Pros and Cons Maldives Vs. Fiji

[Debi Messer]

We have just completed an amazing trip to Wakatobi in Indonesia. We are looking to plan our next trip and cant decide between Fiji and Maldives. Any advise...pro and cons of both places? We like the macro life best and do prefer live a boards. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ukdave0]

To me, the draw for Maldives is channel diving. If your in the right place (mouth of the channel) at the right time (incoming tides), then there can be amazing shark (mainly Grey's) and big fish action. Usually those dive end with a nice drift to observe the hard corals. There are also several areas known to be Manta reliable.

 

[RB7]

I was fotunate to dive in both maldives and Fiji on liveaboards.... did the central atolls Iternary in maldives and the blight waters + rainbow reef iternary in Fiji.
Here are my observations:
Maldives:
1. Beautiful topside .. you will sail by gorgeous beaches and resorts and picturesque islands..
2. Manta night dive was the highlight... there was one site where we could snorkel with whale sharks but it was filled with day boats.. almost 100 people in the water... so that ruined the experience.
3. Was only able to do 1 channel dive but it was great with plenty of black and white tip shark action
4. Boat picks you up right at the airport so you get off the flight and directly get onto the boat.
5. Visibility was good.. better than fiji
6. The boat I went on (Emperor Voyager) had great DMs who highly encouraged you to plan your dives and dive with your buddy rather than just bunch up as a group. I felt this ensured that if the currents split the group apart most people would still be able to enjoy the dive or know how to safetly thumb the dive. SMBs mandatory for all divers.
7.. saw a number of sites with some degree of coral bleeching. Especially the shallower sites.
8. The night dive at Alimantha resort pier is just amazing.. never saw such huge nurse sharks in my life !!

Fiji pros:
1. The density of fish was amazing... way more fish schools than what I saw in the maldives. Visibility was not as good as maldives but the nutrients in the water was the reason for so much fish life.
2. There is one baited bucket shark dive that was cool to watch with lots of grey/black tipped sharks
3. The reefs were very healthy... didnt see any bleaching.. the soft corals were just amazing when the currents were running.
4. The diving on my boat (Fiji Siren) was done as a group rather than buddy pairs. I am not particularly fond of this type of diving. I did not have a buddy due to odd number of divers in the group so I went along with the group.

I recommend both .. they both are worth doing. The resorts in the maldives are quite expensive so if you plan to combine a land stay as well then check your budget for it. If you go to Fiji then you can do a land based portion as well and do some of the organied shark dives where you can encounter bull and tiger sharks. I regret not doing this.

Personally one trip to Fiji is probably enough for me ... I will definitely go back to the maldives for one of the far south iternary trips that have more remote sites and more channel dives.

 

[RB7]

Btw.. I dont think maldives really has much macro attractions... Fiji had a few sites with macro opportunities but its nowhere close to muck diving or what you may have seen in indonesia

 

[SCUBAmv]

Hi Debbie and RB7 from my experience Maldives is more popular in Channel diving. We have some spots available in 2018 Feb to early April Southern trips. If you guys are interested please drop me a mail I will be happy to give you a quote and early bird discount as well. Please find the link for our Southern trip dive route and boat info.
Maldives Diving Holidays | Maldives | SCUBAmv I hope to see you guys on one of our trip. cheers.

 

[Christian]

If you enjoy Macro, why not stay in Indonesia? Neither Fiji or Maldives are particularly famous for their macro, even if there are some pretty good sites for it.

 

[mcohen1021]

We have just completed an amazing trip to Wakatobi in Indonesia. We are looking to plan our next trip and cant decide between Fiji and Maldives. Any advise...pro and cons of both places? We like the macro life best and do prefer live a boards. Any help would be appreciated.

Subscribed - so glad you opened this thread - i have been trying to compare and contrast both desitinations for quite some time.

<shutting up and listening until I have a question>

MC

 

[Cali_diver]

For Macro I would agree Indonesia is the place to go. Fiji is great and it does have some macro Fiji 2015 ...but it is more known for its wide angle soft corals and fish. Maldives didn't have a ton of macro subjects.