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