Seeking best diving in Fiji

[robint]

thanks for your response
i'm not totally sold on fiji and i am certainly open to suggestions such as yours.
i will check out cocos island.
was in palau last year and had a head to head encounter with a ten foot bull in pelilu it was one of the most amazing experiences ever while our guide hid behind a rock when i pointed it out to him and my buddy was cowering behind me trying to take pics of it. he mostly shot the left side of the rear of my head.

tons of sharks in palua

really love to spot some hammers somewhere and maybe a whale shark so i can cross them off of my list of critters to see.


Gene

okay.............. if you aren't sold on Fiji, then I would say you would have much better chance of seeing hammers and whale sharks and other sharks in a few other places. Have you thought about Socorro Liveaboard diving aboard Solmar V - Giant Mantas, Sharks and Humpback Whales at the Socorro Islands and Sea of Cortez for seeing them? The Socorro trip is supposed to be fantastic.

Same thing goes for Cocos and Galapagos - pretty much guaranteed hammers year round. Several different boats to choose from for those trips - Aggressor, Peter Hughes, Undersea Hunter.

Palau is amazing diving too, but we didn't see any hammers or whale sharks. We did see at least a hundred grey reef sharks and dozens of whitetip and blacktip, along with 7 mantas on 2 days in a row.

Whale sharks are very unpredictable so no guarantees on where to see them but friends have seen them in Sept-Oct in Sea of Cortez. Heard lots of reports about seeing them in springtime in Utila area but don't know anyone who has been there for that.

robin

 

[Travelnsj]

really love to spot some hammers somewhere and maybe a whale shark so i can cross them off of my list of critters to see.
Gene

If you want to see WhaleSharks go to Holbox Mexico late June thru early Sept. If I saw one...I saw dozens one day. You can only swim with them no vis for diving.

 

[sharkbait13]

okay.............. if you aren't sold on Fiji, then I would say you would have much better chance of seeing hammers and whale sharks and other sharks in a few other places. Have you thought about Socorro Liveaboard diving aboard Solmar V - Giant Mantas, Sharks and Humpback Whales at the Socorro Islands and Sea of Cortez for seeing them? The Socorro trip is supposed to be fantastic.

Same thing goes for Cocos and Galapagos - pretty much guaranteed hammers year round. Several different boats to choose from for those trips - Aggressor, Peter Hughes, Undersea Hunter.

Palau is amazing diving too, but we didn't see any hammers or whale sharks. We did see at least a hundred grey reef sharks and dozens of whitetip and blacktip, along with 7 mantas on 2 days in a row.

Whale sharks are very unpredictable so no guarantees on where to see them but friends have seen them in Sept-Oct in Sea of Cortez. Heard lots of reports about seeing them in springtime in Utila area but don't know anyone who has been there for that.

robin

thanx Robin

i worked in cabo san lucas for a bit teaching diving and i know the solmar V leaves from cabo to the socoros i'll check out the link u sent
i was supposed to go out to Gorda banks one day when i was working down there but the water was too rough so the trip got cancelled.
very dissapointed as i did not get a chance to go again.
apparently if u go first thing in the morning prior to all the fishermen arriving u can pretty much do a giant stride into an ocean of hammers!

much appreciated

regards

Gene

 

[Hodge Podge]

I have been to Bega Lagoon Resort twice and did shark dives with both Aqua Tech and Beqa Adventure Divers (BAD Boys). BAD Boys is the better of the two and is much more hands on. Aqua Chums the water and it clouds the action.

Did two boat dives a day from the resort and had sharks on almost every dive. Unlimited shore diving on the house reefs.

The ride from Nadi to Pacific Harbor is about 2-1/2 Hours. 3 with a stop for shopping. Photos and map at the bottom of Beqa Lagoon Dive Sites

 

[Travelnsj]

I have been to Bega Lagoon Resort twice and did shark dives with both Aqua Tech and Beqa Adventure Divers (BAD Boys). BAD Boys is the better of the two and is much more hands on. Aqua Chums the water and it clouds the action.

Did two boat dives a day from the resort and had sharks on almost every dive. Unlimited shore diving on the house reefs.

The ride from Nadi to Pacific Harbor is about 2-1/2 Hours. 3 with a stop for shopping. Photos and map at the bottom of Beqa Lagoon Dive Sites

If you do not do the Shark Dive/feed would there be much to see in Beqa?

Have you done Raki Raki or the Namena Region?

