Somosomo Strait
Running between Taveuni Island and Vanua Levu, you will find The Somosomo Strait, Fiji’s best-known diving destination.
© iStock/joebelanger
Explore Taveuni
Scuba diving in Taveuni, the third largest island of Fiji, is world-renowned for shimmering colors and vibrant fish-life. Taveuni lies just southeast of Fiji’s second-largest island, Vanua Levu, separated from it by a narrow channel called the Somosomo Strait. The daily tides pump huge volumes of seawater through this channel, nourishing an abundance of tropical marine life, but the true highlight of Somosomo and Taveuni are its soft corals. Blankets of swaying, flower-like soft corals in tones of red, pink, yellow, white, purple, orange and brown create a uniquely beautiful landscape for Taveuni diving. These coral gardens are adorned with glittering schools of basselets and anthias, and inhabited by the full range of marine life, from nudibranchs and garden eels to reef sharks and manta rays.
Taveuni Island is a great location for resort-based diving, with longstanding, highly-reputed dive resorts situated along the coastline of the Somosomo Strait. Taveuni diving can also be accessed from a couple of Vanua Levu dive resorts which lie just across the strait. Even Savusavu dive centers, based farther west along Vanua Levu’s southern shore, may make special trips to Somosomo Strait, though it takes much longer to reach the dive sites.
Top Regions to Explore
Top Taveuni Dive Sites
1. Rainbow Reef
Rainbow Reef is a vibrant marine paradise in the Somosomo Strait. Divers encounter a plethora of orange basselets, whitetip reef sharks, barracudas, and leopard sharks. The adventure level is easy to moderate, suitable for scuba diving. The reef is renowned for its stunning soft corals and diverse tropical fish.
2. White Wall
White Wall offers a breathtaking dive experience with its vertical wall encrusted in white soft corals. The adventure level is advanced, focusing on scuba diving. This site also features a tubular cavern and the unique phenomenon of corals changing color from white to lavender as depth increases.
3. Zoo
Zoo is a top choice for spotting manta rays gliding gracefully across the coral-topped wall. It is an advanced dive suitable for scuba divers. Visitors might also see schools of reef sharks and potato cod. The site's dynamic marine life makes it a must-visit for thrill-seekers.
4. Fish Factory
At Fish Factory, scuba divers can swim among manta rays, bumphead parrotfish, and schools of mackerel. This site is ideal for both scuba diving and freediving, offering an easy to moderate adventure level. The abundance of marine life makes it a fascinating dive.
5. Great White Wall
Great White Wall is an advanced dive site for scuba enthusiasts. Here, divers discover a dramatic drop-off adorned with white and lavender corals. This area is ecologically important, providing a critical habitat for various marine species in the region.
The best Months to Dive in Taveuni
The high season for Taveuni diving is April through October. However, scuba diving in Taveuni can be enjoyed year-round. From July through September, the trade winds may make surface conditions choppy, and the water temperature can fall to 22°C. The rainy season runs from December to April, marked by shorts bursts of heavy showers or thunderstorms. The most rain falls from December through February. Summer water temperatures can rise to 30°C. Visibility ranges from 15 to 40 meters, and is usually best during winter (June through August).
Manta rays are usually seen between November and May, and turtles are often sighted between October and April.
Top Wildlife Sightings in Taveuni
Corals are usually considered the background for other marine life, but in Taveuni, soft corals take centerstage. In fact, they are animals themselves, not plants- and not rocks, for which their hard coral cousins are often mistaken. These benthic (sea-floor) invertebrates sway gently in the current, catching plankton with the tentacles of their polyps. Against the backdrop of Fiji’s impossibly blue waters, their vivid colors pop with stunning vibrancy. The unique beauty of Taveuni’s soft corals is internationally celebrated; dive sites like Rainbow Reef and White Wall have been featured in many dive magazines and online publications.
Taveuni’s unforgettable landscape is inhabited by whitetip reef sharks, leopard sharks, nurse sharks, turtles, rays, barracuda, Napoleon wrasse, manta rays at special sites, potato cod and dolphins. Divers will find plentiful reef fish on Taveuni’s healthy reefs, like schools of red snapper, schools of sweetlips, hunting jacks, and the full range of benthic life, from moray, garden, and ribbon eels to tiny nudibranchs in kaleidoscopic colors.
Wildlife Sightings are Based on User Generated Content
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species approx.: 200
Alamy-WaterFrame
Moray Eel
14 Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species approx.: 600
iStock/ultramarinfoto
Wrasse
11 Sightings
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Shutterstock-Shane Myers Photography
Green Turtle
8 Sightings
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iStock-crisod
Reef Manta Ray
5 Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species approx.: 27
iStock-Global_Pics
Barracuda
5 Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species approx.: 300
Alamy/Reinhard Dirscherl
Octopus
3 Sightings
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iStock-June Jacobsen
Whitetip Reef Shark
42 Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species approx.: 28
Udo Kefrig
Clownfish
39 Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species approx.: 90
Shutterstock-Rich Carey
Angelfish
29 Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species approx.: 130
Shutterstock_Krzysztof Odziomek
Butterfly Fish
26 Sightings
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