The name of the small island just off from the Garden Island Resort is
also Korolevu. The locals say that it is haunted! However, at the dive
shop, next to the hotel, you may arrange a boat ride out for about $8.00
per person. They will come back for you several hours later. There is
good snorkeling there, out several hundred feet until the bottom drops
steeply down to about 100 ft. We took scuba tanks out once and did a
dive on that wall and later a night dive on the other side to around 50
ft. There were quite a few nice shells.
 
There are a lot of Latirus gibbulus and Latirus barclayi. They are often
quite
encrusted but clean up nicely. Look for ones with a nice apex. You
should
also find a half dozen varieties of rock shells and a few Cypraea.
 
There are a number of very poisonous cones in the area. We found
Conus textile, Conus striatus and Conus omaria and a few the less
poisonous
varities. These three will most often recoil into their shell at first
only to
become very active (and dangerous) a few minutes later. f you want to be
very
safe scoop them up with tongs or a small spade. This is convenient since
 
around Taveuni they seem to be in sand under larger rocks and rubble. If
you
ant to be sort-of safe wear tough or thick gloves. Put them in a bag
immediately and keep the bag away from your body. Keep in mind that they
 
will be more aggressive come time to remove them from the bag and will
crawl
across the floor if left alone. Then, if you want to be like me, you can
just dig
them up with your hands. In this case it is probably better to do as I
say than
as I do.
 
Russ & Sue Webb
[log in to unmask]
 
 
 
 
> From:         Kathleen Mccabe[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:         Thursday, January 01, 1998 12:57 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Shelling in Fiji -Reply
>
> Aloha Wes-- Happy New Year and hope you had a good holiday season.
> Can't
> believe it's over and can't believe it's only 4 weeks before we go to
> Fiji.
> We'll be there from 2/4 - 2/19 and are looking forward to finding some
> great
> shells.  Since this is our first experience with Pacific shells,
> anything we
> find will be thrilling to us.  We're going to spend 5 days on Taveuni
> at the
> Garden Island Resort, 4 days and 3 nights on a Blue Lagoon Cruise up
> to the
> Yasawas, 3 days at the Plantation Resort on Malololailai and the rest
> of the
> time on Viti Levu.  Glad to hear you liked the Garden Island Resort.
> We'll look
> for that small island off the resort.  We've changed our plans about
> Kadavu--mostly based on your comments.  We'll save it for another
> time.  Still
> can't find the Fisheries Bureau letter on the net.  My system won't
> let me
> access it for some reason.  Will keep trying.  Have a couple questions
> for you
> about handling cones since you have shelled down Fiji way.  I'll
> probably put
> this out for the general Conch-L population too.  Do you know how to
> handle and
> pick up cones that are poisonous/deadly?  We've never collected live
> cones
> before and want to make sure we don't get hurt (or killed!)  Do you
> need
> protective gloves or do you use tongs?  Where are their likely
> habitats?  I've
> heard under dead pieces of reef and also in sand where you can find
> them by hand
> dredging.  How do you get them home?  Any tips you can give us about
> handling
> would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks again.  Kathy
>
> >>> "Wesley M. Thorsson" <[log in to unmask]> 12/22/97 02:03pm >>>
> Kathleen:
>
> I have been in Fiji a number of times, usually enroute to other
> islands,
> but normally spend a day or so there.
>
> About 25 years ago, we found quite a few shells snorkeling off a
> number
> of beaches, particularly near Korolevu.  The highway often is far from
> the shoreline and not easy to get to the beach, but we always found
> someplace and some shells. (The highway at the time was an endless
> string of potholes).
>
> The highway has improved drastically.  However, 15 years later in the
> same places even the common shells were very much more scarce.
>
> In the last few years we have stayed at Taveuni at the Garden Island
> resort and enjoyed it.  There were quite a few beach shells, and some
> shells snorkeling, particularly at a small island off the resort.  My
> main camera broke, and I make photographic trips so mainly touristed.
>
> Also spent a week on Kandavu, found some shells snorkeling and some
> diving, but not fabulous.  Generally, I haven't found shells to be
> abundant at any of the places I have been in Fiji in recent years.
>
> There never was any problem with customs or others about collecting,
> and
> even the dive shops I used were not strongly against collecting in
> moderation if you didn't harm the corals that are important to tourist
> divers.
>
> If you want documentation, you could copy the letter I got from
> Fsheries
> Bureau in Fiji.  It is on the Internet HSN
>   http://www.hits.net/~hsn
>
> Aloha,
>
> Wes
>