Fiji Siren Livaboard - When is the best time to go?

[rickeyf413]

I recently won a free 7-day trip aboard the Fiji Siren and have until the end of 2015 to take the trip. I'll be honest I don't know much about Fiji diving other than the handful of articles I've read over the past few days. I'm looking for some advice from anyone familiar with the Fiji Siren or who has taken a trip aboard the Fiji Siren. I'm an underwater photographer and love shooting both wide-angle and macro so I guess I'm just looking for the best visibility, clarity, and water conditions.


When would be the best time of year to spend 7-days aboard the Fiji Siren?


Also this will be my first live-aboard trip so any advice about live-aboards would be helpful


Thanks in advance for your help

 

[rickeyf413]

Thanks for all the help... LOL! Anyway, I'm booked on the May 16 - 23, 2015 7-day trip

I'm booked as a solo is anyone on here possibly going that week?

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I do not know the answer to your question but I have a question. How do you win a free trip on Fiji Siren?:cool2:

 

[rickeyf413]

I entered a contest on Bluewater Dive Travel's web site by writing a review on my recent dive trip to Atlantis Dive Resort in Dumaguete, Philippines

 

[J105Puff]

Haven't been on the Fiji Siren but have been on three others (Komodo, Flores to Sorong & Maldives). The boats are all set up similar. They have a nice camera set up and unless everyone onboard has a camera you will have plenty of room. You may want to bring a power strip with you. The food has been good served buffet style. Three meals a day plus cereal and toast before the first dive and an afternoon snack. Advice is to pack lite, you will be in your swim suit all day. Bring 4 or 5 swim suits so you can put a dry one on after each dive. Typical day is get up 6 am have a little to eat and then dive around 7. After the dive is the full breakfast second dive is around 10:30 then lunch. The afternoon dive is around 2:30 or 3 with a snack after it. Then the dusk/nite dive at 6-7 and dinner aroiund 8. All diving is done from the dinghys. We did Fiji with the Naia in Oct/Nov and vis was good. I do not know if they are doing the same routes/area. This is a new location for Siren. The guides have all been good on the boats we have been on. You should have opportunities to shoot both wide and macro in Fiji. We had some very good shark dives and soft corals.

 

[MA]

I'm looking at possibly jumping on that same trip at the moment.

 

[FrannieC]

Thanks for all the help... LOL! Anyway, I'm booked on the May 16 - 23, 2015 7-day trip

I'm booked as a solo is anyone on here possibly going that week?

Hi Rickey! I just saw your post on the trip to Fiji on the Siren in May. My husband and another couple will also be on the Siren that week. We were trying to entice another friend to join us, but he was not able to commit when we booked. If you still don't have a roommate, perhaps we will try to convince him. We will look forward to meeting you. Fran

 

[DeputyDan]

You might want to drop a PM to Allison Finch on this board.
I think that she did this boat last fall.

 

[nudisusie]

Sorry for late responses - I've only just seen the thread

May is a great time to go to Fiji, the seas are calmer from mid April - end October so you won't have issues with getting to dive sites. Viz is pretty good year round but again May is better than when the weather is rough.

Fiji Siren launched in Oct 2013 and I dived aboard from 19-29 April 2014. Its a fabulous boat, with loads of space, upper deck has shade. the food was excellent and the crew were wonderful plus the dive guides were great spotters. No need to bring a power strip - there are loads of charge points in the salon - with 3 areas for camera fiddling and storage drawers. Two big rinse tanks for cameara gear only and the crew know the kit so handle it with care!
Dive equipment is free of charge on siren yachts so pack light (no need to bring spare regs or anything like that) J105 puff has it spot on with the daily schedule - thats pretty much it, with time in between for watching a movie, sorting your camera, chilling in the sun / shade, playing cards with the crew.

My fave places were Gau - Nigali Passage for the schools of reef sharks and Namena Reserve for the corals and fish life - really awesome dives and plenty to see at all depths. Wide angle will be excellent and I'm sure you;ll enjoy dives in E6 Cathedral. Plenty of macro too even pygmy seahorses, ghost pipefish and nudibranchs. we found cowries and hawkfish too and Ju (one of the guides) is very adept at getting the cleaner shrimp to give his mouth a clean!

I stayed at Volivoli Resort prior to the trip - if you have time, its well worth doing some of their local dive sites - beautiful corals and plenty of critters.

hope you all have an awesome time!
Susie

PS- now i know who won that trip - I tried with my review of Atmosphere Resort (just down the road from Atlantis - haa haaa)