Snorkelling in Nananu-I-Ra, Taveuni and Vanua Balavu

Hey, it's me again.

I'm trying to figure whether to go to Fiji or not - or save all that money for the Cook Islands.. (You can give input on this one too!)

The three places I'm most interested in Fiji are;

1. Vanua Balavu

2. Taveuni

3. Nananu-I-Ra

I am interested how the snorkelling is in all of these places... Are they safe, dangerous, comparable to GBR or not - are these places worse or better, where to snorkel - where not to go, what's the best place - what is the worst place, how far you can see or is it all cloudy water etc all are questions that I have in my mind..

As I've only ever snorkelled in the GBR, I am little anxious of going to "open water" // fringing reefs - I'd figure there would be a significant amount of large predator fish lurking around which would seriously give me the creeps! Also, I am afraid of not being able to take care of the currents good enough, and that I'd find myself far away from the sea, unable to swim back to land..

Please post any information you might have.

-J

I can sympathize with your anxieties up to a point, but you're also filling in the gaps in experience with an overly vivid imagination. As is usual with many of your other postings, you're 'figuring' and hypothesizing too much. You seem to need certainty - guarantees - to deal with all the questions in your mind before you start off on a venture. Your concerns will be resolved once you are actually somewhere, thereby removing the "unknown" element. Generally, visibility is good and currents and big tourist-eating predators are not an issue around Taveuni and Nananu-i-Ra, there are more than enough peaceful places to fill up a holiday. People will warn you about specific concerns/dangers if any exist locally (e.g., I have only 'heard' that sharks are occasionally an issue up around Matei on Taveuni). For the details,here's how it works.

1. Pay attention to what you're doing. If you float on the surface of the sea and look down, you can tell immediately whether there is any current drift and how strong it is. There's nothing mysterious about currents: they're not going to sneak up on you out of nowhere and drag you off into the pelagic depths. Other more personal matters like how strong a swimmer you are, can be alleviated somewhat if you wear flippers. But in the final analysis, it's you out there in the water. Deal with the circumstances in whatever way makes you feel comfortable and safe. If there is a current and it's making you nervous, then get out of the water. That's it. It's not an abstract or general issue with a correct answer, it's a here-and-now thing you can deal with when the time and place comes.

2. Ask a local about local conditions -- Taveuni, for example is a big place, and sea conditions at one location will not be the same as conditions elsewhere. It's easy. Point to where you want to go snorkel and ask how the currents are. They'll tell you. That's what I did and the answers were "no problem" so I went snorkelling. If they had a warning about something or other, then I would have paid attention and acted accordingly. Anyway, there are general sea currents and the ebb and flow of tides, small details affected by local times and conditions. It's not hard to pick up the basics of safe sea activity.

3. If you have to go somewhere by boat (perhaps what you mean by fringing reefs?), rather than snorkel from the shore, then the person taking you out will address all your concerns. In fact, if it isn't safe for snorkeling (eg too strong currents) then they won't take you out anyway. Problem (and anxieties) resolved.

4. Regarding big predator fish -- another example of imagining a big danger and only creating anxiety for yourself. But, again, I can sympathize up to a point. First time I stepped into the water I asked a local about sharks. It was a new environment for me -I didn't know what to expect or how to deal with things I knew nothing about. The reply was a shrug and a comment that 'sometimes' a small one comes close to shore. I was advised to just splash - it scares them off - or do nothing. If you're taken further out by boat, then you won't be alone anyway. The boat will be there. There'll be several others in the water, all looking around. Maybe one or two of them will look more like a good meal than you do. Look, you're liable to get the creeps whatever you do, even if there is no objective danger. As always, you just have to do it and get used to it -- eliminate your concerns with a good dose of real-world experience.

Yeah I know for some more experienced travellers my questions may seem as "waste of time".

However I appreciate your reply (esp. the calm-down-about-sharks part), and you are right - I should travel, not ask too many questions.

The thing here is, that we are thinking maybe skipping Fiji entirely, focus on New Caledonia (GT & Ouvea) and the Cook Islands (Aitu & Raro), which would total 4 islands.

However, Cook Islands supposedly has far worse snorkelling than Fiji... Aitutaki, no coral, and on Rarotonga, an averageish lagoon on the east side - this is what I've read.

Just trying to find a good snorkelling place, basically. I wonder where I can find that..

-J

I don't think it's an issue of experienced travelers. You just have to understand where at least some of the questions are coming from -- not always a search for info but more to do with pre-arrival uncertainties and stress. I have had the questions as well - they're probably common questions and concerns - but I just deal with them when the time comes.

