Barefoot Kuata, Yasawa and Mamanuca Islands

While Fiji’s signature soft corals don’t shine so bright here, the diverse mix of marine environments, beautiful topside scenery, and close encounters with some very special marine life have helped to make these islands one of Fiji’s marquee diving destinations.

Diving the Yasawa Islands

Almost all the islands in the Yasawas are surrounded by beautiful fringing reefs and magnificent maze-like formations made up of gullies, swim-throughs and caves patrolled by marine life. Lekima’s Ledge, off the island of Vawa, is a perfect example of this rugged topography, where you’ll find a series of ridges and ledges running down to depths of 20-metres, along with large schools of convict tangs and other surgeonfish.

Further south, a steep wall between the islands of Nacula and Tavewa, known as The Zoo, beckons in the bigger stuff, with barracuda, Spanish mackerel and reef sharks cruising the current-swept overhangs. Then, if you’re after a break from pelagics, Tevewa also offers the broken-up wreck of the 19th century Ethel steamship, and the Golden Nugget dive site which plays host to leaffish and hairy ghost pipefish.

Towards the south of this long island chain, Naviti is home to a unique dive known as Babylon Caves, where divers can swim between two huge walls before exploring a complex cave network requiring some skilled navigation. Naviti also shares its southern channel with Drawaqa, also known as Barefoot Manta Island, where exceptional manta ray encounters at cleaning stations can be had in the right season.

Shark diving in the Yasawas

Shark diving has quickly become one of the main underwater attractions in the Yasawa Islands, thanks to the establishment of the Awakening Shark Dive on Kuata Island. This responsibly-managed bull shark dive is safe, easy, and sustainable, creating up-close encounters for divers of all experience levels. And it’s not just bull sharks that can be seen here, as tawny nurse sharks, lemon sharks, tiger sharks and even great hammerheads can all make appearances.

Diving in the Mamanuca Islands

The Mamanuca Islands offer two very distinct marine environments, providing divers with a choice of underwater experiences depending on their experience level. Sheltered by a large barrier reef, the Mamanuca lagoon offers shallow dive sites with calm conditions and plenty of coral-clad bommies to explore. Both Plantation Pinnacle and Three Bommies dive sites feature pinnacles rising from deep water, their slopes decorated with hard and soft corals, while pretty anemone gardens illuminate the peaks like a beacon of fire.

The Salamander Wreck is another noteworthy site. This 40-metre ex-cruise ship now lies at a depth of almost 30-metres and is covered in vibrant soft corals and anemones. But, easily the best site within the sheltered lagoon is one known as Supermarket. Once used for shark feeding, this site is still home to a few tell-tale signs of its past - including rocks piled up as barriers... and plenty of resident sharks, including grey, blacktip and whitetip reef sharks.

Much of the diving also takes place further out, around the Malolo Barrier Reef, where divers can drift along the impressive Pacific-facing wall and explore numerous passages between the open ocean and the tranquil lagoon. Exceptional visibility here combines with dolphins, sharks, and other pelagics to create experiences that shouldn’t be missed. The spectacular Namotu Wall, for example, features a 1,000-metre drop into the depths of the Pacific ocean and is a hotspot for pelagics such as reef sharks, barracuda, and more.