Beqa shark diving & liveaboards in fiji???

[outpost31]

I'm going to Oz in Dec and i'll be wanting to dive in Fiji between 1-20th Dec OR after xmas/early Jan with a budget of about £1500 ($3000). I definitely want to do the shark dive at Beqa but i also want to do a week liveaboard to see other regions for walls, swim-thru, drop-offs, wrecks and i'd like to encounter Mantas, sharks, turtles, lots of soft coral, nubi's and other macro life.

my queries are:

1) Beqa Shark diving
Has anyone been there in dec or early jan (when the bulls are apparently away mating) and actually seen bulls and, hopefully, a tiger shark?

What would be better Early-mid Dec or early Jan?

s it still worth going at this time as this shark opportunity is my main reason for going there. If there's a very slim chance of seeing them in this time of year i'll have to leave fiji for another time.

Also, i'm confused about BAD's packages. They offer 1 day diving (2dives) for £70 but then offer 3 days Shark diving for £300 but this includes only 1 days shark diving (2 dives) and 1 days reef diving. Am i missing something there?

2) I'd like to do a liveaboard or charter (to max the dives & save money) and explore other regions for walls, swims, etc but there are a lot of great sites out there. I've heard of Great White Wall, Manta Reef, Somosomo straight, Grand Central, Rainbow, Chimneys, Namena reef, etc. Any others must-sees?

Does anyone know of a Liveaboard or charter that goes to most of those sites (especially Manta & GWW) or gives me the best of what i want to see? I've looked at the 2 Aggressor's and Nai'a, are there any others?

Thanks for your help!

 

[bwilcove]

Beqa shark diving is pretty overrated. The diving off of Viti Levu is not very good relative to what you can see via a live aboard.

There aren't any liveaboards to got to GWW or Somosomo (too far). You have to do those from a land based operator.

The Nai'a & Aggressors do hit GC, Rainbow, Namena (best as far as I'm concerned). The other sites that are fantastic are E6 & H8, but it's rare that any of the boats go out there as the weather has to be near perfect.

The shark dive at Nigali via Aggressor III is about 10x better than the shark diving off of Beqa. Absolutely no comparison.

 

[outpost31]

Hi Bwilcove,
thanks for the reply.

After doing a bit of research i think it will actually be cheaper to island hop and do shore dives rather than get on a liveaboard. Right now, i'm thinking of doing 2 dives (1 day) shark diving at Beqa with Aqua-Trek, then 10 dives (7 days) manta dives at Kadavu, then 10 dives (5 days) at Taveuni to dive Somosomo and GGW, then back to Vite Levu to depart.

Most of the posts i've read say the Shark Diving is very good, especially with Aqua-Trek, your post is the first to say it isn't that good. Could you elaborate on why Beqa can't compare to Nigali please, that would be great, plus anything else you feel i should know. Cheers!

Does anyone else think Beqa isn't that good, please let me know.
thanks

 

[Code Monkey]

I've been to Beqa twice and the Bligh waters once; unfortunately, none of this was in December. I did the shark dive this last time (just got back a few weeks ago) and it was a major hoot. Bulls so close you could touch 'em (but I didn't) and one tiger. Absolutely beautiful.

My family really likes the diving in Beqa. This last time, we saw mantis shrimp, bulldozer shrimp, a silvertip shark (not on the shark dive), oodles of nudis, trigger fish of various varieties, anthias -- all the usual suspects. We've dived around the south Pacific and Carribean and Beqa Lagoon Resort is our favorite place to go diving.

Good luck! Hope you enjoy your trip...

 

[bwilcove]

Sounds like a great itinerary. I think the only way to dive Nigali is via liveaboard. Therefore, if you want to see sharks, going to Beqa is the way to go.

At Nigali, we were enveloped by ~25-30 sharks for more than 30 minutes (and we did this repetitively). The disadvantages to Beqa are that it's a 4-5 hour drive from Nadi, the underwater scenery isn't all that great, there weren't as many sharks and the bottom time was limited. The advantage is that you do get to see bulls and occasionally (if lucky) a tiger or two.

With your itinerary, another option would be to dive with a group that goes out to the Bligh Waters such as Scuba in Fiji with Crystal Divers Fiji the best SCUBA in Fiji. I think there are one or two others that are based on the north end of Viti Levu.

Have a great time. None are bad choices in the end!