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 More than 330 tropical islands surrounded by the blue water of the South Pacific comprise the Fiji Islands. Also called ‘the soft coral capital of the world’.
Text & Photos by: Achim Nimmerfroh
www.artifishial.com Fiji has a lot to offer for everyone who loves activities in, around and underwater. The islands are known for the true friendliness of the people living there, whatever has to be done goes on ‘Fiji-time’ and with a big smile. The main island Viti Levu hosts the capital called Suva, the international airport in Nadi and most of the civilisation in Fiji. 
Getting around There’s lots of ways to reach the island groups close to the main island, several travel agencies are located right in the airport to inform travellers about daytrips and packages. Daily flights to more remote islands are available and for those who have time and want to see some more of the country, making your way by bus and ferry is another option. The diving Diving in Fiji has a lot of different faces, from sheltered bays to strong current passages, to dives close to reef-breaks. It’s worth having a good guide who knows about the best conditions for the sites. A lot of reefs have to be dived in certain tidal conditions to see them in all their beauty. Fiji is well prepared for everyone, from luxury resorts and high-class live-aboards, to beach weddings, backpacker islands and cheaper resorts for those who travel on a budget. Most of the islands all over Fiji have their own dive operators, mainly PADI, where you can rent equipment, or if you’re a novice, you won’t have trouble getting your certification. If you just want to know what it’s like, there are options to get an impression of scuba diving by doing a scuba discovery programme. Fiji is well organised for divers: good instruction, guiding and safe equipment is standard in the resorts and dive centres. A lot of islands have housereefs with excellent snorkelling but the common way to go for a dive is to take a short boat ride of 10-40 minutes to come to one of the more beautiful reefs. A tropical climate all year around makes Fiji a popular holiday destination. The water temperatures are excellent for diving all through the year, in summer between 28-31C good for a 3mm shorty and in wintertime it may drop down to about 23C where it’s still alright to wear a 5mm wetsuit. The visibility differs from place to place, but you can say that it improves during the winter months (May-November). Visibility averages about 15-20 metres, but if you’re lucky you can dive with 50 + metres visibility on some days. Fiji hosts some of the best dive sites and areas in the world, it’s impossible to write about every good dive site, but I will try to describe a few top areas for divers. To get the best out of Fiji its worth visiting different islands. 
Somosomo Strait, Rainbow Reef The world-famous Somosomo Strait is a big channel in the north of Fiji between Taveuni and Vanua Levu. Strong currents make this area one of the best places for diving in Fiji and the reason why Fiji is called ‘the soft coral capital of the world’. The whole Rainbow Reef offers lots of spectacular dive sites, an abundance of marine life and amazing colourful reefs, schooling bannerfish, palette surgeonfish and ribbon eels are some of the coloured inhabitants... Due to the currents, the Somosomo Strait is famous for drift diving. One of the world famous dive sites in this area is the ‘Great White Wall’, a vertical drop-off covered with white soft corals and packed with marine life. The scenery is breathtaking, but it’s worth having a close look to find extraordinary critters. Diving along this wall is a highlight for divers. Garden Island Taveuni, the third largest island, is also called the ‘Garden Island’. Tropical plants and flowers, rare birds and hiking to beautiful waterfalls are some of the attractions for visitors. The International Date Line goes right through Taveuni, so you can stand with one foot in today and the other in yesterday. The best areas of Rainbow Reef are not only dived from Taveuni, actually some resorts on Vanua Levu are closer to the sites than the resorts on the ‘Garden Island’. Lomaiviti - the centre of Fiji Right in the centre, between Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, is the region called Lomaiviti. The largest island there is Ovalau. It hosts Levuka, a small town which was the old capital of Fiji and is nominated to become a UNESCO world heritage town. Large water movements make Lomaiviti home of some amazing dive sites. Moturiki Channel A channel in south Lomaiviti has different dive sites, amazing soft coral in many colour variations, reef passages with sharks and turtles and a huge variety of other marine life making this whole area around some small coral islands a diver’s paradise. A tiny island called Snake Island has only one palm tree on it, and is home of one of Fiji’s best dive sites if you’re looking for small stuff. 
Wakaya Passage A wall covered with Gorgonian sea fans and Dendronephthya soft tree coral which drops down to 1,000 metres, big pelagic life like scalloped hammerheads and manta rays can be seen here, but even without them to dive along this wall looking down into the abyss is a great experience. Wakaya Island is a playground for high society types,. Movie stars and other celebrities enjoy their holidays around here. Although there are many small islands in Lomaiviti, diving is mainly organised from Ovalau. The live-aboard dive vessels in Fiji frequently travel to Lomaiviti. Besides the amazing reefs, I discovered some good muck-diving opportunities in the harbour area of Levuka, where I observed creatures which are not easily found on reef dives. Kadavu - The Great Astrolabe Reef The fourth largest and southernmost island of Fiji is the home of the Great Astrolabe Reef, third largest reef-system on our planet, featuring clear waters and huge fields of stony corals along more than 100 kilometres of reef. Diving all along the outside of the Astrolabe Reef is spectacular, but the reef-passages are the top-spots. Soso Passage is home of a dive site called ‘Coral Wonderland’, where you start diving along a wall with huge Gorgonian sea fans and soft coral. Once you reach the outside, big schools of snappers and other schooling fish surround you. Napoleons, reef sharks and if you’re lucky even a manta ray might come along. Manta Reef Manta Reef is a small reef separated from the main reef with healthy stony corals and a large variety of reef fish. Due to nutrient rich upwellings, manta rays seem to like this place to feed. Astrolabe Reef is one of the few places where you can frequently encounter manta rays, but there’s much more to discover ... The island of Kadavu is one of the most beautiful in Fiji. Still unspoilt, it has a small airport and a few hundred metres of roads. Visiting Kadavu is for people who want to get away from it all and enjoy the beauty of nature. Fijians are very social. Nearly every activity is a reason for sitting together in a circle, drinking Kava, the traditional drink, and telling stories. This is one of the activities that is essential for a true South Sea experience. |
