Trip Report: Fiji-Beqa Shark Diving (long)

[Bill Fisher]

TRIP REPORT
Fiji, Beqa Lagoon April 29 – May 5, 2006

The goal of this trip was to dive with the various sharks of Fiji’s Beqa Lagoon, mainly the Bull and Tiger Sharks. Beqa (pronounced: Beng-Gah) is a small island roughly 6 miles south of Viti Levu, which is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji.

Beqa Island is known for its tradition of Firewalking, and the Lagoon for its impressive reef system. More recently Beqa Lagoon has been gaining attention due to the Fijian dive masters who hand feed the resident sharks. The species usually present on these dives include Bulls, Silvertips, Black-tips, Lemon, Grey reef sharks, White-tip reef sharks, Nurse Sharks, and the occasional Tiger shark.

There are 2 dive operations that conduct shark-feeding dives in Beqa Lagoon; both are based in Pacific Harbour, Viti Levu. The shark feeding dives were initiated approximately 7 years ago by Brandon Paige and Aqua-Trek. Approximately two years later, Dive-masters/Shark Feeders Manasa and Rusi, formed their own diving company, Beqa Adventure Divers. Each operator has their own shark diving site, which both lie on the mainland side of Beqa passage.

The itinerary was as follows: 4 days shark diving total, 2 days shark diving with Beqa Adventure Divers, 2 days shark diving with Aqua-Trek, and 2 days reef diving with Beqa Lagoon Resort. Our group stayed at the Beqa Lagoon Resort (formerly Marlin Bay) on Beqa Island. For the shark dives, The Beqa Lagoon Resort dive boat took us to each of the 2 different sites, where we would rendezvous with the shark dive operators. First I will review the diving, then the resort. I booked this trip through Shark Diving International, who I have also been to Guadalupe Island, Mexico with in 2002 & 2004 for the Great White encounters.

http://www.seesharks.com

 

[Bill Fisher]

The Diving

Dive Day #1-Beqa Adventure Divers

For our first day of diving we traveled across the lagoon to meet Beqa Adventure Divers. Lying on the outer edge of Beqa passage, closest to Viti Levu, is Shark Reef Marine Reserve. Upon our arrival, dive-masters Manasa, Rusi, and Nani greeted us. Manasa, who is also a reef warden, briefed us on the upcoming dive. We were to descend as a group to 100 feet and settle in at the outskirts of “The Arena”. Our bottom time would be 17 minutes, and then we would ascend to “The Den” where we would interact with more sharks and finish up the dive.

Upon arrival at “The Arena” we were greeted by a pack of approximately 10 Bull sharks, their girth was amazing. Also present, but keeping their distance from the Bulls, were a few Blacktips, some Grey reef sharks and a lone Silvertip. Rusi began feeding the Bulls by hand with fish scraps from a plastic bin. Less than 5 minutes into the dive I spotted a huge dorsal fin coming in from the edge of visibility. I thought it was an enormous Bull shark, but when it turned into “The Arena” I realized it was a Tiger shark! She was absolutely beautiful; the stripes on her body were mesmerizing. She slowly cruised through “The Arena” showcasing all 15 feet of her confidence! The Bull sharks that looked so huge a few minutes ago now looked small as they slipped away to the outer edges of sight. The Tiger swam among the group inspecting each and every one of us.
As the massive Tiger slowly approached Rusi, he held out an offering of fish high above his head, and then the massive predator delicately took the bait from his hand. This was such an amazing site to see! One of the safety divers motioned for me to come over the ledge down onto the floor of “The Arena” to get an even closer view of “Scarface”. She had been given this nickname due to a slightly disfigured left jaw.

As I hopped over the ledge into the feeding zone, I glanced to my right and saw an absolutely beautiful Lemon shark coming straight towards me. As the Lemon veered to my right, a rather large Silvertip simultaneously slid over my left shoulder, “it doesn’t get any better than this”, I thought to myself as I settled into my new position behind the shark feeder.

Now on the seabed at 103 feet, I was within touching distance of the giant Tiger shark. I was so close that I had to duck a few times to avoid either a head on collision or a smack from her tail. Scarface fed from Rusi’s hand several more times as she swam above, beside, and all through our group of divers.

During one pass, the Tiger shark cruised slightly above our heads. She slowly bent down onto one of the video camera’s lenses, kissing it with her snout. Slowly, all 15 feet of the shark rose to an almost complete vertical head stand on the camera’s dome. I was lucky enough to be right behind the cameraman with an amazing view of this remarkable pose from “Scarface”. I’ll never forget it, a 15 foot long Tiger shark doing a headstand on a video camera!

