Sam Snaaps

Returning to Fiji is one of the biggest decisions I have ever made. Leaving my home in England and starting a new life in small, sleepy Savusavu is not an obvious path to follow, but faced with the opportunity I had been dreaming of ever since I took my first breath of compressed air, I had to at least try.

Rewind time to September 2018, and you will find young Sam preparing to embark on his maiden solo voyage to the other side of the world. Armed with very little except the knowledge that I wanted to become a divemaster, I joined a volunteering program to learn about marine conservation, and complete my divemaster training.

Landing on a tiny island, Caqalai (than.ga.lie) became home for 3 months.

A goal I set myself was to dive the two most famous shark sites in Fiji – Beqa (ben.ga) lagoon to see the bull sharks, and Savusavu to see the hammerheads. A small group of friends and I booked the last spaces of the weekend on a trip to see the hammerheads with KoroSun dive, and being wild animals, we were not guaranteed to see them, but it was worth a try. We didn’t see a single shark.

I must’ve used all my fortune in Beqa. Too many bull sharks to count, if only I had the same problem with hammerheads…

I suppose getting close gives you a taste of what could have been, so I worked hard to earn a placement at KoroSun as a divemaster trainee (DMT) so that I could return and see the hammers for real. What a success that turned out to be! 3 months and many hammerheads later, I was a fully trained divemaster.

Towards the end of my marine science BSc, I received an offer from the owners of KoroSun – Colin and Janine, to return and become the manager of the diver operation as they step back into a simpler life of retirement! It was a long time in the making, troubled with visa applications, and waiting for me to finish my degree, but finally, on 11th September 2023, I left Whitstable, once again bound for Fiji. This time maybe for a more permanent role…

Does this count as a private jet?

In this blog, I will recount my experiences as I wonder through life in Fiji, sharing the many pictures I wish to take, and discuss my ideas, observations, and feeling about the natural environment.