DIVE DESTINATIONS

Fiji Scuba Diving Regions > Pacific Harbour

Fiji Scuba Diving Regions 5. Pacific Harbour

The Coral Coast is the name given to the southern coastline of Viti Levu, which became a popular tourist retreat before the Mamanuca Islands were made accessible.

A pretty sweep of beach, it offers all sorts of accommodation from international-style hotels to simple Fijian style bures.

About 190 kilometres on the Queen's Highway between Nadi and Suva, the Coral Coast offers tours to other islands and to sights on the mainland, as well as coral viewing, hiking and shopping.

Along the coast are roadside stalls and village shops selling handicraft. One of the villages further inland, Nakabuta, is known as the pottery village because of the variety and finesse of the work.

One place well worth visiting is the unspoiled beach at Natadola. Tours to the beach are available on the sugar train which runs from Kalevu Cultural Centre at Sigatoka. The Centre is a duty free shopping town on the beautiful Sigatoka River.

An interesting side trip can be made to the Sigatoka Sand Dunes, a site of tremendous archaeological interest where human bones and pottery dating back to 1,500 BC have been discovered. The site was once a burial complex where 55 skeletons were buried under elaborate coral formations.

Accommodation on the Coral Coast is for every taste and need and ranges from the large multi-storeyed international hotels to delightful bure cottages, some with full amenities and others quite simple. Activities include swimming, coral viewing either snorkelling or by glass-bottomed boat, sailing, and windsurfing.

Some 50 kilometres west of Suva is Pacific Harbour. This joins the eastern most fringe of the Coral Coast. Here visitors can visit the Na Fijian Cultural Centre and Dance Theatre with its demonstrations of handicraft-making techniques. Not too far from here you can visit the legendary Beqa island, home of the Fijian fire walkers who often perform their fire-walking ceremonies at several major Fijian hotels and resorts.

Pacific Harbour, Yanuca, Kadavu, Beqa & Vatulele Islands

World acclaimed diving served by main land accommodation, including the various hotels at Suva only 49 kilometres (27 miles) away and two resorts on the island: one at Vatulele and another at Beqa island. Both of these are small, intimate and exclusive offering a great deal more besides superb diving. Pacific harbour features a world-rated 18 hole championship golf course and a cultural and shopping centre around a series of waterways and lakes. Privately owned villas border the golf course and waterways which lead to the sea and the nearby islands of Yanuca and Beqa. Both these islands are also home to the only Fijian clan which performs ritual fire walking.

Diving

For the connoisseur, the areas has earned a justifiable reputation as one of the worlds top dive destinations especially around the island of Yanuca and Beqa barrier reef and various passages through the reef. Much of the profuse coral growth and fish life is due to the islands’ lying down wind and down current of the tonga Trench - a geologically active phenomena where volcanoes erupt frequently and send tons of nutrients to those parts of Fiji directly in the path of the west-setting current. The 3-miles wide channel is a natural conduit for the rich nutrients funnelled through by the tides feeding an intricate food chain to create a wonderland for divers. Dive boats depart daily from Pacific Harbour and from the resorts at Beqa and Vatulele Islands. The area has walls, tunnels, coral heads and undercuts ablaze with soft corals and large fish including sharks. Visibility is usually better than 20 meters.