All activities / Scuba Diving / Beqa Lagoon
Scuba Diving in Beqa Lagoon
A large barrier-reef lagoon off the south coast of Viti Levu, reached from Pacific Harbour, home to the Shark Reef Marine Reserve where divers meet big sharks in the open, plus soft coral bommies and wrecks.
Why here
Beqa Lagoon is where you dive with big sharks in the open, no cage between you and the animals. Off Pacific Harbour, the Shark Reef Marine Reserve was set up in 2004 as Fiji's first marine protected area, funded by a levy on every dive and patrolled by local wardens, and in 2014 it became the country's first national marine park. On a single feed dive you can share the water with up to eight species, from tawny nurse and grey reef sharks up to hefty bull sharks and, in the cooler months, the occasional tiger. The lagoon is ringed by roughly three hundred kilometres of barrier reef, so beyond the shark arena there are soft coral bommies and wrecks, and the whole thing sits close enough to the main island to dive without a liveaboard.
Best months
The shark feed dives run on set mornings through the week and are open to certified divers, with the deeper arena around twenty metres. Sharks are present all year, but bull shark numbers tend to build in the cooler dry months from roughly May to October, which is also the calmer, clearer season. Booking ahead matters, as operators cap the number of divers on each feed.
Getting there & around
Pacific Harbour sits on the south coast of Viti Levu, about an hour and a half by road from Nadi airport, so the shark dive can be done from a mainland base without island transfers. Operators run from the Pacific Harbour marina out to the reserve in well under an hour, or you can stay on Beqa island itself. Book directly with the dive operators, as the feed dives sell out.
Skill levels: intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Beqa Adventure Divers
OutfitterBeqa Adventure Divers is a PADI operation in Pacific Harbour founded by Mike Neumann, known in Fiji as Da Shark. It began the Fiji Shark Project in 2003 and helped establish the Shark Reef Marine Reserve in April 2004, the country's first marine protected area and later, in 2014, Fiji's first National Marine Park. Its cageless dive at the Arena draws up to eight shark species, among them bull sharks and the occasional tiger, and part of every fee funds reef wardens and research.
Beqa Lagoon Resort
OutfitterBeqa Lagoon Resort sits on Beqa island inside a barrier reef that rings roughly three hundred kilometres of coral, and runs its own PADI five star dive centre. Its Cathedral shark dive drops to about twenty metres to watch bull sharks and other species feed, backed by the shallower Apex Arena site, and the surrounding lagoon holds dozens of soft coral and wreck dives. Scuba Diving magazine has named it among the top dive resorts in the world.