Mantaray Island Fiji First Immersion

[@mariashaffer-gordon3561]

I insisted that my husband watch this video, and he was as blown away as I was. This seems to have convinced him that we should go to Fiji to snorkel, so thank you for helping me on my quest to go there.

[@nezmoproductions]

We are snorkelers also since we don't have the ears for diving. You'll probably have to wait a bit until this virus is cleared up and International travel is normal again. If you read my description above, you see I highly recommend Mantaray Island. There are a ton of resorts on islands all over Fiji, you can find beautiful coral everywhere, but their house reef is something very special for the fish population, being a protected sanctuary for over 30 years. There is nothing better for a snorkeler than to be able to walk right out of your bungalow, take 5 steps and your right on an awesome reef loaded with so may incredible fish. This resort has some of the nicest native Fijians working there and when we were there we were the only Americans, so it was great meeting people from all over the world with the same interests. It's been 5 years since we were there, so you might want to check on what's happening there currently, or after travel resumes. Another big plus about Fiji is that their currency is valued at about half of ours so it's like everything is half price if it's priced in Fijian dollars.

[@mariashaffer-gordon3561]

@@nezmoproductions I went on Mantaray's website a couple of days ago, and yesterday my husband and I took 2 Fiji guidebooks out of our local library. We're thinking about a week at Mantaray and a week on Viti Levu to do things other than snorkeling, but perhaps we won't be able to go until 2023 because of the pandemic. Our last vacation was to Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii, so Mantaray seemed pretty reasonably priced. I'd heard that the Fijians were especially friendly.

[@nezmoproductions]

@@mariashaffer-gordon3561 We're on hold to at least 2023 also. A week on Mantaray would be perfect. The people who work there are native Fijians from a village on a nearby island. They were some of the nicest people we have met, and treated us like we were part of their family. They were one of the best things about our trip! We flew to the island on a sea plane from the airport at Nadi. At Fijian dollars it was reasonable, and saved at least half a day over taking the ferry that stops at over 30 resorts. Flying over the islands was another plus. You might look into that option to get there from the airport.

[@mariashaffer-gordon3561]

@@nezmoproductions We'll definitely look into the sea plane. That would be a once in a lifetime experience.

[@mariashaffer-gordon3561]

@@nezmoproductions Apparently Fiji reopened to international travel in Dec., and we're starting to think that a trip might be possible in Sept. Knowing that snorkeling the house reef at Mantaray is dependent on the tides, I printed a predicted tide chart for Lautoka, which is north of Nadi, and figure that the tides in the Yasawas would be pretty similar. Is there a guideline for how soon and after high tide one can safely snorkel, or a tide level that should be exceeded to snorkel safely? Also, if we want to stay on Mantaray past the check out time, is there a place to shower and change after the last snorkel before catching the ferry or a seaplane back to the main island? Where did you purchase a power converter with a plug adapter angled for Fijian outlets for camera battery rechargers and other electronic items?

[@lesliebrooks5687]

Thank you for sharing such beauty of the reefs! Amazing sea creatures & I felt as though I was there. Pared wonderfully with the music...so relaxing while watching.

[@mariashaffer-gordon3561]

WOW! I don't have enough superlatives to praise this spectacular video. Thank you for doing such a great job on the photography and sharing what you saw with us. The resort should use this to entice fish lovers to stay with them. I can't believe you saw all these amazing fish in one place! I do wish that you had identified them. I kept leafing through my Tropical Pacific Reef Fish ID book to see what they were since I have only seen a few of these fish in real life. The following is what I think they were, in more or less order of appearance, and please correct me on the ones I got wrong and the ones I couldn't identify: juvenile semicircle angelfish striped surgeonfish black-banded snapper variant form of yellowfin soldierfish? the facial markings threw me off palenose parrotfish camouflage grouper moray eel, unsure what type pennant bannerfish chevroned butterflyfish freckled/blackside hawkfish some kind of wrasse - a black leopard? bicolor angelfish orange-lined triggerfish? bright yellow fish - some kind of snapper, bream, or emperor? Moorish idols yellow-barred parrotfish? reef needlefish? blue-spot butterflyfish brushtail tang? sailfin tang clearfin lizardfish? titan triggerfish with wrasses slingjaw wrasse convict tangs & ringtail surgeonfish humbug dascyllus triangular butterflyfish? reticulated or undulated moray eel peacock grouper manta ray what was that large school of striped fish at the end of the video? I was aware that Fiji was known for its soft corals, but I was amazed at how beautiful the hard corals were. Thank you for giving the invertebrates some time in the spotlight. I'm looking forward to watching your other immersion videos.

