French Polynesia (Fakarava) versus Fiji (Beqa Lagoon) versus Palau (Koror)

[Cali_diver]

We have been to all three. Beqa Lagoon is certainly last of the three on my list. Very good coral but not so much otherwise. If it is shark diving you want, FP is the choice. My favorite of the three is Palau, but we were on the Palau Siren, which really enhanced the experience.

That's funny because we were on the Palau Siren and I think that was why we didn't like Palau very much. We stayed moored in the same place for 5 days. We dove the same sites over and over again, along with all the other day boats and liveaboards. I did German Channel 5 times and Blue Corner 6 times. I think it would have been fine if they had read the currents right, We only hooked in once on Blue Corner and it was with Sam's tours on a pre-cruise day trip. We even did Ulong channel backwards after having to get back into boat after a misread on the current. Every dive had multiple boats on site. When I went back this year I was hoping for a better experience but instead we had more people and even witnessed multiple no-nos with whole groups of tourists not wearing fins standing on the reef with masks on looking at the fish. I witnessed so many things that made me furious that the guides are not taking care of Palau. There were so many people in Jelly Fish lake kicking and screaming it looked like Jelly Fish Stew. Sorry I will end rant now....

 

[qwimjim]

That's funny because we were on the Palau Siren and I think that was why we didn't like Palau very much. We stayed moored in the same place for 5 days. We dove the same sites over and over again, along with all the other day boats and liveaboards. I did German Channel 5 times and Blue Corner 6 times. I think it would have been fine if they had read the currents right, We only hooked in once on Blue Corner and it was with Sam's tours on a pre-cruise day trip. We even did Ulong channel backwards after having to get back into boat after a misread on the current. Every dive had multiple boats on site. When I went back this year I was hoping for a better experience but instead we had more people and even witnessed multiple no-nos with whole groups of tourists not wearing fins standing on the reef with masks on looking at the fish. I witnessed so many things that made me furious that the guides are not taking care of Palau. There were so many people in Jelly Fish lake kicking and screaming it looked like Jelly Fish Stew. Sorry I will end rant now....

Palau sounds like a gong show? You said Rangiroa/Fakarava was not as good as Fiji because it's pretty much the same dive everyday. Rangi has 2 passes and Fakarava has 2 passes, so if we're diving 8 days, that's 2 days/4 dives on each pass.. so do you mean that 4 dives on the same pass is repetitive, or that just diving passes in and of itself gets repetitive despite the fact that there's 4 of them, ie they're all pretty similar?

It's also interesting that you recommend Beqa so highly, I've read so many disappointed reviews, I wonder if people go the wrong time of year perhaps?

Have you ever been to Komodo? Just curious as that is the other one on our short list

 

[mmmbelows]

You said Rangiroa/Fakarava was not as good as Fiji because it's pretty much the same dive everyday. Rangi has 2 passes and Fakarava has 2 passes, so if we're diving 8 days, that's 2 days/4 dives on each pass.. so do you mean that 4 dives on the same pass is repetitive, or that just diving passes in and of itself gets repetitive despite the fact that there's 4 of them, ie they're all pretty similar?

I can't speak for Calidivergirl, but I can speak from my experience that if you dived the passes everyday for a month and thought they were the same dive, you're doing it wrong, or more likely you're diving with the wrong dive operator. The Tiputa pass on Rangiroa alone is dived a dozen different ways all depending on conditions, which way the water is flowing, if there was rain recently, what you want to see etc... You might dive close to the shore to experience mantas, you might dive the canyon and grab a rock and sit there the whole dive to watch, you might dive the middle of the pass deep to see great hammer heads or tiger sharks, you might zoom the pass, you might change dive plans in the middle of the dive because dolphins have shown up... the list goes on and on. This is why I'm so highly discriminatory when choosing a dive operation, I want to dive with operators who love diving and want to show you their secret world, not some dive op simply churning the numbers day after day.

 

[wico6768]

I can't speak for Calidivergirl, but I can speak from my experience that if you dived the passes everyday for a month and thought they were the same dive, you're doing it wrong, or more likely you're diving with the wrong dive operator. The Tiputa pass on Rangiroa alone is dived a dozen different ways all depending on conditions, which way the water is flowing, if there was rain recently, what you want to see etc... You might dive close to the shore to experience mantas, you might dive the canyon and grab a rock and sit there the whole dive to watch, you might dive the middle of the pass deep to see great hammer heads or tiger sharks, you might zoom the pass, you might change dive plans in the middle of the dive because dolphins have shown up... the list goes on and on. This is why I'm so highly discriminatory when choosing a dive operation, I want to dive with operators who love diving and want to show you their secret world, not some dive op simply churning the numbers day after day.

^^^^^ this

We have most of our dives here, not one has been the same, not one has been boring, and even the ones where your location/type are the same, are not the same. But the guy we choose to go with, is terrific! He always has things to surprise us. He and his wife both seem to be psychic in finding dolphins, pretty much every dive. They also tailor the dives for what they know we want to see most.