I recently had a short exchange with Laszlo about "quality of snorkeling". Objectively, the further west you go, the better it gets - that's probably the reality. But there is also a more subjective element, as well as a practical side. Practically, if I'm in Fiji I am NOT going to stay out of the water just because the snorkeling is better somewhere else on the planet. If I'm in Fiji I'll jump in anyway and make the best of what I can find. I spent hours in the water at the south tip of Taveuni - I don't care how it is rated on an objective scale, it still seemed pretty amazing stuff to me at the time.

Another regular poster here once reported that the snorkeling at some spots in the Yasawas was better than south Taveuni. Could be true, and something I'll keep in mind for the next time (it was windy when I was in the Yasawas, making for poor visibility, so some factors cancel out). Maybe that poster will drop by and give the details again, I can't remember who it was.

Personally, I solve the problem by not making too much of a fuss about "the best". Is "the best" supposed to relegate everything else to the garbage heap? I think such an attitude is absurd, and mostly puts limits and blinders on a person's experience. I try to enjoy myself on a day to day basis, make something positive from what comes my way.

J,

The snorkeling at Aitutaki is outstanding. From the Matriki beach huts, swim straight out toward the reef about 100 meters (you can stand up at that distance so it's not scary). You will see beautiful coral, giant clams, morey eels and I saw one eagle ray. You can also take a boat out toward One Foot Island or Maina island where the snorkeling is among the best on the planet.

I enjoyed the snorkeling in the Yasawas in Fiji, especially off the beach of Octopus resort. There is a bit of coral bleaching there, but that didn't ruin it for me at all.

I'm sure you will be very happy no matter where you choose to go.

What happened? You were going to travel on cargo boats to remote atolls.

Now you are giving up your dream to see an atoll by skipping Aitutaki. Don't do it.
The lagoon of Aitutaki is spectacular in its beauty.

As for "on Rarotonga, an averageish lagoon on the east side" boy, you are going to miss a lot. Muri Beach is stunning.

Yesterday we bought tickets to get to Fiji, but no tickets out yet... But we should buy these too, before its too late and fares go up.

Trying to juggle whether try to go for a fast 1-2 week visit to Tuvalu or not, or just spend all that money in the other destinations. What would you do?

We figure we have 12 weeks of time in the SP if we want to surprise our mothers with a Xmas comeback.

3 of it already allocated for NC, I wonder what would be good time to spend in Fiji, when we still would like to visit the Cooks. Tuvalu would intrest a lot but I may have to forget about it and focus on Fiji and Cooks.

Possible working combinations could be;

4 weeks Fiji (2 weeks Yasawas, 1 week Vanua Balavu, 1 week Taveuni or Kadavu whatever would be better for snorkelling)

1 week Funafuti

4 weeks Cooks (1 week on Rarotonga total, 3 on Aitutaki)

But the week in Funafuti really puts me to wonder. Should I spend that somewhere else or not.. Any ideas?

-J

the Yasawas are overrated. to be honest, I have no idea what you could possibly do there for 2 full weeks. My brother and I were there for 4 days, and that was enough time. If you want a greater variety of activities, head to the Coral Coast on Viti Levu. True that the beaches are not spectacular, but there are a lot of inland activities, such as white water rafting, river kayaking, climbing up sand dunes, etc. that you can't do elsewhere in Fiji. And there is good snorkeling in Beqa Lagoon, which is right across from Pacific Harbor.

So I guess if I were to amend your Fiji itinerary, I would spend one week in the Yasawas and one week on the Coral Coast instead of two weeks in the Yasawas. Or just cut out the Yasawas altogether and spend one week each in Vanua Balavu, Taveuni, Kadavu, and the Coral Coast. (Actually I've never been to Vanua Balavu or Kadavu so I guess I can't really comment on the amount of time you should spend there. But Taveuni was spectacular!)

Vanua Balavu is very remote. When I went there there were 2 flights a week - now I'm not sure there are any. We had to book well in advance as seats were very limited (small plane - & some seats taken out so they could carry extra fuel as they couldn't refuel on the island). We were there for 10 days - and the supply boat was due at the beginning of that time - it finally arrived the day before we left. We were told that was not unusual, so don't count on any boat running to schedule.

Mixed messages

the problem, as usual, occurs when that people give opinions without giving reasons.

For example, the coral coast is not the place to go if you're interested in snorkeling. There are several biggish resorts there, which no doubt appeals to some people for certain reasons.

Same thing with Yasawas. Whether the islands are good or not depends entirely on what a person is interested in. I had no problems whatsoever filling up 1 week on Waya island. Some decent hiking, 'average' snorkeling (but weather wasn't cooperating), NO party scene a big plus for me, interacting with villagers, and many hours just relaxing, beachcombing, playing guitar. And that was just one island. If I went to a different island or even a different resort on the same island, I might have found other ways to entertain myself.

