In 1789 the English Royal Navy Cutter ''Bounty'' commanded by Lieutenant
William Bligh was overtaken by 18 crew led by Master's Mate Fletcher Christian in what has been named the "
Mutiny on the Bounty." The area known as the Bligh Water is the body of water (approximately 9500 km
2 in extent) in the western
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
islands through which Bligh sailed his 7 m (23 ft) launch during his 3,618-mile (5823 km) journey from
Tofua to the Dutch port of Timor. At the time some of the local Fijian tribes were considered hostile and many were
cannibalistic; so Bligh did not wish to jeopardize his or his crew's safety and elected not to stop his journey in the area.
Scuba diving the Bligh Water
Today many people refer to the area of the Vatu-I-Ra Passage, around the island of Vatu, as the "Bligh Water". While this is technically true, and the Vatu-I-Ra passage is located in the Bligh Water; the real Bligh Water is much larger. The Vatu-I-Ra Passage, now a
marine protected area, is famous for its abundance and diversity of marine life. One of the main attractions is the plentiful populations of beautiful hard and soft corals which thousands of scuba divers each year visit to enjoy and
photograph
A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...
.
External links
Geological study of the Bligh WaterBligh Encyclopedia's Bligh Water entry
Bodies of water of Fiji
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