As usual, our bottom time was up before we were ready to leave. We ascended to “The Den” and Manasa now began feeding some feisty Blacktips and several smaller White tip reef sharks. I must admit that my mind was still on Scarface, hoping she would return for our second dive.

Back aboard the boat, our group was as excited as we could get. Our first dive in Beqa Lagoon and we had hit the jackpot! A Tiger shark, Bull sharks, Grey reef sharks, Blacktips, Silvertips, a Lemon, and some Whitetip reef sharks. The only shark living in the reserve that we hadn’t seen was a Nurse shark! There were seven different species of sharks on one dive, not to mention the over 200 species of fish that engulfed us too.

After an hour-long surface interval, we headed back down, this time to “The Takeout”. Again the Bull sharks immediately greeted us. They soon kept their distance, and we soon learned why. Scarface was coming back for more! Only minutes into the dive, we were again blessed with the presence of this beautiful Tiger shark, but this time for quite a bit longer.

She cruised slowly over our heads, because as Manasa had told us, she liked the feeling of our bubbles tickling her belly. It is quite a site to watch a 15 foot Tiger shark slide only inches over your head. Scarface fed from Manasa’s hand several more times during this dive. It is such an amazing site to see a 15-foot behemoth eat so delicately from a human’s hand. Many Fijians believe to be protected from sharks by the ancient spirit shark God, Dakuwaqa (pronounced: Dah-koo-wong-gah). After witnessing the interaction between man and beast on this day; I started to wonder if the legends are true.


Dive Day #2-Aqua-Trek

For our second day of shark diving, the Beqa Lagoon Resort dive boat took us to a new site where we met up with Aqua-Trek. Their shark dive site is called Combe Reef. Brandon Paige, the Aqua-Trek Dive-master, briefed us. We were to descend with a buddy to the bottom at 85 feet for 20 minutes. There would be a rope where we would line up at; this isn’t to keep the sharks away, just a way to keep all divers together. Aqua-Trek has a different feeding technique than Beqa Adventure Divers; they dump the bait on the floor instead of hand feeding every shark. During the briefing, Brandon told us that the only hand feeding we might see would be if a Tiger shark showed up.

I was one of the first to descend, and also lucky enough to get a seat right in front of the bait box! Just like the day before, the sharks were waiting. At this site the Bulls were much closer to me than the day before. Brandon descended with the bait and began feeding them immediately. As soon as the fish scraps were out of the bin, the Bull sharks began devouring the bait. As I looked around I saw one of the biggest Nurse sharks you could imagine, along with Silvertips, Lemons, and Blacktips.

There is so much marine life on these dives, that a wall of fish often blocks your view! Due to the feeding technique, the visibility can become a little cloudy because all the sharks are scrapping for bait as it lies on the floor. If you are close to the action you also need to be aware of floating fish scraps, you definitely don’t want a piece of bait landing on your lap! The shark action was very intense on this dive, but it was about to heat up even more.

I was looking off in the distance, away from the action, when I saw a large silhouette coming in towards us. I was looking to my left when I realized it was a really big Tiger shark coming in fast! As I was turning to my left to keep an eye on the shark, my tank banged the person to my right. I could no longer see the shark as it cruised directly behind me; I quickly turned around so I could look to my right. I watched as the Tiger shark swept down on the group of divers and into the feeding area. No sooner, the Tiger had sped towards the bait box, cut to its left, and was now only inches from my face! It turned upward and slid right over me. It kept circling back through to investigate the group again and again. This shark was on a mission. It wanted to know where the food was!

The dive-master had just dumped the remaining bait onto the floor seconds before the Tiger came in, so we were left empty handed as we faced the hungry predator. It inspected every single diver, wanting to know where the scent it had tracked was coming from. Since there was no food for the hungry shark, the dive-masters gave us the signal to head up. I stayed back to let some of the other divers begin their ascent.

Boomerang, as one diver aptly named this 12-foot female Tiger, kept coming back again and again to investigate us. She was especially interested in the electrical fields emanating from the large strobe lights on the High Definition underwater video cameras. Most of us took our time getting out of the water. This shark was extremely curious, but not aggressive. Let me tell you, it was quite an exhilarating experience watching a 12-foot Tiger shark investigate the entire group of divers as we ascended.

