Where should I dive in Fiji?

[fiji_diver]

Hi
Good idea taking a few extra days, if you're coming all this way....
Weather in Feb will be hot and as you say, increased chances of rain. This is more of an issue in Beqa as it gets about twice the rainfall of Volivoli.
Visibility doesn't vary that much.
Of course it's not guaranteed :cool2:

Taveuni is definitely a great spot for diving and worth the visit if you have the time.
You can fly there from Nadi or Suva.

Volivoli diving is very good but can be limited in bad weather - yes it does get windy here too. The 'best' diving is in the Vatu-i-Ra passage which they don't go to every day.

I thing a week in Beqa is a long time, given the other places you could see. 2 Shark dives? Depends if you like them or not. Its great once, but a bit like going to the zoo. Once a year is plenty. That's what I think but others are addicted to it. I'd rather see sharks in the wild as it were.

8-10 days at Volivoli might be a bit much for most - depends on the crowd I guess but they usually only stay a few nights.

You could have a road trip and do
4 nights at volivoli on arrival.
2/3 days at Pacific Harbour (Uprising) to do the shark dive and others.
Continue on to Suva and have a look at Cagali for real back to basics living and some very cool dive sites.
Viti Watersports - Caqalai
Cheap too.
You could then fly to Taveuni from Suva (Nausori airport) and have the rest of your trip there.
Fly back to Nadi from Taveuni.
The logistics are not to hard and I will happily point you in the right direction for local transport routes.

Other than internal flights which can be tricky last minute, you can be fairly flexible with days at each spot.

Cheers
Greg

 

[feitr]

Thanks for the reply. If i was to go to Taveuni who would you suggest for accomm and diving?

 

[fiji_diver]

Well Taveuni is the corner I know least well but have a look at Garden Island
Home — Garden Island Resort Taveuni Fiji — excellent diving and eco friendly holiday vacation resort for up market or probably much better value
Dolphin Bay
About us - Vanua Levu, Diving Resort in Fiji, Dolphin Bay Divers Retreat, Dolphin Bay Divers, Dive, Diving, Fidschi, Fiji, Taveuni, Rainbow Reef, accomodation, budget, DolphinBay Divers, Fiji, Diving, diving in Fiji, eco-resort,
Cheers
Greg

 

[OnTheSpot]

Fantastic prices for short stays at Garden Island Resort - blog.

 

[feitr]

Fantastic prices for short stays at Garden Island Resort - blog.

Yea those prices do seem good, although I'd like to get a little more diving in (they seem ~ 1 dive/day). Definitely something to keep in mind though. I just looked at that dolphin bay place and that certainly seems reasonable (1900 FJ$ for 7 nights, 5 2x tank dives, 3x additional dives, and all meals). Not very resorty like the garden island resort, but i don't really mind about the extra frills, etc.

So maybe something like (i have 15 nights) travel to beqa on the 13th stay until the 15th and do a shark dive and one day of diving the lagoon (3 nights), then head up to volivoli and stay 4 nights, then spend 7-8 nights at taveuni? Would that caqalai place be worth it instead of volivoli just for the ease of getting to taveuni?

 

[feitr]

How would this look?

12th - 13th Pacific Harbour/Beqa (2 nights - shark dive + lagoon dive)
Afternoon of the 14th transfer to Nadi then fly to Taveuni
14th-20th DolphinBay for 7 nights
21st fly back to Nadi then transfer to Volivoli
21st -27th Volivoli for 7 nights
Transfer back to Nadi on morning of 28th and fly out in the afternoon

That way I kill a night otherwise spent in Beqa (ideally I'd just do the shark dive and one night but I can't since no matter which way I work it they don't run a shark dive on the day I get there), and can spend more time at Volivoli (would really like to increase my odds to get out to Bligh water). Could also switch it up so Taveuni or Beqa is at the end, although if i do Taveuni at the end then I will have to spend a night in Nadi. Or could do more nights at Taveuni and less at Volivoli. Be pretty hectic the way I have done it (would be diving all but 2-3 days I guess) but I'm traveling with friends who don't really dive before this part of the trip so I'll probably just avoid diving and lie on the beach for a week.

So I guess the main issues then would be transfers from Nadi to Pacific Harbour and back and getting to Volivoli and back. Are taxis the best way or are there shuttles/buses (either public, private, or resort-affiliated) that travel there?

 

[Wiggsy]

Another good option if you are over the Suva side would be to spend a few days at lovely Naigani Island Resort (between Natovi {north of Suva} and Ovalau). Naigani is a small fijian run homely style resort with some time share bures, and has great snorkelling straight off the beach and some of the best diving in Fiji only 5 minutes away. They can also go out to Wakaya Wall and they really do have brilliant dive sites that are very lightly dived. It is not a dive resort as such and only gets a few divers every other week - which is great as the dives sites are quiter pristine. I've dived Beqa, Kadavu, Wananavu, Coral Coast, and Naigani is as good if not better. All that is lacking is sharks and wrecks...the soft corals are brilliant as is the small fish life on the bommie tops.

