Fiji in February?

[Hike]

I am planning a trip in early February 2014 and have been focusing on Fiji lately. I have a few questions that I am hoping somebody can point me in the right direction. Right now its my wife and I, we are considering bringing our two small children, so we are thinking landbased, not liveaboard.

Where to Stay?
I would prefer more luxurious accommodations (does not have to be over the top), but the diving would be the most important thing. I would like to stay somewhere on the main Island as we would need at least a 10 hour flight to get to Nadi from Hong Kong and I really dont want to take an additional flight. We want to be next to the best pelagic diving, especially sharks (even more especially hammerheads). I have been focusing on Viti Levu, ViloVilo is my first choice now, but I am a little worried about the accommodations, but I read somewhere that they are planning on getting rid of their dormitory and raising the level of quality there. There new rooms look nice and from what I understand you can dive in bligh waters and Koro sea sites including E6 and other, but how far of a boat ride is it to the top sites? I was also considering Namena or Naigani, but these seem more difficult to get to. What are closest to the best pelagic sites?

Season?
I know february is still the raining season, but what does that exactly mean. Does it really deteriorate the conditions, or is it just the occasional shower. Does it affect the pelagics? When is the best time to see hammerheads? From what I understand November to January is the worst, but the raining season continues through April. Im really not worried about water temps, but would think about going elsewhere if visibility was poor, seas are rough, and pelagics are not around.

 

[cbm32]

Hopefully fijidiver will see this thread and address your concerns regarding the weather in Feb in Fiji.

I am the U.S. representative for Naigani Island Resort and I will attempt to address some of your other concerns.

Visibility due to rain is certainly a concern in some locals. I know that I was staying in Pacific Harbor and diving Bega Lagoon during Oct/Nov of 2011 and the viz there was really pretty bad when there was a lot of rain. However, right after leaving there I went up into the Yasawa group of islands and there was very little rain and practically no decrease in viz at most dive sites even when it did rain. Likewise, most of the sites you would dive from Naigani do not see a significant decrease in viz after a rain.

The accommodations on Naigani are spacious, but I wouldn't call them luxurious. Naigani is more of a 2 1/2 to 3 star resort, than a 4 or 5 star resort. Completely adequate and very livable for any amount of time, but not luxurious.
I believe that the pelagics are present in Fiji year round. If you want to see hammerheads, Naigani would be an excellent choice. Most of our dive sites are very close to the resort but one of our signature dives is to Wakaya. Wakaya is about a 35 to 40 minute boat ride from the resort and we do at least two tanks before returning when we go to Wakaya. Diving Wakaya you have an excellent chance of seeing sharks and it is one of the few dive sites in Fiji where you can see Great Hammerheads and Manta Rays as well. It is also possible to dive E6 from Naigani.

The Naigani staff, and the Fijian people in general, are very very friendly and accommodating. During my last trip to Naigani a couple left their three year old son in the capable care of a staff member while they were out diving and when they returned their son really did not want to go back to their bure with them, preferring to continue playing with the staff member instead There is a shark dive being put together by dive op with the help of Aqua-Trek within easy distance of Niagani. If things go as planned that shark dive should be available to Naigani guests well before Feb or 2013...but since things happen in Fiji time there, you have no guarantee of that right now

The surest way to see pelegics is stay near, and do, one of the shard dives that is offered in Fiji. There are two operators that do shark dives in Pacifica Harbor (Bega Adventure divers and Aqua-Trek) but during Feb you will probably run into vis problems there and the diving is not as good there as it is other places in Fiji. The shark dives hear attract a great number and variety of sharks including lots of reef sharks, bull sharks, and you if you get lucky you will see the tiger shark that is around that area. However I dont believe you will see any hammerheads.

Blue Lagoon Beach resort in the Yasawas is much drier and sees far less run off to mess up the viz than anyplace on the main island. Blue lagoon does a very nice shark dive with lots of black tips, white tip reef sharks, bull sharks and others species, but no tigers and no hammerheads. I enjoyed the other diving in the area as well but you wont see the variety soft corals and barracuda other large fish that you will see in other areas.

If you have other questions, or if I can be of any further assistance, feel free to PM me or email me at naiganiusa@gmail.com

 

[Hike]

Thanks for the info. I looked into Naigani, but I was looking for something a little more luxurious, but Naigani is closer to the dive sites than VoliVoli or Wananava resort? These two seem to be the best options for me right now. How long does it take to get from Nadi to Naigani?

 

[fiji_diver]

Hi
So many choices, but given your preference for no internal flight, which I quite understand, it is easier.
First, Liveaboards - there is an option of going on the Tui Tai - that does need an internal flight to Savusavu but it is reasonably kid friendly - more of a 4/5* floating spa that a livaboard dive boat.
Volivoli are planning on doing as you say, but I don't know when. I would rate their accommodation a few points above Naigani, but Naigani is more kid / family friendly. Wananavu is next door to Volivoli and more upmarket. New owners and dive operators there as of this year and I don't know them yet. Volivoli have been in the same hands from the start. Naigani is family owned and has a new GM and activities manager who are very good. They are both dive instructors and will be working hard at making Nagani a premium dive destination.