I took roughly 15 minutes to get out of the water from 85 feet deep. I wanted this dive to last as long as possible. As we ascended, we grouped together and enjoyed the moment. At no point did I ever feel like I was about to become this girl’s lunch, but at the same time, this was one extreme dive. The adrenaline was flowing for sure! It’s quite a feeling to be suspended in 50 feet of open water while a Tiger shark is coming straight for you, locked on. “Stay still and she’ll pass within inches”, I told myself, and she did, again and again! I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a camera on this dive, so there was just water between me and the 12-foot Tiger shark! Soon enough, an Aqua-Trek dive-master re-entered the water with a fresh bait box. Boomerang followed him to the bottom and sank head first into the bait bin devouring every last bit of it.

After an extra long surface interval we re-entered the water. Boomerang was still there waiting for us. We descended to a ledge at 65 feet and watched one heck of a show as Brandon hand fed the Tiger shark repeatedly! It was organized chaos as we were swallowed by thousands of fish, that huge Nurse shark, beautiful Silvertips, Bull sharks, a Tiger shark, and the feeling of living life to the fullest. After the adrenaline rush of the first dive, the second dive was like relaxing in a dream. There were more species of sharks and fish on one dive than most divers see in a lifetime.

On the way back to Beqa Island, about half of our group opted for a drop-off dive. We hopped off the dive boat and had a nice leisurely dive along the reef that leads to the beach at the resort.

 

[Bill Fisher]

Dive Day #3-Beqa Adventure Divers

We returned to dive again with Beqa Adventure Divers. The dive plan was to descend as a group to “The Arena”, stay 17 minutes and ascend to “The Den”. As before, the Bull sharks greeted us. This time they kept their distance and only came in a few times to feed from Manasa. Some Blacktips circled the outskirts, and a lone Silvertip granted us with a few pass-bys, but neglected to feed. “The Den” was pretty quiet with only a “handful” of sharks present. There was some really cool Whitetip reef shark action on the floor of the upper reef during the safety stop. The feisty little guys were all over the place, even mouthing a few cameras.

For the second dive, we arrived at “The Take Out”. This was our most intense Bull shark action of the trip! A pack of around 10 Bull sharks fed from Manasa repeatedly for the duration of the dive. This gave us our closest views of the Bulls yet. They were coming in at such a fast pace that Manasa had to slow it down by feeding every other shark. Repeated “in your face” Bull shark action dominated the dive. It was very close and personal. Again, our time was up too quickly and we ended the dive.

Dive Day #4-Beqa Lagoon Resort

Today we dove some of the local reefs with our friends from Beqa Lagoon Resort. Our first dive was a location called “Fantasy”. It was a brilliant reef, which was overflowing with marine life. There were no sharks on this dive, but plenty of awesome creatures that kept our attention. It was a nice leisurely dive after all of the intensity of the previous shark dives.

Our second dive site was called “Twin Sisters”. It was a fantastic reef dive with Clownfish, Damselfish, Angelfish, Eels, Puffers, Wrasse, and so much more! Everyone in the group commented on what a great site this was. What an amazing dive. Near the end of the dive, we all spotted a lion fish that was absolutely gigantic! It was at least 5 times the size of all the other Lionfish I saw that day.

That night 5 people from our group did a night dive with the Dive-masters from Beqa Lagoon Resort at a site called “Gee’s spot”. The visibility was a little poor because it had been raining the last few nights, so the rivers had been dumping into the lagoon. The lower visibility added to the ambience of the night dive. We spotted the usual reef critters and a couple of small White tip reef sharks too. I didn’t know at the time, but this was to be my last dive in Beqa Lagoon.


Dive Day #5-Aqua-Trek

This would be our final day of shark diving. At breakfast, two other divers and I decided instead to go to the village of Rakua. The village was hosting a School fundraiser, which happens only once a year. I felt this would be a great opportunity to hike to the village and learn more about the people of Beqa. The rest of the group dove with Aqua-Trek again and had more intense shark action. The Bull sharks were in the greatest abundance and proximity, along with the numerous other shark species, including the huge Nurse shark that came back for an encore.

After the dives, the resort arranged a picnic for our group on a private island. The 3 of us that went to the village rode out to the picnic island with 2 of the folks from Beqa Lagoon Resort and met the dive boat there after the dives. It was a great time with lots of food and beer.

Dive Day #6-Beqa Lagoon Resort

For our final day, 7 of us chartered a fishing boat, 7 dove, and 2 stayed at the resort. The dives, which consisted of a wall dive and a reef dive, went very well. Everyone who participated said it was an incredible day of diving. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the sites they dove, but everyone was happy with what they experienced that day.

