Black) CALL

ikeliteCAMERA HOUSING

For Most SIR'S AF 54995Aquashol II 62 95Aquashot II w/Macro Kit & Substrobe 224.15

FLASHESSubstrobe 505 w/Slave 1*9*54043 Substrobe 50 224 954046 Substrobe Ai 346 50NEW> 4062 Substrobe 200 619.954050 Substrobe 150 Nicad 489 00NEW! 4058 Substrobe 400 729.95Substrobe 300 Nicad 599.95

COMPASSES2500 PRO Compass Wrist 29.952600 PRO-S Compass Wrist 42.95

SINGH-RAY UNDERWATER FILTERS52mm 21.96 58mm 34 95 3x3mmM.H

STROBE PACKAGESlor NIKONOS

NEW! 3943 43 Substrobe 50' Kit 364.95NEW! 3946 43 Substrobe 50' Kit 415.003946 46 Substrobe Ai Kit 535.01NEW! 3946 62 Substrobe 200 110.0*3946 57 Substrobe 300 Kit 899 00

VIDEO HOUSINGSFor Sony TR-Senes (Specify! (39.95For Sony FX Series (Specify) U*.*5For Sony VX-3 1*41*5

DIVE LIGHTSRCD Halogen 43 95Mini C-Light Halogen (Spec Color) 24.*5Modular Super Light (mead) 141.95Modular Video Lite (mead) 19900Modular Video Lite 45 (mead) 214.954052 Charger for Nicad Lrtes 36 95

r mos C1«6 6W PnoK-WB Not

circle *32 on Reader Service Card

Let Us Help You Choose aDive Destination—-Next

SKIN DIVER OCTOBER 1996 141