Fiji - drift diving?

[robint]

I have read that Fiji is all drift diving and just wondered how they handle it. Is it like in Cozumel and Palau where you jump off boat and wherever you come up the boat is waiting to pick you up? Or do you swim into current then drift back to boat? Do the boats anchor or are they live boats?

How is the current, like Cozumel or Palau? (we have done both, so I am looking for a comparison) Some reefs strong and some not, or are all the drifts similar in speed? Or are they a gentle cruise? Is is easy to get back on the boat or rough?

We are thinking of a trip in 2011 to Fiji and just trying to decide if it is right for us.
Palau's currents were ripping but once at the surface the boat was always there in minutes to pick us up. Personally, I hate fighting strong currents, especially when trying to get back to a boat. I also hate trying to get back on a bucking boat.

thanks!

robin

 

[shawrg]

robinT, Although I haven't been to Palau yet (going this June :cool2. I do have a limited knowledge of Fiji so here are my experiences. The current at Astrolab reef was very strong the entire week of my stay on Kadavu. The boat followed our bubbles and picked us up when we surfaced. On the Fiji Aggressor II (aka Sere Ni Wai) it was a mixture of diving off the moored boat, swimming into the current which ranged from moderate to fast then ride the current back to the boat. When we had wicked fast currents we got in the zodiac for a backroll entry for a drift dive/fly-by with the zodiac picking up divers as they surfaced. I need to have more dives in Fiji to make an objective comparison between Fiji and coz currents. However, Coz seems to me to be gentler overall-even including the northern reefs such as San Juan & Barracuda. Also, Fiji covers a huge area and diving is more varied than Coz. Which area are you planning to dive?

I have read that Fiji is all drift diving and just wondered how they handle it. Is it like in Cozumel and Palau where you jump off boat and wherever you come up the boat is waiting to pick you up? Or do you swim into current then drift back to boat? Do the boats anchor or are they live boats?

How is the current, like Cozumel or Palau? (we have done both, so I am looking for a comparison) Some reefs strong and some not, or are all the drifts similar in speed? Or are they a gentle cruise? Is is easy to get back on the boat or rough?

We are thinking of a trip in 2011 to Fiji and just trying to decide if it is right for us.
Palau's currents were ripping but once at the surface the boat was always there in minutes to pick us up. Personally, I hate fighting strong currents, especially when trying to get back to a boat. I also hate trying to get back on a bucking boat.

thanks!

robin

 

[ncchuck]

My wife and I did a week of diving from Matangi Island. We dove such places as Yellow Wall, White Wall and the Somo Somo straights. The guides knew the waters so well that we never faced any serious current. We would sometimes wait 15 minutes or more at a dive site so we could dive at exactly slack tide. The diving was extremely easy. Any drift diving we did had the boat following our bubbles and picking us up at the end. We never had to swim into the current or had fight it at any time.

 

[gwklein]

I dove from the Nia'a (liveaboard) a year ago. Diving was done from two skiffs. The divers in a skiff would backroll as a group into the water and then head for the bottom. You could follow the guide or not. If a pinnacle dive, you worked your way from bottom to top which was generally about 20 ft below the surface. Then the current would take you. The skiffs would be waiting for you to come to the surface. You would hand up you weights and bc and then seal slide into the boat or DM would pull you out if you needed more help. If non-pinnacle dive, you followed the guide or were told the best path to go to avoid the heavy currents. At end of your dive, you came to surface and skiff picked you up. When one skiff was full it would go back to main boat while other skiff remained to pick up divers as they surfaced.

 

[robint]

We were thinking of Wananavu Resort or Beqa lagoon Resort... anyone know how they do the dives there???

 

[Papa_Bear]

robint, I have done them many times and yes just like Cozumel, unless otherwise instructed! One in Beqa was from one Mooring to the next where the boat was waiting! Wananavu we had one were they dropped us off and waited at the mooring site, but most are just standard drift dives! We did do one one the Fiji Aggressor that was cool, dropped off by skiff and drifted back to the big boat! So they have it down pretty well! Sanga-Na-Langa! BTW check my site I have done both in a row! Beqa and then Wananavu, you will love both, two completely different types of diving! We are going in November again!

 

[cowdog77]

We dove Beqa Lagoon and current was quite manageable, especially in the mornings. In the afternoons diving was more about dropping in over bommies and skirting the current if it happened to kick up.

 

[robint]

robint, I have done them many times and yes just like Cozumel, unless otherwise instructed! One in Beqa was from one Mooring to the next where the boat was waiting! Wananavu we had one were they dropped us off and waited at the mooring site, but most are just standard drift dives! We did do one one the Fiji Aggressor that was cool, dropped off by skiff and drifted back to the big boat! So they have it down pretty well! Sanga-Na-Langa! BTW check my site I have done both in a row! Beqa and then Wananavu, you will love both, two completely different types of diving! We are going in November again!

Different HOW???

Also, I just heard from someone who stayed at Wananavu recently diving with Ra Divers. She says the boat was moored most dives and they had to fight current most dives. Some of them they were just circling the bommies but others it was a chore.

 

[diveborg]

I dove from the Nia'a (liveaboard) a year ago. Diving was done from two skiffs. The divers in a skiff would backroll as a group into the water and then head for the bottom. You could follow the guide or not. If a pinnacle dive, you worked your way from bottom to top which was generally about 20 ft below the surface. Then the current would take you. The skiffs would be waiting for you to come to the surface. You would hand up you weights and bc and then seal slide into the boat or DM would pull you out if you needed more help. If non-pinnacle dive, you followed the guide or were told the best path to go to avoid the heavy currents. At end of your dive, you came to surface and skiff picked you up. When one skiff was full it would go back to main boat while other skiff remained to pick up divers as they surfaced.

Naia dive skiff:

Always had a live boat pickup when I was there.

 

[Papa_Bear]

The North has more Reef structure and fewer Boomies! Beqa is Boomies with the most of the life in the top 30ft! There are some wall diving like Frigates Pass in Beqa. Just like there are a few Boomies at Wananavu, but they have life all the way down do to the water flow. There are currents, but no one in our group is an Olympic swimmer and no one had any problems! Even me pushing a 45lb Video Housing and I had no problem! Go to my web site and look at the two areas diving areas!