We try to pick operators similar to this wherever we go. So far, we have done a pretty good job of that and would go back to dive again with most.

 

[Cali_diver]

Totally agree with both observations above. I have been to Rangiroa 3 times and Fakarava 2. I love both places. I was not saying that one was better then the other just that they were different. What I was saying is there is more diversity in Fiji (especially if you go on a liveaboard). Fish populations and corals. I recommended Lalati in Beqa but only stayed there for 4 days as a pre-stay before going on the Naia liveaboard. I would not recommend going there for your only stay, unless you want to do the shark dive. I would make sure you get to the Bligh Waters...

As for Fakarava and Rangiroa, each dive might be a different experience (as is the case with any dive anywhere) but you are diving the same outer reef and pass each time. We even saw dolphins in Fakarava on the outer reef. If your goal is to see lots of sharks everyday then Fakarava and Rangi are a good choice.

If you like the pelagics, you might want to consider Socorro in the future. That is where I have had the best interactions with dolphins and mantas. You also have lots of sharks (Hammerheads, Galapogos, Silkies, Greys, Silvertips, Blacktips and whitetips.) Depending on the time of year you might have Whalesharks or Humpback whales.

Komodo is my all-time favorite!!! Love love love that place and we are going back in July for a third time!

 

[qwimjim]

Totally agree with both observations above. I have been to Rangiroa 3 times and Fakarava 2. I love both places. I was not saying that one was better then the other just that they were different. What I was saying is there is more diversity in Fiji (especially if you go on a liveaboard). Fish populations and corals. I recommended Lalati in Beqa but only stayed there for 4 days as a pre-stay before going on the Naia liveaboard. I would not recommend going there for your only stay, unless you want to do the shark dive. I would make sure you get to the Bligh Waters...

As for Fakarava and Rangiroa, each dive might be a different experience (as is the case with any dive anywhere) but you are diving the same outer reef and pass each time. We even saw dolphins in Fakarava on the outer reef. If your goal is to see lots of sharks everyday then Fakarava and Rangi are a good choice.

If you like the pelagics, you might want to consider Socorro in the future. That is where I have had the best interactions with dolphins and mantas. You also have lots of sharks (Hammerheads, Galapogos, Silkies, Greys, Silvertips, Blacktips and whitetips.) Depending on the time of year you might have Whalesharks or Humpback whales.

Komodo is my all-time favorite!!! Love love love that place and we are going back in July for a third time!

Thanks, Socorros is on the list for one day but for our first big trip we want to do land based. I love the idea of seeing lots of sharks but I also want to see lots of fish and soft coral Not so much into wrecks or macro/critters. What is it about komodo that you love a much? It really gets a lot of high raise but I can't seem to nail down what it's strengths are that put it above the rest for so many people. Thanks!

 

[Cali_diver]

First let me preface this by saying I have been to quite a few places in Indonesia and I am a macro nut. I love the small stuff so Indonesia is one of the top places to go, but Komodo has always been my favorite. I love it because it has everything. In one day you can do a reef dive, a fantastic drift dive with mantas, a weird critter muck dive and an amazing pinnacle with so much fish life you can't see. It has the same fish and coral diversity that the rest of Indo has but it has every kind of diving so it makes it a favorite. Not to mention you get to see the Komodo Dragons! You won't see a lot of sharks in Indonesia, but we did see some in Komodo. I would only recommend doing Komodo on a liveaboard though. I would always pick liveaboards over land stays due to the proximity to dive sites, ease of diving preparation and ability to get away from day boats etc.

There are so many places to go and each place has its merits!

 

[qwimjim]

First let me preface this by saying I have been to quite a few places in Indonesia and I am a macro nut. I love the small stuff so Indonesia is one of the top places to go, but Komodo has always been my favorite. I love it because it has everything. In one day you can do a reef dive, a fantastic drift dive with mantas, a weird critter muck dive and an amazing pinnacle with so much fish life you can't see. It has the same fish and coral diversity that the rest of Indo has but it has every kind of diving so it makes it a favorite. Not to mention you get to see the Komodo Dragons! You won't see a lot of sharks in Indonesia, but we did see some in Komodo. I would only recommend doing Komodo on a liveaboard though. I would always pick liveaboards over land stays due to the proximity to dive sites, ease of diving preparation and ability to get away from day boats etc.

There are so many places to go and each place has its merits!

Thanks, so if one isn't into hunting for critters and nudibranchs komodo still offers plenty of "wow" diving? If we go to komodo we would also spend a couple of days on nusa lembongan and maybe do a couple days at sebrayur island komodo dive center resort and then a 3 day komodo liveaboard. See if we like being on a boat that long I think we've narrowed it down to komodo and rangiroa/fakarava. So hard to decide!