Indonesia Vs. Fiji?

[dirtfarmer]

There is the issue of sharkyness.
I only have direct knowledge of Indonesia, but from what I've seen on video Fiji is way more sharky.
Someday I'd like to dive Fiji during the grouper spawn, ( the farm keeps me prisoner during it and so many other events worldwide I would like to dive) the video from Blue Planet has hundreds of sharks cruising the waters hunting the groupers.

 

[loady]

Would shore based Fiji dive boats see as much as liveaboards?

 

[loady]

Forgot that we’re all rich retired seniors. I really enjoyed my diving and course there. there but it was in 2002.

Nothing is wrong with Ko Tao if mediocre to poor diving on crowded sites is your thing, or if your twenty something looking to get certified for cheap in a cert factory or do your DM with hordes of other hungover twenty somethings, than it might be right up your alley.

 

[billt4sf]

I dove in washing machine crazy currents , surge in similian islands and andaman sea and didn’t enjoy it.
I’ve read Bali diving has less life and health then Fiji . Is that right?

Hello Loady,

I've had those experiences as well. Plenty of times we had current that was not enjoyable for us, even scary.

Now we seek it out.

It's a question of having enough experience and buoyancy control to relax. For us it took a few hundred dives, and taking GUE Fundies helped a lot. For many, it takes far fewer.

- Bill & Emily

 

[Luko]

Would shore based Fiji dive boats see as much as liveaboards?

Obvioulsy the best diving in Fiji is Bligh Waters and/or Taveuni I 've done daytrips form Northern Viti Levu to dive Vatu I Ra area (like E-6 reef.) which is the southern parts of Bligh waters (from Wananavu resort), that is spectacular but it takes you 1,5 hrs speed boat ride, at the time it was an aluminium very hollow hull, it was killing my ears with the engine noise. Wouldn't do that again.

That said Moody's Namena island resort was located in the center of Bligh Waters on Namena NP, it hosted the best diving in Fiji supposedly, unfortunately it has been severly hit by cyclone WInston in 2016 and now closed sine die. So I belive for now on, Naia liveaboard will be your best bet for diving the Bligh Waters.
Taveuni doesn't need any liveaboard, there are plenty of resorts close to the dive spots.

Sharkyness and pelagic fish, yes. I don't remember a dive anywhere in Fiji without seeing at least a reef shark, tunas and spanish mackerels.

 

[wandererlaowai]

Hi guys,

I ended up going to Bali / Tulamben in August.

I was very lucky, as I was the only guest at the resort where I stayed (many people changed plans because of volcano + quakes at the time) and therefore had a divemaster for me only, what a blast!

Did shore dives every day to different sites in Tulamben and Amed, early dives, night dives, and I had the opportunity to really dive at my pace, take videos and pictures (small sharks, rays, shrimps, murray eels, cleaning stations, and so on) without having to rush or slow down because there are more divers in the group.

If I could, I would only dive alone with a DM from now on!!

Thank you all for your precious comments and support

Mike

 

[Hoag]

Just a thought, but Indonesia was hit by a Tsunami last weekend. I do not know what direct impact this has had on the Scuba tourism business there, but I would imagine that it has had a severe impact on infrastructure. Access to or availability of things that many of us take for granted such as lines of communication, roads and bridges, clean water etc may be extremely limited.

 

[Luko]

Just a thought, but Indonesia was hit by a Tsunami last weekend. I do not know what direct impact this has had on the Scuba tourism business there, but I would imagine that it has had a severe impact on infrastructure. Access to or availability of things that many of us take for granted such as lines of communication, roads and bridges, clean water etc may be extremely limited.

FYI indonesia is a stretch of 14000 islands that goes from say Vancouver to Halifax.
What would you say about Puget sound diving if ever Montreal had a severe snow storm?
I'm currenty writing from Bali : the impact here is nil.

 

[Hoag]

FYI indonesia is a stretch of 14000 islands that goes from say Vancouver to Halifax.
What would you say about Puget sound diving if ever Montreal had a severe snow storm?
I'm currenty writing from Bali : the impact here is nil.

First of all, I am glad to read that you are OK. I didn't know if the Tsunami hit in an area where there is a lot of tourism or diving or not, but based on what I did see, it looked like the areas that were hit were hit relatively hard.