fiji

planning on going to fiji in july to do the shark dives with aqua trek. was wondering if anyone has done this and what there experience was like. am i likely to see tiger sharks?

thanks a lot

i plan on staying at the pearl south pacific so if anyone has stayed there let m e know about that too thanks!

Was there last July. Had bad weather. Only the first and last days were good diving.

Did one dive of the shark dive. Saw nurse sharks and a giant grouper. I mean giant.

They said the Tigers usually show up on the second dive. The smell of the bait brings them in. We, however got blown out of our second dive.

My wife and I are going next week. Will spend a few days in Beqa then on to the Nai'a.

Will give you the report when we get back towards the end of June.

Take care. John

Hi John,

Had a great time with the Beqa sharks last October and had Scarface, the tiger shark, come in on the third and final shark feed day we did in eight days. We dived with BAD, Beqa Adventure Divers, and currently have some friends over there this week. Scarface was pregnant when we were there and disappeared shortly afterwards to give birth. My friends have been told she arrived back in April and is currently coming in every 10 to 12 days. Even if you don't see Scarface the other sharks are just amazing and the reef and wreck diving is superb.

Regards

Nigel

My wife and I are going next week. Will spend a few days in Beqa then on to the Nai'a.

Will give you the report when we get back towards the end of June.

Take care. John

I considering doing the Nai'a in December- a 10 day trip, so I'll be looking forward to your trip report.

Enjoy.

Harry

I considering doing the Nai'a in December- a 10 day trip, so I'll be looking forward to your trip report.

 

Enjoy.

 

Harry

We are just back and did both Aquatrek and Beqa Adventure Divers, both were very good.

We were glad we did both though we had originally only planned on going with BAD but they were unable to do a shark dive on our surprise "extra day".

The sharks and feeding were very different on each operation so it was great we got to see each.

With Aquatrek we saw very large Tawny Nurse sharks in a "scrum" of 10-20 with Bulls punctuating the mass to take the the bait.

The feeders occasionally swam up into the water column over the melee and dropped large armfulls of fish/guts which the sharks (especially the Bulls) would rocket through. Great for video, more challenging for stills. On the second stop we had Silvertips making some nice passes (skittish) which for us was great as well more Bull Shark interaction. The boat was a bit crowded but that appears to be luck of the draw as half were last minute bookings. Aquatrek was safely run and the manger Brandon very helpful. No appearence of the great Tiger but after a few trip with Jim Abernathy we felt alittle spoiled at anything less than multiple Tigers at hands length in clear blue shallow water (thanks Jim).

The next two days were shark dives with B.A.D. They were great. The BAD staff was very professional and seemed to know the sharks personally.

In fact there was a marked difference in the sharks behavior when Rusi hand fed vs other feeders.

The Bulls on their dive site (the two operations sites are seperate) were notable larger even the snapper were fat from daily meal service, they also had large schools of giant trevally which we did not see on the other site. Interestingly the feeders wear steel mesh gloves not for the sharks but for the trevally and from up close I saw them bitten several times by the large indiscriminate fish. The sharks by comparison seemed shy and often reluctant to take the tuna head by hand. Rather than drop a mix of parts they would drop individual heads and the sight of seeing up to 15 extremely large (read FAT) Bulls circling in mid water like Reefies was incredible. If you are experienced both operaters will put you in prime position for great shots. We were surprised a few people on the boat told us this was their first dive (its all downhill from here I guess) but the BAD guys really stood over you and had a well run operation suitable for almost any level.

The dives were great fun and we will post more later on a formal trip report. Take care. John

Hey John - Thanks for the update. I am going to Beqa Lagoon in late July for a trip. Sounds like the shark dives are a must. Anything else that you would recommend? Jen.

Jen-

We didn't do much else while in Pacific Harbor but the shark dives and recover from Jetlag.

There is quite a few things to do there but most start in the morning and by the time your back (1-2pm) it is a bit late.

We had planned some nature walks and visits locally but the weather was very overcast.

I would book early as the shark dives seem very popular and it would be a shame to miss.

The Bea Adventure Divers website: www.fiji-sharks.com has a ton of information on times to go and when you see what.

Enjoy. John