fiji or phillipines

[sandboader73]

We are planning a trip for the end of nov or dec and was wondering what place had the best diving.Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Also where to stay would help. I would love to stay on somebodys yacht but that i know would be a stretch!

 

[jbird71]

I haven't been to either, but researched both for a trip I'm taking in December. I ended up choosing the Philippines because its easier to fly to than Fiji (for me), considerably cheaper, and has a better variety of diving (in my case wrecks).

 

[Kevrumbo]

Both Philippines and Fiji! Continental flies to both using Guam as the hub.

This is the "yacht" I'm thinking about going on again, for a Philippines Liveaboard around the Thanksgiving Holiday this year: http://www.asiadivers.com/techasia/Coron.pdf

And here's a fantastic liveaboard in Fiji: Liveaboard Scuba Diving on NAI'A - Fiji and Beyond

 

[Woodiver]

It depends, Fiji is easy to get to from the west coast. It’s only a 10hr overnight flight from LA and then either a drive or inter island flight. The travel to the Philippines is much longer. We’re in Seattle and the routing was Seattle to Vancouver, Vancouver to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Manila and then an inter island flight. For our routing, count on more like 24 hrs counting layovers. For a December timeframe, I’d pick the Philippines due to weather. Fiji is going into the hotter, muggy season and in the Philippines it’s the opposite.
As far as diving, Fiji is wonderful, beautiful soft corals along with hard corals with a zillion fish but lower on the biodiversity for critters. The Philippines is known for critters and is also wonderful but I do like muck because of the critters. Many areas in the Philippines have great coral sites but not nearly the amount of soft corals compared to Fiji.
Are you planning on a liveaboard or land based? I’d recommend a liveaboard for Fiji, it gets you to the best areas although you can have good land based diving. We have been to the Taveuni and to the north coast of Vita Levu, both offered good land based options. It’s been awhile since we were on Taveuni but a friend stayed at Garden Island and liked the new operation. On Vita Levu, we were at Wananavu and used a dive operation that has since been replaced by Ra Diver’s. The trips to the Bligh water can’t be missed, you are in the waters normally only visited by liveaboards. One other thing, the Fijian people are some of the most friendly people you will find!
In the Philippines, we have gone to Dumaguete and Puerto Galera. We stayed at Atlantis resorts at both locations. Dumaguete has a lot of muck sites and critters but Apo Island is only a 45 minute ride away for pristine coral sites. No nightlife at Atlantis in Dumaguete other than eating and enjoying the company of our fellow diver’s. Puerto Galera is totally different, the resort is located in an area with many restaurants and clubs. I thought the diving at Puerto Galera was more diverse than Dumaguete, if you’re into nudibranchs, they are all over the place. Don’t pass up the trip to Verde Island, very good!
You really can’t go wrong with either choice. For picture’s you can go to my Fickr page here:
Flickr: woodiver15's Photostream

 

[Kevrumbo]

The best of Philippine wall diving with big pelagic action is at Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea aboard the Explorer Fleet; however the season at this remote UNESCO World Heritage Site runs from March to July. . .

 

[robint]

Fiji --- there are direct flights from LAX several nights per week on Air Pacific. So it is easier to get to for most people. There are also new flights on Continental from west coast of US with one stop in Honolulu (no longer stopping in Guam).
Fiji also has lots of choices for land-based resorts/dive ops. Most dive ops only do 2 morning dives, then you are free to shore dive or other activities the rest of day. It is a more leasurely type of trip.

Many of the resorts in Philippines offer 3-4 boat dives per day so there is a potential to get in many more dives on a trip. We like that. Philippines has been on our "must do" list for awhile, but because of the 2 day air travel to and from, we are moving it down the list and will probably go to Fiji first.

Just my 2 cents.
robin

 

[ScubaduoAdventures]

Both are great in there own right. Fiji closer to you and Philippines closer. Fiji has the awesome corals of course and more sharks and the Philippines also has some very nice corals with a little more diversity like ( small critter stuff ).

Like Kevrumbo we recommend the Naia in Fiji very highly as it will take you to some of the best dive sites Fiji has to offer and we also recommend Asian Divers on Puerto Galera in the Philippines as they have some great diving and a very nice resort on a more quiet beach to stay on PG. You can walk down the beach to go out for some night life in the evening if you want!