ISLANDERS TEACHING ISLANDERS-NICOLE-ANTHEA AND BILL-BLAKIE'S CORNER-KAVACHI-HEADSTART-CONNIE, DAN & JIM-HAMMERHEAD AND CUTTLEFISH-DIVEMASTER CLASSES-ODDS AND ENDS-PLAYING HOOKY-WHAT OUR DIVERS ARE SAYING!

Hello, Everyone, Feb. began with a major step towards a realization of big part of my "dream"- islanders teaching islanders. As part of their divemaster course, my DM candidates must teach others under supervision. Peter Qora and Ronnie Jeffrey were given a thorough, dramatic and often humorous briefing as each candidate took either a topic ( breathing compressed air U/W and pressure changes, ear clearing, etc.) or a piece of equipment and elaborated on its function in diving. Teams geared up and headed for our home site, Vuana, with each candidate assigned a different exercise to perform with our beginners. With great care and attention, they carefully and dramatically demonstrated the skills, and helped with problems, and then took them under their very protective wings for their underwater tour. I could not have done better. In their first hour U/W, Peter and Ronnie were treated to leaf scorpion fishes, nudibranchs, anemone fish, shrimp gobies, eels, baby dragon wrasse with schools of pyramids, snappers, jacks and fusiliers forming the backdrop. I was so proud of my DM candidates- I could not have done better.

Nicol Schilling, a young PADI instructor from Germany who has been working overseas for many years, arrived for a short holiday and is still here; she has taken up residence in our guest house, and is staying for another 2 weeks. She is assisting me with classes and reveling in the diving.

Anthea Blakie, an Australian working in Honiara, brought her newly certified dad, Bill, and her mom, Lia and aunt, Mary to the Lodge for a quick holiday.

After a couple of "beginner" dives for Bill, while Anthea toured Ukala Via, we began his real diving career at Kavachi Korner. How does one possibly express the feeling of drifting lazily down a colorful, fish laden wall to round the point with an almost blinding change of scenery and sound. Thousands of silver jacks racing from the depths shadowed by gray reef sharks literally engulf you; your body suddenly resonates with the booming of the island struggling to be born 35 miles away. At times, it sounds like canon fire, at others, like the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun. The intensity can cause ear pressure changes, and fish to flinch. Someone bangs on a tank and points up to hundreds of barracuda lazily circling above. You are drawn irresistibly into their vortex. You reluctantly glance at your computer which is telling you the wild show time is winding down; around the corner, a fan studded wall laced with cracks and crevices hides pipe fish,our twin spot lion and its nemesis, the zooming comet and invites our exploration on our way to the shallows. Evening visits and a dinner at the Lodge with the whole delightful family enlarged our adventures in the retelling.

3 mornings a week our campus is alive again with songs and shouts and laughter, and the occasional tearful wail from our little ones as our Headstart program embarks on its second term, with an enrollment of 24 very busy 3-6 year olds.

Greeting Dan Blanchard and Connie Holloway at the Sobiro airstrip, we noticed another passenger who looked like he was waiting to be found. Jim Mitchell had been E mailing me from Australia, and simply dropped in for a few days- and stayed a week. I thought I had had a very satisfying photo dive at Male Male Magic until I surfaced to hear the others raving about a hammerhead and cuttlefish. Kavachi put on its noisy performance, Golden Dawn and Toana enchanted with their brilliant soft corals and treasure filled ledges; we stopped counting Mandarin fish in the lagoon when we reached 26; Jim added a bush walk guided by Dellington and a highly successful early morning fishing trip to his itinerary. Our staff and families ate very well on the 32 yellow fin, bonito and rainbow runners they scored in 2 hours.

Sashimi by moonlight was the evening treat. Our spinner dolphins have been playful, to the joy of Midget and MacTavish as well as our guests. But our attempts to swim with them have been somewhat hampered by some very territorial gray reef sharks who don't seem to appreciate our presence.

And we are back in Divemaster school this week, busy creating various problem scenarios and "What would you do if---?, working on mapping, and doing our in water "practical". With sunny days and flat, warm water (83-85), it is often just too difficult to concentrate on book work when the reefs beckon.

ODDS AND ENDS: Bookings are coming in for later in the year, slowly but surely! -----I am frantically preparing for my trip back to Hawaii in a little over 2 weeks for my grandson's first birthday and baptism. I so look forward to seeing many of you and catching up------If any of you have good condition FAMILY type DVD's for our library that you're not using and don't know what to do with, send them to me c/o Tom Shockley-73-4370 Hue Hue St.-Kailua-Kona, HI 96740. Would be greatly appreciated!

And I must confess- this would have reached you a tad earlier, but the shimmering blue sea and brilliant skies were just too much temptation this morning. Packing 2 tanks each, snacks, coconuts and 2 ecstatic pups, we chose Toana Two for our first dive. It is far and away our most spectacular fan coral dive, with massive fans of pinks, golds and blacks disguising deep ridges. Hovering at 120' gazing up the walls awash in hanging fans awakens a deep spirituality at the sheer magnificence of nature. As yet unnamed new site at Male Male proved to be yet another golden coral encrusted wall- but with varied and unusual formations with sweeping ridges, looming overhead masses, deep "bowls" stuffed with fans and barrel sponges. I can never seem to get enough of the kaleidoscopic colors of these dives. This one deserves much more exploring and a special name.

And that's it for now- next NIUS will come from Hawaii. Have a great month, and please use my Gmail address from March 16-April 24.

lisachoquette@gmail.com .