 

[Luko]

Another good option if you are over the Suva side would be to spend a few days at lovely Naigani Island Resort (between Natovi {north of Suva} and Ovalau). Naigani is a small fijian run homely style resort with some time share bures, and has great snorkelling straight off the beach and some of the best diving in Fiji only 5 minutes away. They can also go out to Wakaya Wall and they really do have brilliant dive sites that are very lightly dived. It is not a dive resort as such and only gets a few divers every other week - which is great as the dives sites are quiter pristine. I've dived Beqa, Kadavu, Wananavu, Coral Coast, and Naigani is as good if not better..

Wiggsy, I was looking for information on Naigani a while ago when I was planning another trip to Fiji and trying to go to places I haven't seen yet. I changed my mind in the meantime and didn't go to Fiji, that trip will only be postponed... so that 's exactly the information I was waiting for about Naigani, which is spot on my budget and targeted dive area.
Would you have more info or photos about the beaches in Naigani, accoms and dive center : are their dive guides experienced in terms of "spotting" stuff? how many dives per day? etc.

I thought Wakaya wall was great especially for sharks (hammerheads?) or am I mixing it up with another Ovalau spot?

Since I'm hijacking this thread, I'll carry on with my questions : do you alredy know and do you have any feedback on Toberua diving, looks more upmarket but in the area also? and downmarket, how woudl you compare with Caqalai's that FijiDiver proposed?

You wrote you dived on the coral coast, what locations and from where? should be Beqa lagoon, shoudln't it?

 

[Wiggsy]

Well...a lot to answer. I first dived Fiji based at Naviti resort on the Coral Coast (not to be confused with Beqa) some 26 years ago on my honeymoon. They had a small dive operation with a great dive guide, Mickey Osbourne, if I remember correctly. It was actually 'pretty good' diving really, just along the local coral coast dive sites. back then, there was still a lot of sharks around - I remember every time we anchored up sharks appeared - we could see them before we even got our gear on. It was just us and Mickey out of small local fishing boat (well canoe really!). Nice walls, gorgonians, lots of sea whips and crinoids everywhere. Good...but not 'great'. You can dive Beqa from the coral coast, but after 3 trips (and having organised another 2)...I would recommend being offshore at Beqa Lagoon Resort, close to the best dive sites such as Fantasea and Jons Tunnel...

Re Naigani - we dived it twice - 2004 and 2006 (or around then)...Really impressive diving - not a 'really imppressive' dive op - just very small and not developed fully - but thats OK too - they don't get many divers. On our first trip, Nigel Douglas from Matagi took over the dive concession and did a great job too. "Tropical Inspirations" I think was the operation - but he soon found it difficult to attract enough divers and sadly they disappeared after a year or so. Diving in Fiji is very competitive and the Lomaiviti district doesn't attract many divers at all. I don't recall how great the dive guides were at spotting stuff - but I do recall the bommie tops carpeted in brilliant red and pink soft corals with the best small fish life I have ever seen. There were incredible waterfalls of Blue and Gold Fusiliers tumbling down the coral pinnacles and I rank it very, very highly. I don't think I have seen the density of small fish (Butterfly, Angel and Basslets in particular) to match this place anywhere. When we were there they did 2 dives each morning and 2 in the afternoon, but we had a big group and they had to split us into 2 halves. One of the reasons we haven't been back is the choice of either a long bus journey from Nadi to Natovi landing, of the expense of the Nadi - Suva domestic flight. Either wasy, it is a difficult place to get to - but worth it.

Not many people go there, and I'd love to hear an updated report, so if you do go, please publish a report as I've thought many times about going back. It is a reasonably homely type place - nothing too flash, but the bures are huge and the setting is brilliant. I have heard mixed reports since - but they will largely depend on what people expect. I typically take groups of 40 plus on my trips and was concerned that Naigani wouldn't be able to handle a group of that size. So I contacted Ovalau Watersports and they happily offered to supplement the Naigani dive operation and join forces.....But chose to go to the Philippines next year instead (I've been to Fiji 20 plus times and am looking for something different!) ANd the snorkelling straight off the beach is fantastic - and you cna do very good night dives straight off the dining room. It really is a very cool place and the fijians are just the most friendly and encouraging people - and the island has a bit of interesting history too - cannibal cave for instance. And most of the great dive sites are only 5 - 10 minutes away. And Wakaya wall and Lighthouse bommie are also easily within range on a good day. I suspect there are many other great dive sites yet to be discovered as the are is only very lightly dived (as opposed to a lot of mainstream dive destinations in Fiji). So 'please consider'! Regarding photos and further travel information...I wrote an article for Sportdiving magazine several years ago called "Mystery Island" (I wanted to keep the island a secret"... I may be able to scan you a copy and send it to you if you pm me. But it was many years back and really isn't up to date.

Regarding Toberua...dunno really! Would imagine it would be certainly quite good diving, but it is a little closer to Suva and thus a little closer to the rain belt.

 

[kkfok]

I dove with Ovalau watersports last year and got one day out to Wakaya. I wouldn't say Wakaya is really "sharky" but I saw a few whitetip and a scalloped hammerhead in my only 2 dives there. We also saw 2 manta ray. Andrea told me that normally there should be more pelagic fish like barracuda and tuna around.
Actually I found diving around Ovalau has more sharks. There were always a few whitetip and blacktip reef sharks around.