Diving at Taveunin, Fiji: Any Chance for Strong Currents at Rainbow Reef at Full Moon?

[DivingChipmunk]

Hello,

We are heading to Paradise Taveuni for a 10 day dive trip during the Christmas and New Year holiday.

Are there strong currents at Rainbow Reef, esp at the Great White Wall? I heard that the dive there tends to be scheduled only at certain time related to the moon phase.

We are intermediate divers and have had some (but not much) experience with currents at Maldives, Cozumel, Komodo and Raja Ampat.

We just read about a fatal diving accident, Raja Ampat diver death , on Nov 29 onboard Raja Ampat Damai II LOB, during a dive in a very strong current . It made us a little concerned about diving in potentially strong current. We want to be prepared.

Any experience to share about diving at Rainbow Reef, including Great White Wall, in currents? Thanks !

 

[ColoDale]

It's been quite a long time since we dove those two but yes there is current there but the surge caused us to work more. 3 steps forward and two back. It was manageable though. I have been in much stronger currents in Cozumel. There were vacation divers (of which we were technically but at least those less experienced than us on those dives) and we all managed. I can't say what the moon phase was at the time. I would say the current at the time was less than usual Cozumel currents but again, we had surge which occurred at most sites near the shores and mounts like Great White wall.
I would definitely dive them with an experienced operator.

If at all possible, try to get over to Noel's and Yellow walls near Matangi. I think the best walls I have ever dived but it is a long boat ride from Taveuni. Taveuni operators may not want to go due to time and fuel.

 

[Joneill]

Hello,

We are heading to Taveuni for a 10 day dive trip during the Christmas and New Year holiday.

Are there strong currents at Rainbow Reef, esp at the Great White Wall? I heard that the dive there tends to be scheduled at the Full Moon, and Dec 27 will be full moon.

We are intermediate divers and have had some (but not much) experience with currents at Maldives, Cozumel, Komodo and Raja Ampat.

We just read about a fatal diving accident Raja Ampat diver death on Nov 29 at Raja Ampat Damai II LOB during a dive in a very strong current . It made us a little concerned about diving in strong current on full moon. We want to be prepared.

Any experience to share about diving at Rainbow Reef, including Great White Wall, in currents? Thanks !

I was there last August (2022) and we did not encounter any crazy currents in Taveuni. However, they told us that some sites on on Rainbow Reef may not be diveable at certain times due to crazy strong currents associated with tides - the dive guides had a name for it (I forget it) and said you can actually hear the roar/thunder of the current flow at the surface.

Keep in mind that the Great White Wall is only “white” at specific dates/times as it needs a certain amount of current flow to ensure that the corals are open and feeding. Many Ops post a schedule of the best dates:

Great White Wall Schedule — Taveuni Dive Resort

www.taveunidiveresort.com

We saw it in “full bloom” and it was a mild drift dive once on the wall - no super strong currents at all.

 

[JohnN]

+1 for Taveuni Dive Resort. They are the closest dive operator to the Great White Wall and a quality operation. I dove with them in October '23 and would absolutely go back

 

[PatW]

I dove at Paradise Taveuni a month ago. There was a bit of current when I was there but no big deal. You knew there was current but if you got close to the bottom, you could stay still. One dive we went up and over a shallow spot and there it was brisk but still OK. I understand that the currents can get really fast.

 

[donhealy]

I was at Paradise just before thanksgiving. Cyclone Mal came by for a quick visit. Resort is awesome and the dive shop is fantastic. All of the dives were live drops and almost of those were drift dives. White Wall is great to see. Don't forget about the Purple Wall. It's smaller but quite pretty! Yes, you will get current. That's what gives you the soft coral! The dive boat captains will put you in the best positions for out of this world diving. Rest assured, they will take care of you. Intermediate divers will not have an issue. Make sure you tell them that the White Wall is a priority and, weather permitting, they will get you there. We dove it twice at slack tide, so the soft coral was not as prominent but it was still world class!

 

[staggsSevin]

I've done the dive 3 times (Paradise resort here) and out of three of those only once a bit "fast" of a current, towards the end dealing with the surge was the only thing that was a bit wild.

Seeing the places you've dove already, you will be fine. They won't put you in if they are really ripping, they check it and will wait it out if they need to.

 

[TostitoBandito]

Basically all the dives on the rainbow reef are drift dives, so yeah expect current and surge to some extent. There's a saying I heard from the boat captain on my first trip to Fiji, "no current, no fun".

That said, at least at Taveuni Dive Resort, the captains and divemasters were very good at evaluating conditions and taking you to the right sites at the right time for an optimal experience. We never had any really ripping currents or anything. The strongest we had was typical drift dive stuff like you might see in Cozumel. You drift along and steer with your fins and if you want to stop and look at something you can easily flip around and gently kick into the current. A lot of times it was gentler than that though. One of our dives on the white wall was perfectly timed and almost slack.

 

[DivingChipmunk]

We had 9 diving days out of the 11 days spent at Paradise Taveuni and had a great time. 25 tanks (including 23 boat dives and 2 shore dives). About half are drift dives. One dive at White Wall. There are currents, but nothing dramatic. On a few dives, I felt the need of using the reef pointer to slow myself down when necessary.

Thank you all for all the helpful info from the board. We did bring our "bigger fins" (Mares X-stream) instead of Scubapro Go Travel Fins.
We enjoyed our dives there.