[@nezmoproductions]

I'm not a Marine Biologist, just an enthusiast. I saw many of these fish for the first time also, only in person. The density and variety of fish living on this reef blew us away and we stayed there for 2 weeks and had 2 cameras shooting about 5 hours a day everyday. I wish I had the time to identify all these fish, but editing over 100 hours of video, assembling them and many many hours of color correcting leave me spent. I get enthused about starting another video with even more new fish, so I usually jump into something else. Honestly, I don't know what a lot of these fish are either, so I have to look them up also. It seems you nailed an impressive list of most of the fish in that clip. Nice work! Each immersion video is made from one days shooting so you can see that it's quite an experience to see so much. We always shoot at first light since the fish often display their best colors then, and the sunlight isn't throwing crazy shadows everywhere. It's really special when we are the only ones on the entire reef, and the sunrise on the water is spectacular, everyone else sleeps through it. Along with these immersion videos, the coral video and the clown fish video were all from Mantaray Island also.

[@nezmoproductions]

:what was that large school of striped fish at the end of the video?" Those are longjaw mackerel. I love these guys! They are often found with Mantas as they are also plankton feeders and swim in huge schools with their big mouths wide open to collect the floating plankton. It looks hilarious when they are right next to you. They are basically filter feeders also. When we were in Bali, we stayed in the fishing village of Amed. The beach was covered with their unique fishing boats during the day, but at dawn they were all out beyond the reefs with handlines and a small feather lure fishing for these same mackerel. This entire village was fed from these schools of unique fish. The beach was covered with people waiting to buy fish from them when the boats came in. I was swept out to sea by a freakish current and the last boat coming in saw me waving frantically, and rescued me, and brought me back in. He didn't get any fish that day, but I made sure he was rewarded properly for hauling my exhausted carcass in. You have to be careful around Bali.

[@mariashaffer-gordon3561]

@@nezmoproductions You were fortunate to have been seen and rescued!

[@mariashaffer-gordon3561]

I'm also not a marine biologist, but like you, am very enthusiastic about seeing and photographing (still photos in my case) marine life. I get really excited when I see something new or that I've rarely seen. Looking at photos helps me to relive my experiences, and your videos are giving me a lot of vicarious pleasure, especially since everything I can see is covered in snow. I can certainly understand why you spent so much time in the water. It must have been difficult to persuade yourselves to get out! I frequently have, "What the heck is THAT?!" moments. Sometimes I don't know what I've seen until I get home and compare my photos to those in my ID books and a couple of good websites. In the beginning, I was all about the fish and not much else. The more I snorkel, the more I appreciate invertebrates. A trip to Ambergris Cay, Belize started my interest in corals, although I have very little ability to identify them.

[@nezmoproductions]

@@mariashaffer-gordon3561 I think about that every day!

[@nezmoproductions]

Music: Samudra Visions, Main Video: Gary Nesmith, Fran Nesmith, Additional Video: Jessica Baybottom

[@nezmoproductions]

@DaftTropicalist If you are asking about our cameras, we both use Sony cameras that they quit making years ago. They have an excellent zoom lens which is essential for the type of shooting we do. We have always used Sony cameras and never have been disappointed.