As for myself, I had an awesome day fishing. We went far offshore to an area by “The Pipeline” & “Frigate Pass”. These are the world famous surfing grounds, which lie outside of the reef. Altogether, we caught 2 Yellow-Fin tuna and 4 Wahoo. Once we hooked a fish, 3 of our group would race into their scuba gear and get in the water to photograph and videotape the fish being caught. We got some killer topside and underwater footage of the Wahoo being reeled in. I can’t wait to see it edited together.

At the end of the day, the 3 divers wanted to do a quick dive of the reef we had been fishing at, so they hoped in and swam over. When they returned they were awestruck at what they had just saw. All 3 people said that the dive they just did was one of the best reef dives of their lives. “How come we didn’t dive over here?” they asked. Our Captain informed us that we were very far out from shore and that most guests like to dive the closer reefs. Well, this goes to show why so many people do live-a-boards when in Fiji. The Captain said it only gets better the farther out you go. We decided to keep one of the Tuna for sashimi, and give the rest of the fish to the people of Rakua. The fishing was a great way for me to end an awesome adventure at Beqa Lagoon. Over the course of 5 days, I made 11 dives total, with 2 days for other activities.

 

[Bill Fisher]

Beqa Lagoon Resort

From what I could gather, the island of Beqa has 9 villages and 2 resorts. Beqa Lagoon Resort was a very nice place to stay. I shared one of the bigger “bures” with two other men in our group. It had 2 bedrooms, 1 with a queen size bed, and 1 with 2 twin size beds. There was a shower room with 2 sinks, and a toilet room. There’s also a good sized front room with a couch and 2 chairs, and a small square table with 4 chairs.
Outside was a small deck with a table. There was also a nice secluded yard with a hammock and a small beach. In the mornings I would go to the beach and watch the sunrise. It was so peaceful to listen to the drums of the near-by village and hear the rooster calls while watching the sunrise over the beautiful setting of Beqa Lagoon.
The staff of Beqa Lagoon Resort is a great bunch of people. When we first arrived at the island they greeted us by singing us Fijian songs as we waded ashore. They learned everyone’s names so fast, and the service was outstanding. There are plenty of afternoon activities too. You can hike to the legendary waterfall to learn the secrets of the Firewalkers, and then watch them perform this remarkable act back at the resort. You can attend Kava ceremonies, visit the villages, or spend an afternoon in the hammock. I brought a book to read but never had the chance to open it. There is also surfing, deep sea fishing, and kayaking. Other than our group of 16, all of the guests were either honeymooners or couples.
The food was splendid. All breakfasts were the same, with fresh fruit, cereal and juice and coffee, with pancakes or French toast. At breakfast you fill out a card with your lunch and dinner choices. There were 2 choices to pick from per meal. All meals were fantastic. One example would be…potato & leek soup, salad, New Zealand lamb chops with mashed potatoes and raspberry cake for dessert. Other choices were Carrot soup & Curry Chicken with rice, Beef Stir-Fry, Pork Chops, and a host of other delicious entrees. The food was absolutely fantastic.
Of all the 16 people in our group, every one of them said that this was definitely one of the best trips they have ever been on. It was an awesome combination of the big sharks, especially the Tigers, the magic of Beqa Island, the beauty of nature, and the wonderful Fijian hospitality! I will be returning to Fiji and especially Beqa Island….

 

[isurus]

Nice detailed report. seen some good footage of this site - looks a very interesting one. did you at any time feel the dives got too chaotic? some of the footage I've seen gives the impression of a lot of bull sharks getting excited at once in the type of scenario that had nasty accident written all over it but I wondered if that was just the way it appeared on film.

 

[Bill Fisher]

Isurus,

at times it does feel a little chaotic,
the only suggestion I have is to keep an eye on the bait
when it's dumped on the floor...
If the sharks don't snap it up very quick there could be a few loose peices floating around...
I was more worried about the giant Trevallies zooming around.
They have some pretty large teeth too!

Intense is the word I'd use to describe it.
The Bull sharks seem very uninterested in the divers.

The Tiger sharks on the other hand are VERY curious.
They get really close at times, but not once did I ever feel threatened.
Bill

 

[simonspear]

Great report - looks like that's another place to add to my wish list!

Cheers, Simon

 

[minnesota01r6]

Edit - decided to start a new thread, as my post went off the topic of this one.


Sorry

 

[miscbadvr]

Just a note. We went on the shark dive at Beqa Lagoon in November last year and only saw two sharks, a lemon and a gray reef. Dive masters said that November - the beginning of January are bad times for the shark dive because the bull sharks are mating and do not come around to feed during this time. We did see white-tip and/ or black-tip reef sharks on almost every dive around Beqa Lagoon, however.

 

[shellbackdiver1]

Sounds exciting....I little too exciting for me with bulls and tigers.