Page 17 - Fiji Traveller Issue 2

Ring Gold Divers' Jioji Mataitoga and Alisi Maiyacata

Words: Ariela Zibiah Photos: Lisa Kingsberry Cyclone) Winston came, and then Covid-19, but we persevered,”
Jioji said.
As an indigenous woman who has clocked considerable hours Cyclone Winston, a Category 5 storm, made landfall in Ra on
diving in some of the most breathtaking locations around Fiji, the February 20, 2016. The cyclone killed 44 people and left 131,000
emotions I felt while being kitted up and taken out to a slice of people homeless. Jioji’s family survived with minimal damage to
the magnificent Vatu-i-Ra passage by a local, family-owned and their home. However the Rakiraki Hotel, where Ring Gold Divers
run dive operator recently was indescribable. hoped to have their divers stay, had to be shut down.
Resorts are king in this segment of the tourism sector and Jioji and Alisi’s next move should not surprise; the idea that
they usually feature an expatriate in charge of a dive operation, they also run an Airbnb was birthed by an Australian-based
supported by local dive masters. So watching Jioji Mataitoga niece who pointed out the three vacant rooms they now had with
and Alisi Maiyacata organise our bottles and wetsuits, our fins their older children having flown the nest. The rest, as they say,
and buoyancy control devices, and then ensure at Malake Jetty is history!
that we were comfortable in the boat, I felt a sense of pride and By the time Covid-19 slipped through our airports in March
accomplishment for this family. I hadn’t even dipped my toe into 2021, the family had had a taste of what Ring Gold Divers could
the deep blue waters off the Rakiraki coastline and my heart was become. Direct local bookings helped a lot. “It has been our faith
already full; this was ‘Bula spirit’ at its best. and belief in ourselves that’s brought us through the difficult
days. A whole lot of survival has been about the relationships we
How it all started had in the area,” Jioji said.
Jioji was a 19-year-old doing odd jobs at a local hotel in Taveuni A genuinely warm appreciation for each other comes through
in the 1980s when he first saw a scuba diving pool session. As a their exchanges, and the warmth with which you are welcomed
free diver used to diving for family meals, he was intrigued by all at their table and invited into their lives, belies the difficulties they
the gadgets. In fact he was so fixated at the sight of all the gear, have been through.
that he did not hear the dive operator approach. The ensuing
conversation marked the beginning of a love affair with diving More than just diving
that continues today for Jioji. The philosophy of Ring Gold Divers reminds me of the idiom
His family company, Ring Gold Divers, began operations in “culture eats strategy for breakfast”; Jioji speaks to his “boys”
2016. regularly about respect and developing their knowledge of
“We had years of experience between us doing the same the area. As women divers, we were treated with respect, our
things we are doing now for other people. Now though we were experience in diving acknowledged and as locals, we did not
doing it for ourselves. We just went for it but then (Tropical feel we were being treated any different from how they’d treat

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