So a lot depends on you, what you want to do.

Kadavu is of course famous for diving the astrolabe reef. It is a relatively less easy island to get to, of the 1 ferry, 3 flights a week sort of place. So not many tourists go there. It was one of the places on my list to visit, but I ran out of time, so can't give any comments on snorkeling.

The Coral Coast is a "bad beaches, bad snorkeling, big resorts" kind of show. It was my least favorite part of Fiji. We spent a week at Octopus, and it had decent Kiddie-Pool-level snorkeling, in a very pleasant place to stay. We spent 10 days milling around on Taveuni, and there was some much more serious snorkeling to be done in the south, either from the shore, or going out with dive boats when appropriate.

Thanks for the help oldpro and Karlo!

So far all the data I've got has indicated that Fiji's best snorkelling is at Kadavu and/or Taveuni.

I'd really like to know how Vanua Balavu compares to either of these...

-J

In defense of the Coral Coast: I just meant it was good for activities other than snorkeling and beaches. I figure you'll be doing a ton of that stuff on your trip, so maybe you would want to mix it up a bit. If you want to do a variety of inland activities, Viti Levu is the place to be. White water rafting, river kayaking, caves, archaeological sites, hiking, hot springs, villages, cities (where most Fijians live! it's a shame more people don't see urban Fijian life), etc. Not all of these places and activities are on the Coral Coast, of course, but the Coral Coast is a convenient place to base yourself to explore the southern half of Viti Levu. Because I spent almost my entire trip in the water, it was fun to have a few (somewhat) drier days doing totally different things. And I definitely did not stay in a big resort (but I actually don't think there is anything wrong with people choosing to stay in one).

That being said, if you are only interested in snorkeling and spectacular beaches and have no interest in inland activities, then skip Viti Levu. The beaches are not that nice, and the only good snorkeling near the Coral Coast is in Beqa Lagoon. But then again, I mostly did scuba diving rather than snorkeling, so I'm probably a bad judge of that.

We like hiking/trekking (mainly done serious stuff in Tasmanian mountain ranges, and in Lapland on the tunturi) but in hot weather are less keen to do it..

Of course, it's nice for a cooler day or for a change, but I do think we'd be more interested in water activities.

Thanks videshi for clearing that up!

-J

Vanua Balavu - experienced exceptional visibility there - even after a week of rain. Around the southern end of the island there were lots of fairly barren patches. If you could get someone to take you up to the Bay of Islands in the northern end of the island (cost us about FJ$80 in a small boat) it was great, lots of fish variety, good colour in coral, amazing deep aquamarine water colour.
I did not snorkel when we were at Taveuni, and the one place we snorkelled in Kadavu was disappointing, dead coral, few fish, and freezing water (one of our party was near hypothermic) - but there must be lots of good places also.
But as I said before - you could experience difficulty getting to Vanua Balavu - and once there it might be a while before you could get away again.

Yeah well the shipping company is saying we go there 2 times a week.

Moana's is telling me "the ship comes once a month"..

Maybe she's talking about a cargo ship and I'm talking about some passenger ship, but I think it'd be more likely we're talking about the same thing...

TaiMarilyn what would be a good amount of time for Vanua Balavu?

-J

Believe Moana's. We stayed there for 10 days with Caroline & her family - the ship was due the day we arrived - if got there the day before we left. By that time the local store was completely out of most things. Everyone told us that was not unusual. The people who were staying at Moanas with us were setting up some computers for the local school, they had shipped equipment from Australia 2 months before - when the ship finally came most of their stuff was missing.
10 days could have been great - but it rained solidly for 8 of those days. We still went walking and snorkelling but it did get a little tedious. Our last 2 days were brilliant - that's when we went on the boat trip to the Bay of Islands.
If you want to see pictures send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you the link.

Meant to say - one only ship for both cargo & passengers. Very basic passenger accommodation - but it sounds like you wouldn't mind that?

The following users do not wish to receive private messages: TaiMarilyn

.... So no PM for you! :-P

Yeah we are fine with a cargo ship, we are not fussy travellers...

I think I have to reconsider going there if I have to be there for a month or not at all! Too bad!

-J

Can't understand that as I've just checked my profile & private messages not stopped - in fact got one not so long ago.
Sounds like you won't be going anyway so won't want the photos.

I have tried to send you a PM a long time ago and it said the same thing then, and I didn't bother with it. Same happened now..

Look at this picture - screenshot from my screen - http://i25.tinypic.com/2euhh6q.png

You obviously don't want PM's, at least according to LP Forums :-D

-J

Should be ok now.