Fiji boasts some of the most beautiful tropical waters around the globe and offers scuba divers the utmost in diving. The Fiji Islands are a republic located on the South Pacific Ocean. Fiji is comprised of three hundred and thirty-two islands and most are well suited for scuba diving at any time of the year.
The Fiji reefs fish and ecosystem is vast and complex in nature as it is feed by southern major ocean currents and upwelling from the deep sea originating in the deep waters of the Tonga Trench and the Koro basin.
Fiji is known as the “Soft coral capital of the World” because these nutrient-rich currents that flow through the southern ocean, sustain coral growth and feed a food chain from plankton to fish and reefs alike. The clear lagoons with current-exposed passages are the highlights throughout Fiji, and they offer scuba divers the rich, colorful soft coral covered dive sites Fiji is famous for.
Sharks and Fiji Diving
Throughout all the lagoons’ vast eco-system of the coral reefs, sharks are one of the main attraction to scuba divers. The most numerous sharks that are seen on most dives are white-tip reef sharks. Grey reef shark prefers narrow passages that are exposed to strong currents. The graceful scalloped hammerheads are usually found near walls and bottomless drop-offs. Other species that may be encountered are blacktip, nurse shark, bull shark, silver tips, and the tiger shark or even great hammerhead.
Marine Life of Bligh Water
The vast number of different marine life found in Lomaiviti and the Blight waters make this area one of the best scuba diving destinations in the Fiji Islands. The pristine coral reefs with colorful tropical fish, walls, caves, overhangs and the passages of the reef systems are the terrain for the advanced scuba diver.
There is endless diving opportunity to explore coral reefs full of marine life that in its diversity and beauty is matched only by very few destinations on the planet.
Beqa Lagoon
At Beqa lagoon, the term “soft coral capital of the world ” originates. In fact, Beqa is where Fiji scuba diving started and the first tourists divers were taken by Fiji’s diving pioneers. Especially the sites near Beqa passage, like Caesar’s Rocks with their huge colorful fan and tree corals blew divers away.
Today Beqa Lagoon is known worldwide among divers for the abundance of soft coral gardens and gorgonian forests, teeming with coral and reef fish and large marine life like groupers, coral cod, sweetlips, trevally, mackerel, barracuda, rays and sharks.
The biggest draw for divers to Beqa today is the is shark diving offered by some dive operators. Proclaimed the best shark dive in the world divers can see up to 7 species of sharks during the show including bull and tiger sharks.
Fiji diving
Fiji is blessed to be among the best places on Earth for scuba diving with so many different islands and lagoons to explore and with vast amounts of Fiji reef fish: what can I see while diving will never be a question. So pack your diving gear and visit this natural wonderland of life, one of the very few places left on Earth that have not been over-fished or altered and remains in pristine condition.
