Fiji water temps and rain in June: Beqa Lagoon vs. Taveuni

[cawhite]

Sounds like water temps aren't an important factor, diveborg.

How about the better question... what are the differences, in general, between the two dive locations? For a first time visit, to which area would you go if you could only go to one? I'll be booking our stay soon.

Thanks again.

 

[diveborg]

Sounds like water temps aren't an important factor, diveborg.

How about the better question... what are the differences, in general, between the two dive locations? For a first time visit, to which area would you go if you could only go to one? I'll be booking our stay soon.

Thanks again.

Well, I've only been to Fiji the one time, but I had such a good time and the diving was so wonderful, I'd just probably do a repeat trip on the Naia. If you want the most dives during the week, a liveaboard is the way to go.

 

[cawhite]

Well, I've only been to Fiji the one time, but I had such a good time and the diving was so wonderful, I'd just probably do a repeat trip on the Naia. If you want the most dives during the week, a liveaboard is the way to go.

Thanks again, diveborg. Now that you mention it, we have actually been looking at liveaboards. If we go that route, we only want to spend the money for one (either in Australia or Fiji)... any recommendations as to which locale is best for a liveaboard trip? I was thinking if we do one, the Great Barrier Reef might be the place to do it... what do you think?

One question. My husband gets sea sick sometimes... is that likely to happen on a liveaboard? And what type of vessel should we look for to minimize the motion? We've never done one... only been on big cruiseships.

Sorry for the "newbie" type questions, but I'm not the diver... I'm the travel planner.

Thanks.

 

[diveborg]

Thanks again, diveborg. Now that you mention it, we have actually been looking at liveaboards. If we go that route, we only want to spend the money for one (either in Australia or Fiji)... any recommendations as to which locale is best for a liveaboard trip? I was thinking if we do one, the Great Barrier Reef might be the place to do it... what do you think?

I'm afraid that I don't have any experience with diving anywhere in Australia. so to offer an opinion would have no basis in personal experience. Having said that, I'd happily return to Fiji, especially if diving was the primary focus of my trip. There is some really land based stuff I'd like to do/see in Australia in addition to diving, but will probably have to wait until my wife retires and can travel anytime during the year.

One question. My husband gets sea sick sometimes... is that likely to happen on a liveaboard? And what type of vessel should we look for to minimize the motion? We've never done one... only been on big cruiseships.

I didn't think there was much motion on the Nai'a, but that is probably more a function of the great weather we had as much as the actual boat. Generally multi-hull boats have less motion than mono-hull boats. Many of my friends who tend toward motion sickness use medication while on liveaboards. The "scope" patch is popular from what I've read.

Here is some more reading on sea sickness and what to do about it:

Doc Vikingo's Sea Sickness Remedies

Doc Vikingo's Scopace Patch

Doc Vikingo's Ginger

 

[cawhite]

Thanks for the info., diveborg. Hubby has decided he wants to stay on land and not do liveaboards.... we'll see if he changes his mind. If he does, I'll look for muti-hulls (the one we were looking at for the Great Barrier Reef, Spirit of Freedom, says it is a "steel hull with aluminum superstructure"... not sure how close that is to a multi-hull).

As for motion sickness, he's used Bonine (meclizine)... can't recall if he has tried the patch (I have). We're tried ginger but it didn't really seem to work that well... maybe I need to find something with a higher concentration of ginger?

Thanks for the links... they look very thorough. I'll take a look and see if I can glean any additional information!

 

[Wiggsy]

Might be a degree difference between the 2 sites, but not a lot more than that....And June is about as dry as Fiji gets.... which isn't very dry). You can get rain at any time in Fiji , but June is in the dry season....Go to SST and DHW Time Series -- Fiji-Beqa which has real time Sea Surface temperatures in degrees C (which involves some conversion factor calculations). Also consider that Taveuni will feel warmer topside, so you will also start the dive warmer. Regarding compring the 2 sites, I haven'te dived Taveuni as yet (domestic Fijian airfares are a killer!) but I have dived Beqa twice and rank it very high. And the shark dive is just the best - we had a 4.5 metre (15 foor for the Americans amongst us) Tiger Shark and big fat Bulls and gorgeous SIlvertip Whalers.

 

[cawhite]

Thanks Wiggsy - We're pretty much set on staying in Pacific Harbour (Uprising Beach Resort) now so I'm glad to hear your very positive comments on Beqa, the shark dive, etc.

And I'm sure you're correct... only the topside temps will be noticeably different.

Carole