 

[Hodge Podge]

I have not been to Raki Raki or the Namena Region yet. The lagoon has the most abundant marine life I have seen. Alot of small things to see if you look for them. The Coral colors are vivid. A good wreck dive at about 80 feet and a few swim troughs. Not alot of big palegics but alot of sharks.

The shark dives are scheduled through the resort for a two tank dive. The resort dive boats take you meet shark dive group.

The resort has two am boat dives and will drop you off at the end of the house reef on the way back to get a third dive before lunch. The house reef is open all the time.

Also have night dives a couple nights a week.
check out the dive map.
I was able to get about 27 dives in.

 

[champ]

I just got back from Fiji. We spent a week at the Uprising Resort in Pacific Harbor by Beqa Lagoon. I give the resort very high marks for service and the quality of the resort (it's only a year old, has nice Bures at a resonable price). We went white water rafting which was a lot of fun but a little pricey. We also went on a zip line tour. The owner of the zip line was very nice - we actually hung out with a few days. We did the shark feeding dive with Aqua Trek. They hand fed the sharks like BAD rather than chum (they must have changed over from chumming). It was one of the most amazing shark feeding dives since we had Bull Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Lemon Sharks, Silver Tips, white tips, black tips, gray reef sharks and a TIGER SHARK all on ONE DIVE!!! One thing to note: the best time for the shark dive is probably March - September. The bull sharks leave to mate November to the start of January. The tiger sharks go off hunting turtles Dec - Feb (although we saw one in January). The shark feed is a lot less of a frenzy than feeds where the food is tied up. We also spent a week on the Aggressor. Best soft corals I have seen. Also some fun small criters like pigmi seahorse, leaf fish, sea snakes and losts of pipe fish. Other than a few sites, not a lot of sharks or big schools of fish on most of the dives (although, they do have some sites with this). They do occasionaly see tiger sharks. They do a shark feed with gray reef sharks on one dive during the week. They typically see a couple Mantas every week. We had 3 dives with Mantas (I only saw 2). They also visit a village one night - I usually don't get into these but this one was a lot of fun.

 

[caymaniac]

I just got back from Fiji. We spent a week at the Uprising Resort in Pacific Harbor by Beqa Lagoon. I give the resort very high marks for service and the quality of the resort (it's only a year old, has nice Bures at a resonable price). We went white water rafting which was a lot of fun but a little pricey. We also went on a zip line tour. The owner of the zip line was very nice - we actually hung out with a few days. We did the shark feeding dive with Aqua Trek. They hand fed the sharks like BAD rather than chum (they must have changed over from chumming). It was one of the most amazing shark feeding dives since we had Bull Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Lemon Sharks, Silver Tips, white tips, black tips, gray reef sharks and a TIGER SHARK all on ONE DIVE!!! One thing to note: the best time for the shark dive is probably March - September. The bull sharks leave to mate November to the start of January. The tiger sharks go off hunting turtles Dec - Feb (although we saw one in January). The shark feed is a lot less of a frenzy than feeds where the food is tied up. We also spent a week on the Aggressor. Best soft corals I have seen. Also some fun small criters like pigmi seahorse, leaf fish, sea snakes and losts of pipe fish. Other than a few sites, not a lot of sharks or big schools of fish on most of the dives (although, they do have some sites with this). They do occasionaly see tiger sharks. They do a shark feed with gray reef sharks on one dive during the week. They typically see a couple Mantas every week. We had 3 dives with Mantas (I only saw 2). They also visit a village one night - I usually don't get into these but this one was a lot of fun.

Youve been enticing, how about some pics?

 

[Travelnsj]

Champ what about the other diving in Beqa? I do not do Shark Dives. If there is no other diving in Beqa other than a Shark Dive....than Raki Raki would be my choice.....thanks for any info....

 

[DivegalOz]

Champ what about the other diving in Beqa? I do not do Shark Dives. If there is no other diving in Beqa other than a Shark Dive....than Raki Raki would be my choice.....thanks for any info....

Highly recommend Rakiraki region. Loads of sharks/rays/other cool stuff. We were watching a school of Bronze Whalers feeding out there - totally amazing.

Check out Ra Divers - Fiji Islands

There is cheap, but decent, accommodation there, or some 5 star accomodation at Wannanavu Resort just up the road. Ra Divers will pick you up from there. Papu & Pola (they are brothers) will definitely look after you even with a carva ceremony after your days of diving!