Fiji has a number of names, from ‘The Best Shark Diving Location in the World to ‘The Soft Coral Capital of the World.’ With labels like these, it’s safe to say Fiji has some of the best diving destinations you can go to, whether you’re a noob or a pro. The country has a lot to offer for the keenest of divers, including canyons, caverns, swim-throughs, and wall dives.
Whether you want to choose to be located from a liveaboard or on the islands, there is a lot to see the whole year round. That being said, here are
Fiji’s best dive sites.
Manta Reef, Kadavu
Kadavu Island is the nearest jump-off point to the world’s fourth-largest barrier reef, Fiji’s Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef. In here, you will find plenty of beautiful dive sites, including Yellow Wall, Seafan Alley, and Naigoro Passage. Manta Reef provides you with a unique opportunity to dive along with giant oceanic manta rays and reef manta rays. Take note that you won’t find a lot of places in the world to experience this.
Fantasea, Beqa Lagoon
Fantasea is a spectacularly colorful corridor between two rocks full of corals and sea fans of all shapes and sizes. Plenty of marine creatures take shelter in the beautiful gorgonian fans, bubble corals, and whip corals, including shrimps, nudibranchs, orangutan crabs, and garden eels. If you’re lucky, you can also spot anemonefish, damselfish, flatworms, blue-lined snapper, and lionfish.
Instant Replay, Bligh Water, Raki Raki
Bligh Water actually has a lot of stunning dive sites, including Yellow Mellow, Breathtaker, Wheat Fields, and Black Magic. Instant Replay is named so because towards the end, there’s a shortcut somewhere that will take you back out onto the reef further upstream of the current and you can do the last part of the dive over again.
The Bistro Shark Dive, Beqa Lagoon
Another stunning dive site found at Beqa Lagoon is the Bistro Shark Dive, which is perhaps Fiji’s most popular shark dive. This place was founded by a South African ex-pat named Brendan Paige, who was actually the first person to establish a shark-feed dive in the country.
At 22m at The Bistro, you get to swim with sharks of the many kinds, including bull sharks, whitetip reef sharks, grey reef sharks, sicklefin lemon sharks, and silvertip sharks. The amazing Fijian shark feeders are always there to make you feel safe while watching these apex predators feed.
Other shark-feed dive sites you can find in Beqa Lagoon are The Cathedral, The Arena, and there’s also a shark-feed site at Barefoot Kuata Island in the lower Yasawas called The Awakening.
Great White Wall, Rainbow Reef
Although Rainbow Reef has a lot of beautiful dive sites, the Great White Wall made it to this list for a reason. The entry point of this site is a small hole on a coral wall, with the top of the reef around 10m deep. Soft corals of many corals sit on top of the reef, and even more colorful fish swim and take shelter around them. The swim-throughs and the overhangs are surrounded by schools of bigeyes, and over the edge, take a peek and you’ll see the Great White Wall itself, a beautiful wall covered with white soft corals – it’s breathtaking.
Fiji is undeniably one perfect location if you want to dive or snorkel. Regardless if you’re a pro who wants to explore canyons and coves of the Yasawas or a budding diver who’d love to see the colorful fish at Rainbow Reef, a diving trip in Fiji is definitely worth your while.
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