Fiji Scuba Diving
fiji dive sites, resorts and live aboard charters
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Fiji Islands
Pacific Travel Guides
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Fiji Scuba Diving Guide
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Fiji scuba diving highlights include a fantastic variety of colourful soft corals, over 1200 species of fish, 12 species of whales and dolphins, lots of specialist scuba diving resorts and live aboard dive charters as well as excellent snorkelling off the beach. Fiji dive sites offer good variety and easy access.
The Fiji archipelago is encircled by a huge reef. Within its protected waters are shallow lagoons, steep drop off's, and thousands of scuba dive sites. Most areas are easy to get to with plenty of resorts offering scuba diving scattered around the islands. Sea temperatures are incredibly warm - typically 25C in winter (May to Nov) and up to 30C in summer at depths of 5 metres. Visibility is also excellent with depths of 40metres not unusual. The best diving conditions are early morning before the winds pick up. Heavy rainfall in the summer can obscure visibility off the main islands with river run-off.
The following provides a quick guide to the different regions.
Mamanuca dive sites can easily be accessed by boat (20 -60 minutes) from the Nadi Airport area on the main island of Viti Levu. Several resorts in the Nadi Area offer full diving facilities and there are numerous day packages for snorkelling and diving. The Mamanucas have shallow lagoons with hollows and bommies with excellent marine life. There are some interesting caves to explore notably Sawa-i-Lau in the Yasawa Group.
World famous Astrolabe Reef on Kadavu in the Southern Islands (45 minutes flight from Nadi) has excellent hard and soft corals and excellent marine life. More soft corals along the north and south coast with some excellent caves and deep drop-off's on the western tip of Kadavu. Good all-round diving centre but south-easterly tradewinds can make diving difficult at times. On calm days, visibility up to 150 metres. Beqa Lagoon to the north of Kadavu includes numerous soft corals, reef bommies and passages. Small secluded dive resorts accessible only by boat. Lush rainforest and tropical beaches. Humid and wet at times. Very traditional Fijian lifestyle and culture. Beqa Lagoon can be accessed by boat (1 hour plus) from Pacific Harbour on the main island of Viti Levu. The famous shark feed with many species of sharks including hammer heads is right off the coast from Pacific Harbour.
World famous Rainbow Reef in Northern Islands (1 hour 20 minutes flight to Taveuni lies between Taveuni and Vanua Levu and has lots of scuba diving experiences including the Great White Wall (all white soft corals) and advanced drift diving through channels. Numerous smaller reefs around Vanua Levu, Taveuni, Qamea, Laucala and Matangi Islands with abundance of soft and hard corals and excellent marine life. The Northern Islands have been developed for ecotouism as well as diving and the regions outstanding mountains, rainforests and waterfalls are all relatively accessible with tours and trails to the major attractions. Humid and wet at times.
Two separate barrier reefs between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu in the north east of Fiji are assessable from Nananu-i-Ra and the Lomaiviti Group. Rich area fed by tradewind currents with excellent marine life including mantas and hammerheads as well as bommies and pinnacles in the lagoons. A handful of small island resorts, some luxurious. Also accessible by charter dive boats that explore some of the unexplored areas of these huge reefs including the up-and-coming E6 reef. Shipwrecks can be explored around the old Colonial capital of Levuka on Ovalau.
No dive can be undertaken 24 hours prior to flying (local or international flights).
Diving Emergencies
In cases of emergencies, divers will be taken by sea, road or low flying air to the Fiji Recompression Chamber Facility in Suva. Charges vary according to circumstances so it is best to have adequate insurance cover. At some of the smaller budget resorts cowboys do exist, so choose carefully and if you're a beginner, don't jump to the chance of diving without proper PADI certified instruction.
specialist scuba diving resorts in fiji
scuba diving operators in fiji
Readers may also be interested in the following destinations:
Cook Islands Scuba Diving
Fiji Scuba Diving
Samoa Scuba Diving
Tonga Scuba Diving
Tahiti Scuba Diving
Hawaii Scuba Diving
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