Fiji or Maldives for Honeymoon and Big Fish Encounters?

[diver 85]

Do you know what area or sites in Fiji the tiger sharks have been spotted - have yet to see one and would sooooo love to see one , especially feeding.

French Polynesia was the first place I thought of, but it is so obscenely expensive -not just the diving but also accommodations. It seems to be the most expensive place to dive except maybe Galapagos. Do you perhaps know of moderately priced resorts, dive shops or liveaboards there? Everything I've found is five-star luxury (which would be great, but not possible for us).

Thanks!

How big do you want to see??---we saw this one(BIG--?18') about a week and a half ago @ Beqa Lagoon, Fiji

 

[Luko]

French Polynesia was the first place I thought of, but it is so obscenely expensive -not just the diving but also accommodations. It seems to be the most expensive place to dive except maybe Galapagos. Do you perhaps know of moderately priced resorts, dive shops or liveaboards there? Everything I've found is five-star luxury (which would be great, but not possible for us).

Thanks!

Yes I agree, it's awfully madly expensive in FP...:shocked2:... Booh for FP prices!
when you go there, you have to stay in what they call "pensions" which are more or less upmarket guest houses. Do NOT stay in humptieth star resort.

Though it's still expensive for example if you check Fakarava pension : this site, you'll have pensions, the one where the dive center is, is 387€ for 2 persons for one night full board, dive is to be added on top but and you'll have 4th night free as well as the 6th dive.
May be if you consider breaking the piggybank, 4 days could be a nice stay, combined with another 4 days stay on another island. Probably there are better sites where to book also... the problem is that you won't get much cheaper in the Maldives, it is quite costly too, a nice midmarket resort with good diving and food like Rihiveli for instance would be 470USD full board per night !

 

[kkfok]

Price range of island resorts in Maldives is indeed very large. I enjoyed my stay in Reethi Beach and Vilamendhoo very much, they were just around US$220 per night for a normal room, and they are in good location to access very good dive sites (e.g. Kudarah Thila, Hanifaru bay)

 

[Luko]

Price range of island resorts in Maldives is indeed very large. I enjoyed my stay in Reethi Beach and Vilamendhoo very much, they were just around US$220 per night for a normal room...

I suppose it's double room only?... which brings it full board for 2 pax to 350USD or more per night... comparable to FP hefty prices...

 

[kkfok]

No, Fullboard is only around US$270 for high season. Maldives is not expensive if you select the right island.

 

[glocklt4]

When I was in the Taveuni area (land based diving btw), soft corals were the big attraction and compared to the rest of Fiji, are known for it. That doesn’t mean you won’t see soft corals around Viti Levu. We did see white tip reef sharks but as singles and not in great numbers. Larger fish would be seen in the Somosomo straits and around Yellow wall and Noel’s wall. We were told that occasionally mantas could be seen at these sites but we did not see any. We dived 3 days diving around Yellow and Noel’s wall and one day on the Great White wall, Rainbow passage and Jacks Place. The larger pelagic encounters in the Taveuni area were described as sporadic and depends on season. We did see quite few turtles especially around Qamea island.

I don’t recall reports of hammerheads – schools or solo. It wasn’t mentioned as a draw for diving there. However huge schools of smaller fish occurred quite frequently at most sites especially walls though these were the areas we were told to keep an eye out for sharks or other large pelagics like mantas but we never saw the latter.

It is my understanding that greater numbers of large fish/sharks occur around the main island of Viti Levu. There are planned shark dives (Beqa Lagoon for example). I don’t know about mantas in the area.

If hiking is in the agenda and staying in the Taveuni area, then Bouma National Park with the Tovoro falls is excellent. Taveuni can be a bit wetter than other Fiji locations. It doesn’t rain constantly but is more wet in April but there are wetter months. We had sunny days most of the time though.

My wife and I stayed at Matangi. This is a higher priced place and I have come to the conclusion that I paid for seclusion. I think max occupancy is 13 couples and was not close to full when we were there in the month of April. It’s a fairly small property on a small island (no one else but them). If I went back to Fiji, I would stay on Taveuni (for less $) but it is farther from my two favorites sites (all time) – Yellow and Noel’s walls.

I have not dived the Maldives but it is on the list. We have looked into it but it is easier for us to get to Fiji and even easier for you on the West coast.

Great to hear the good info about Taveuni. We are staying at Paradise Taveuni and feel that it is a great deal for a very nice place. We looked at Matangi but couldn't quite swing the added cost due to the costs of our wedding boiling over.

 

[glocklt4]

How big do you want to see??---we saw this one(BIG--?18') about a week and a half ago @ Beqa Lagoon, Fiji

Nice shot! That one is FAT!

 

[diver 85]

Nice shot! That one is FAT!

Ha, I wish that was my shot, that was by one of the other divers on the trip shot with a D300...here's a couple of mine---i swear it was a female & very PG, lol, it was HUGE.....

 

[miu]

How big do you want to see??---we saw this one(BIG--?18') about a week and a half ago @ Beqa Lagoon, Fiji

Beautiful!

 

[Shasta_man]

Whoa, whoa, whoa...the story starts out that you'd love to spend lots of time diving but HE doesn't want to?! That's not usually the situation we usually hear!

<Taveuni can be a bit wetter than other Fiji locations> HA HA HA...You know that half the mountain on Taveuni gets some of the most rainfall in the world, measuring it in feet? My experience with the rest of Fiji is that isn't green for nothing. Love the place and people and I'd go in a heartbeat but if it's Fiji, it rains. Glad to hear some people could find the sun easier than we could.