What To Expect On A Viti Levu Liveaboard

Viti Levu liveaboards are a popular scuba diving destination in the Fijian Islands. Being the largest island of the Fijian archipelago, Viti Levu is home to the capital Suva. Located on the southeastern part of the island, Suva is the departure point for most Fijian dive liveaboard cruises as it provides an ideal gateway to some of the best dive sites of this area. Viti Levu measures 146 kilometers long and 106 kilometers wide and has an area of 10,389 square kilometers. The island is divided by mountains, with the hightes point at 1324 meters, in a north and south part.

Liveaboard Diving from Viti Levu

At Liveaboard.com there are a variety of liveaboard cruises departing from Suva every week. One will cruise or sail north of Viti Levu and visit Bligh Waters and the Vatu-I-Ra Passage and Namena Marine Reserve. Diving at E-6, a seamount rising from 1.000 metres in the centre of the narrowest part of Bligh Water, means diving in between pelagics and soft corals and seafans, schooling barracudas, trevallys, surgeonfish, eagle rays and occasional hammerheads. Smaller fish include anthias, fusiliers and Leaf Scorpionfish. At night giant cuttlefish, the amazing flashlightfish, arrowhead crabs and cowries can be found.

The dive itinerary cruises forward to the more south located Lomaiviti Island Group for dives at Gau, Wakaya Island and Makongi island. During your drift dives, coral gardens and pinnacles with a sight of manta rays and hammerheads but also ribbon eels, leaf fish and numerous other smaller creatures. At Nigali Passage you can see schools of grey reef sharks.

Your dive safari can also include Kadavu Island south of Viti Levu in the itinerary, a beginner friendly dive area due to little to moderate current..The reef here has a variety of beautiful hard corals in many colours and steep soft coral drop-offs. The dive sites have several passages, submerged pinnacles and manta ray cleaning stations and also a variety of fish life.

10-night dive trips will also include dive area's at the north east: Taveuni Island and the Somosomo Strait, also called Rainbow Reef due to the large amount of colourful soft corals which cover the reefs. You can also expect to see many different pelagic fish, sharks, mantas and barracuda. Exhilarating drift dives along the reefs here are the norm.

Fiji liveaboard diving is all about an abundance of soft corals in rainbow colours, large swarms of fish, the most beautiful macro wonders, manta rays, marble rays, eagle rays, dolphins and ofcourse many sharks in schools and different sizes: white tips, grey reef sharks, silky sharks, nurse sharks, silvertips, thresher sharks, hammerhead sharks and whalesharks. Though these areas might be accessible by day boat, journeys are long and liveaboards offers you the opportunity to be the first on the dive sites, have longer bottom times and avoid day boat crowds.

Conditions and underwater sights vary and while there are places with calm waters, at most dive sites however you'll experience currents running, from a slight current to very strong. The current however makes the waters nutritient rich, which is what makes diving in Fiji so memorable.

Getting to Viti Levu

Nadi International Airport is the main airport of Fiji. Daily, 4 or more domestic flights leave from Nadi to Suva. Nausori Airport is Fiji's second International Airport and is situated on the eastern side of Viti Levu, just 30 minutes from Suva.