fiji diving end of dec-jan?

[Nitro91]

looking to go to fiji from sydney around end of december till early jan. Wondering if the rain and visibility is a big issue at this time or not really?
Was looking at taveuni to dive but the extra flight there would make it too expensive for us.
Would beqa lagoon be the best area to dive that time without getting an extra airfare from nadi?

 

[Frosty]

Nitro -What kind of diving are you looking to do?
Fiji is IMO fantastic for soft coral diving and pretty good fish diversity.But if you are into caves or wrecks theres not a lot.

 

[Nitro91]

Frosty, Yeh I'm into all sorts of diving and will enjoy whatever fiji has to offer.
I was thinking of spending few nights on naigani island and then few nights around pacific harbour.
Transport to naigani island seems cheaper than getting to tuveuni or yasawas. But the flight would land at nadi, which looks like a long haul.

would that plan be best for the time of year, or is there better diving for cheaper around fiji?

Will be with my girlfriend so we wouldn't be diving everyday, but it seems those locations have other things to do like explore the area etc.

 

[mmmbelows]

Diving Beqa area (Pacific Harbour) revolves around the shark dive offered by the two biggest dive outfits there, they offer the shark dives multiple days a week and offer other dives called soft coral dives a minority of the rest of the days of the week. The better diving I've experienced in Beqa lagoon involved diving around the small Yanuca island you can see from Beqa or the main land at pacific harbor.

The other area that offers diving on par and better than Beqa would be the Rakiraki area on the northern tip of the main island Viti Levu which can get you access to Bligh Waters dive sites from the mainland which are dive sites that Fiji is famous and known for.

Do some googling of Beqa diving, Rakiraki, bligh waters...

 

[Nitro91]

upon some googling rakiraki seems like the place to go to, out of the two resorts there, wananavu and volivoli, which is better and what are the differences?
what are the age ranges of the tourists there?

 

[LiquidDivingAdventure]

If you are looking at Rakiraki, my recommendation would be Wananavu. I have repeat divers that love the place. Volivoli is a solid resort but a bit more remote. If you were thinking of the Beqa area, the recommendation is Lalati Resort. It's located on a protected bay sheltered a bit from storms by the mountain. They also have a different and better selection of dives than those offered at Beqa Lagoon Resort. The advantage of Lalati and Beqa is no domestic flight required. For people based in the US I usually get some pretty good packages that include airfare out of LAX but that doesn't do you much good based in Australia. Wananavu, Volivoli, Lalati and Beqa have some pretty good dive show deals but not sure what is currently being offered.

 

[Frosty]

Nitro--for DIVING I'd suggest having a look at Vanuatu as an option.the coral diving can be as good as Fiji but theres IMO more dive diversity available there.

 

[Wantonmien]

Nitro91

Sounds like you are planning to do what we did a couple of years back - we had crap weather, and things might have changed at Naigani, but the shark dives in Pacific harbor made up for it - my long trip report through link below might be of interest. We actually made a dive trip to similar but much better little island resort in Vanuatu last Christmas - I didn't do a write up on it, but we thought it was far better, accommodation + diving. Cheers.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/th...ific-harbour-some-words-pics-sept-2013-a.html

Frosty, Yeh I'm into all sorts of diving and will enjoy whatever fiji has to offer.
I was thinking of spending few nights on naigani island and then few nights around pacific harbour.
Transport to naigani island seems cheaper than getting to tuveuni or yasawas. But the flight would land at nadi, which looks like a long haul.

would that plan be best for the time of year, or is there better diving for cheaper around fiji?

Will be with my girlfriend so we wouldn't be diving everyday, but it seems those locations have other things to do like explore the area etc.

 

[Fintan]

Hi Nitro91, I'm based in Melbourne and currently planning a very similar trip. Late December - early Jan. I dive, girlfriend doesn't.

So I've been trying to find places that offer good weather, diving, beaches & other things to do... as I won't get to dive every day.

We haven't booked anything yet, but from a good bit of research, here is our current plan:

> Fly into Nadi, transfer to Pacific Harbour for 3/4 nights. Dive 2 days - I want to do the Shark dive, as meant to be some of the best in the world and I'm more interested in seeing sharks than anything else! I think there is one wreck dive you can do too.

> Then transfer back to Nadi and get boat out to Yasawa / Mamanunca Group, spending Christmas and NYE at 2 - 3 of the islands in this group. These western islands are meant to be the driest and close to guaranteed great weather, with plenty on offer outside of diving. The diving in the Yasawas i've read is not bad, but it is nowhere near the best in Fiji. Since I'm not a pro diver (30 - 40 dives), I'm thinking I will still be impressed. The viz will be mostly good and apparently there will be a lot of things to see, along with some interesting terrain and swim throughs.

​

As I'm still researching, it would be great to hear about what other options you find? Or if anyone else has opinions on my itinerary?!

Cheers, Fintan

 

[browntrout]

If you're interested in Wananavu you'll find a detailed repot with pics on my website www.belowandabove.com. We visited Volk Voli for an evening and thought it was nice, but I would go back to Wananavu in a second.