Technical diving in Fiji?

[Sigmund Seamonster]

Aloha, we are a group of technical divers and free divers looking to come to Fiji.
Are there technical diving resources there? dual aluminium cylinders? oxygen? maybe even helium? are there deco bottles available?
Are there dive sites suitable for deeper diving? are there any wrecks at all?
For our group of freedivers, we are looking for easy laid back small and flexible boats that can take us to beautiful walls and reefs to free dive.
Appreciate any information.
Aloha
Jo
Island Divers Hawaii
Technical diving manager

 

[Hodge Podge]

No technical support that I could find

wrecks yes
Deep yes

I would loved to have taken my rebreather but O2 or even nitrox was not avalible

If someone knows diffrent let me know too.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Go west and a short hop to the next island group over and dive the SS President Coolidge transport wreck instead; full equipment & mixed-gas support advertised here:
Dives on the SS President Coolidge, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

 

[Sigmund Seamonster]

thanks for the good info kevin, but it is too pricey for us to fly from honolulu to vanuatu... have to go through new zealand! fiji is waaaaaaay easier for us to get to,

I will let you know if I find anything else out Hodge.
Jo

 

[fiji_diver]

Hi
You have picked the wrong islands for wrecks! Well there are some of course but not worth coming here to dive. I'm not sure which wrecks Hodge Podge dived, but resort based wrecks you are looking at 120ft max.

Plenty of big walls though. Ask Richard Pile and his iMax team.
Solomons or Vanuatu for wrecks.

As for gear and gas. The only bulk supplier is BOC in Suva. They have plenty of O2 but no He. Well they did have 3 J's a year or so back that were gathering a lot of dust, but they had vanished when I last snooped around the depot. I can check for you if you like and find out if they can get some in. Be prepared for a nasty surprise when they tell you how much they want for diving grade helium though.

You won't find anyone really doing techie stuff here. A couple of resorts and both main live aboard boats have O2 and boosters as well as membrane Nitrox systems up to 40%. For fills over 40% you are going to need to do partial pressure fills so bring your own decanting kit, filters and adaptors.

Tanks. No resorts are diving doubles here, but nothing to stop you bringing bands and twining up some as independent bottles. If you give me some notice, I can probably make you up some manifolded sets if my box of parts is still under the bed
Almost all the tanks here are 12 litre, aluminium at 207 or 240 bar. (Thats 87 and 100cuft in American I think).
There are a few smaller tanks knocking around the resorts (60cuft or thereabouts but not very many) Give me some time and I can round some up for you - probably.
None of them will have any rigging so bring what you need.

So realistically you can forget trimix but it will be possible, if you organise it right and go to the right resort, to get rebreather fills and nitrox.

For your free divers, there is far more scope. We specialise in laid back boat trips in Fiji. It will be easy to arrange with almost any resort especially in the afternoons when the diving has usually finished.

Anyway, if you tell me a bit more about your planned trip, numbers of people, rough budgets, preferences etc, then I will be happy to suggest some locations.

Cheers
Greg

 

[Kiwi303]

Why not come to New Zealand... Fiji is an EXTREMELY popular spot for Kiwis, sort of like the Red Sea is to the Brits and Mexico/Caribbean is to the US. Lots of NZers go to Fiji for their winter break, just to get some sun. Nearly all the advertised diving is just shallow coral sand lagoon diving to ooh and ahh at the pretty fishies, the only difference from the snorkelling is you don't get a sunbrunt back form floating on the top of the water.


For a little more money you'd probably be better coming here to NZ where O2 and rebreather supplies are available and tech stuff is around. then you also have the choice of sites like Mickhael Lermantov, Rainbow Warrior, the Poor Knights, Dusky Sound and Milford sound...

Things are more varied than coral and parrotfish.

 

[Sigmund Seamonster]

I know... was wishful thinking that there would be some wrecks there, but after diving chuuk lagoon everything pales when it comes to wrecks

Thanks Fiji_diver for all the information about logistics in fiji,

so if i shipped my own helium down there, which resorts would have a booster pump to maximize the use of the bottles we ship? also, do you know of any resort that does both partial pressure AND membrane, cos that would be the easiest way for us to get the trimix we need, put in some helium, top of with nitrox 32= desired mix.

doubles, if we want manifolded doubles we better bring our own manifold and tank bands, correct?

deco bottles. you said there might be some 63s (dont even know what size these are in metric, buit probably 7 or 8 liter tanks) laying around? no skinny 40s? that is ok. but bring deco rig kit, ok.

do you think it would be worthwhile to go through the logistical mess to do deeper dives on fiji walls? are there allot of large pelagics around like several websites say? mantas, sharks, are a must...

right now we have no fixed numbers on how many tech divers/freedivers that will be going.

kiwi303; new zeeland is a bit cold for our freedivers, they want the "remote tropical island"feel on this trip, and i am trying to combine tech with it at the same time, as I cant hold my breath nearly as long as some of these guys

 

[MarkMunro]

Bula Jo,

I am one of the owners of Scuba Bula dive centre. We are a 5 star SDI/TDI dive centre. We do have manifolded twinsets available as well as rigged deco cylinders. We have some excellent dive sites that cater for the deeper air diver (50 to 60 metres).

For more information check out our website and email us on info@scubabula.com. Vinaka,

Mark

 

[fiji_diver]

Hi
Basically yes. I think.
you won't find the skinny 40's I guess you want for rebreathers. The Naia live aboard has some smaller rebreather tanks.
see
Rebreather Diving in Fiji - NAI'A
but no scrubber.
The scrubber will be an issue everywhere as no one is diving rebreathers here.

As for what you can see at depth. Well not many people go there so it's hard to say. There are certainly spots I have dived around the Namena reserve where we have seen large schools of hamerheads at, I estimate, 200' +
Mantas are common at some sites but shallow. I have no idea about deep sites - but then why go deep if they are sitting on the reef top
I have seen big pelagics below 180' for sure at several sites, but not so you can count on it.

I would struggle to say there is anything particularly great at depth in this reef environment beyond chance encounters and some cool stuff for the marine biologists among us.
Having said that, there are places I would love to have a look at just to see. Particularly the Namena reserve.

What thread are your manifold pillar valves? Many tanks here have M25 necks, rather than the more common 3/4" in the US but both are found often mixed at resorts. If you ask the resorts, they probably won't know what you are talking about... probably.

If you really want to do deeper dives here, I would suggest keeping it simple. forget manifolds, just run independent valves. Order in some He here with BOC and make HeliAir.
If you want to splash the cash and go on the Naia, then you can make your custom mix with their membrane system and booster, but other them, I think it will be a struggle to find a resort with both (or either for the most part).
However I will ask around and see who has what. I am actually curious now as I haven't bothered to keep tabs on this sort of thing since I hung up my techie spurs a few years back before moving out here. This may take a while as people can be slow to respond here.

The Chaps st Scuba Bula near Nadi have some techie credentials but I don't know what gear they have.
Drop them a mail.

Cheers
Greg