Fiji or Thailand? Opinion Please!

[WarmWaterPursuit]

Hi,

I have 10 days to travel in early April. I'm stuck between Thailand and Fiji. I'd rather go to Fiji as it's quite a bit closer (from West Coast). But Thailand also sounds great.

Is there a big reason why I should go to Thailand and do the liveaboard thing instead? I don't want to make the wrong decision here.

I'm planning on spending less than $3000.

I don't know anything about the diving in Fiji although I have seen it at the top of a lot of lists for great places to go. I just want to make the right decision. My goal is to go somewhere with great diving and beautiful surroundings.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Code Monkey]

I've dived Fiji twice and Thailand twice. You really can't go wrong with either one.

In Fiji, I did Beqa Lagoon Resort (nice, easy diving -- lots of pretty fish) and Wannanavu (more current, deeper diving, bigger fish). Of the two, I prefer Beqa.

In Thailand, I did Phuket on land-based and the Similans and Richeleau Rock on a live-aboard -- both trips were with Sea-Bees. Phuket was not quite as colorful as the Andaman Sea but both were filled with loads of beautiful fish and corals. My best dive ever was on Richeleau Rock. I saw 6 ghost pipe fish, 3 cuttlefish, bulldozer, cleaner, mantis, and banded shrimp, octopus, and so many lion fish that it almost got boring. This was all on a single dive.

The flights from the west coast are pretty cheap to both places. Thailand has cheaper diving (and, if you go there, Sea Bees is a great dive op), fantastically beautiful and, I think, more fish-filled and diverse. Beqa Lagoon Resort would be my choice if you were to go to Fiji but it depends on what you wanted in diving.

Good luck on your trip!

 

[BulaBob]

Bula - I've been diving in Fiji for the past 20 years as my preferred warm water destination. Haven't been to Thailand so can't comment on that. Fiji has several regions that offer great diving -- The North is considered the "Soft Coral Capital" of the world, Beqa offers amazing diving and some of the best shark encounters anywhere, Kadavu has the Great Astrolab Reef, the Sunshine Coast to Rakiraki and the Bligh Waters offers some of the least explored regions available and the Mamanuca and Yasawa Island Groups offer diving to suit everyone.

I arrange packages to the South Pacific with a focus on Fiji and will be happy to assist if you would like - Air Pacific just (Monday) lowered their base airfare by $250 (subject to availability) so a 7 night package to Beqa Lagoon resort would run about $2649 including airfare - meals - lodging - 5 days of 2 tank diving.

Moce Mada and Best Regards
Bob Bourdon
PADI 9788
NAUI 6121

 

[Bredman]

I am in Fiji right now and have done several trips to Thailand. I find the latter better and cheaper. You should be able to find a nice Similans liveaboard for less money, more amenities, and more stuff to see. It seems that Fiji does have some fantastic diving to be had, but you either have to be very lucky or very rich.