Fiji

We are trying to plan a trip to Fiji on a livaboard at some point next year. Anyone have suggestions about the best time of the year to go and preferred dive sites? Thanks.

Tom

We are trying to plan a trip to Fiji on a livaboard at some point next year. Anyone have suggestions about the best time of the year to go and preferred dive sites? Thanks.

Tom

One of best trips..

http://www.naia.com.fj/

Joe

September is my recommendation. The weather is dry and pleasant.

If you want to go during the Fijian summer, you can expect a good amount of rain.

My trip was land-based. I highly recommend staying at Wananavu and diving with Kai Viti Divers. Most of the diving is in the Bligh waters or the Vatu-i-ra channel. The drive from the airport is about 3 hours. It sure beats the hassle of additional flights. Eric Cheng and James Wiseman have both posted excellent galleries of these dives.

If you want a liveaboard, I guess the time of year isn't as important.

I'm going to Fiji, first Beqa shark dive then I'm going onboard the Aggressor next week (early October). For those of you who have been to Fiji at this time of the year what is the water temperature and do you recommend wearing a 3mm or 5mm wetsuit?

We went to Beqa in mid July. That was the wrong time to go. High winds for almost the entire trip. Really crimped the diviing.

I just came back from Fiji, 2 days of shark diving at Beqa and 1 week onboard the Fiji Aggressor II.

Here's our Aggressor trip report: http://www.aggressor.com/capt_log.php?log_id=1623

...and my photos: www.flickr.com/wudai

I've done seven trips to Fiji over the years and found that the time of year and area you visit is very important if you want to have the best of everything. There is a lot of hype about Fiji being the soft coral capital of the world, but if you don't get to the right area you'll never see it. I was very disappointed with some of the heavily marketed areas. Many resorts use underwater shots that are from other areas, so keep this in mind when shopping for a place to stay and dive.

There is a nice Fiji water temperature chart on the Nai'a website at http://www.naia.com.fj/research/water.html. The visibility is best when the water is cooler. During the months of Jan, Feb, Mar the water is very warm, but the vis is way down. Cyclone [rainy] season is November to March. July, Aug, Sept the vis is great, but the water can get COLD (yes, of course that's relative!). I've also seen some pretty dramatic shifts in global weather patterns on recent trips, so keep this in mind too.

The very best diving I've seen in Fiji is in the Vatu-i-Ra pass (Bligh Channel) and around Namenalala. There are a couple of dive ops that get out there too using day boats. Kai Viti Divers was by far the best I've experienced in land-based operators. Also great diving around the islands of Gau, Koro, and Wakaya. This area can be conveniently dived by live-aboard. The diving at Beqa is great and the resort is gorgeous, but diving doesn't compare to the stuff further out. Beqa also does shark dives.

We've got four days at Beqa & a week on the Fiji Aggressor booked for June 2009. We're hoping for the best of everything for this photo workshop. You're welcome to join us. http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26832

Bonnie

Namena is definitely one of top 2-3 spots in Fiji to dive, and instead of taking a day boat a couple of times a week from places like the Cousteau resort instead consider staying on Namena. Joan and Tom run a great resort on Namena, and the best dive sites are then only 5 min. away from their dock. You also get the chance to get up close to 1000's of birds, including (at the right time of year) baby blue footed boobies (very fuzzy & cute). The 7+ beaches on the island are like stepping back in time - it's easy to find a place on the island where you will be the only people around...

We spent 10 days there a few years ago, and it was the best diving we've ever done in Fiji (6 land-based trips and 1 trip on the Aggressor, 1 on the Naia) w/the exception of the Naia, which gets out to Namena, Wakaya, and also dives the Bligh water area.

For 5 of the days we were the only ones on the dive boat - it was great being able to dive sites like Fishpatch any time we wanted (and be back for lunch before the Aggressor or Naia even showed up). As I'm sure you already know, most of Fiji's best dives are very tide/current dependent. The one advantage that staying on Namena gives you is that you get to hit each of the sites around Namena at the perfect time (even the Naia doesn't always get this opportunity because of their schedule and large area they cover). The trade-off of course is only diving this one area of Fiji vs. the broader reach of a live-aboard...

To see the best Fiji has to offer over a shorter itinerary I would recommend the Naia above all else (it is a step up from the aggressor both in terms of diving and facilities), but if you have the time to spend doing some land-based diving, I can't recommend Namena enough - it's a magical place.