As to what you will see. If you want Hammerheads, then Namena is known for schools of scalloped hammerheads, and the Wakaya wall / passage for Great Hammerheads and Manta Rays. I was diving with the Wakaya GM yesterday and she says the Hammerheads are around most of the time. Unless you stay on Wakaya, US$2,400 per night / room, then the only resort that dives Wakaya passage is Naigani. The 3 big livaboards stop there of course (Not Tui Tai though). They go there at least once a week, depending on demand.
Now that brings me to February. A relatively quiet time in Fiji with post Christmas and New Year combined with the Cyclone season. It does mean you can get good rates from resorts and airlines. The weather is hot and humid. Well it is Summer in the Tropics. Water temp varies a bit. Here is the temp data averaged over the last few years.
Rainy season really means it might rain heavily for a few days, but generally still fine weather most of the time. It rains all year of course, but more frequently and heavier in the Summer months. The weather doesn't effect the diving conditions too much but of course its nicer to dive in sunshine. Visibility is better in the Winter but again, not too much variation.
E6 is accessible from Naigani although not a regular dive - depends on numbers. Volivoli and Wananavu could go there but don't, as far as I know - it would be about 1 1/2 hours for them and about 1 hour from Naigani. Volivoli and Wananavu dive the Bligh waters but not every day.

If you are coming for more than a week, why not do 5 days at Naigani and 5 at Wananavu or Volivoli. You could go around to do the Aqautrek shark dive as well if you had a couple of spare days. You can stay at Uprising or the Pearl to do that.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Regards
Greg

 

[Hike]

Thanks for all the information, it is very helpful. It seems that Naigani is definetly regarded as having better and more convenient diving, although I am a little worried about the accommodations, the opportunity to see great hammerheads could be worth it. I am now thinking about two possible itineraries.
1.)Stick to February and go to Wananavu (or some villas i saw nearby there) for 5-7 days, then head to Naigani for 5 days, then finish off somewhere near Beqa Lagoon for 2-3 days (I am thinking I could stay at the Shangrila or intercontinental hotel near there, is that convenient to the Beqa Lagoon dive?
2.)Consider changing the timing and go in May instead, but this could create a problem to me as its tougher for me to take two full weeks off at this time. I could probably do a max 10 days, so it would make all three destinations more difficult, so I would need to revise the itinerary a bit.

 

[fiji_diver]

Hi
If you want to dive Beqa and / or the Aquatek shark dive, it is far easier to stay in Pacific Harbour at either the Pearl or Uprising. Shangrila and similar are about 1 1/2 hours from Beqa - doable but wouldn't be my first choice. Nice hotels though.
Feb or May - well up to you. I hesitate to advise as nobody can predict the weather. February this year was lovely.
Naigani accommodation is 2-3* but clean and spacious. very popular with local expats.
Have a great trip
Greg

 

[mike0479]

Hike,
My wife and i just came back from spending aprox 3 weeks in Fiji. We spent the first 10 days at Naigani and absolutely loved it there. We flew into Nadi then took a 3.5hr bus ride from Nadi to the Holiday Inn Hotel in Suva. From there we had to take a 45min taxi ride to the Natovi Jetty where Nagaini's boat picked us up for the short boat ride to the resort.
Naigani island beach resort was amazing from the staff members to the diving. The accomidations were very good as we wwerent expecting much from the reviews I had seen prior to going there. We were pleasantly surprised at how accomidating and friendly the staff were. We only left because it was out first time there and felt that we needed to explore more of Fiji. However, from the moment we left the island we knew that we wouldnt be as happy as we were while there. The rest of fiji was nice, but the relationships and how well you get to know the staff there is second to none. You cant help but fall in love with teh people there.
As for the diving. While i was there i did at least 2 dives a day and all the dive sites are great. I would see reef sharks every dive and so much other marine life. The dive master was Las and he was a experienced and knowledgeable diver. It was just he and myself for all but one day and we got along great. he knew my skills and I got to know his. We had a great time together. One of the trips was to Wakaya and that is where I had my deepest dive of the trip (wall dive to 159 feet) and we saw a great Hammer head shark there as well as a Sea turtle. That dive was about a 1 hr boat ride while all the other ones are 10-15 min from the resort.
The cost for all the diving was very cheap too. I paid 600.00 total for all my dives. They had plenty of tanks available and we used 3 different boats for diving while i was there. I was able to go dive whenever i wanted too and never had a problem.
When we left Naigani I decided to do a Shark Dive with Beqa Adventure divers which cost me 250.00 for 2 tanks and the dives were aprox 20min each. I was not happy about the price nor the dive time but it was cool to see 14' Bull sharks, Reef Sharks, and Nurse sharks up close feeding. Glad i had that experience but wouldnt do it again.
I will definitly be going back to Naigani as the place is beautiful and a divers paradise.
PM me if i can help in any other way...
Mike