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World | Fiji:
Fiji overview
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Scuba Diving in Fiji
Water temperature: |
25°C (77°F) in winter to 29°C (84°F) in summer |
Suit: |
3mm in summer, 5mm wetsuit in winter |
Visibility: |
25 - 50 metres (80 - 165 feet), visibility is best during the winter months (May to October) |
Type of diving: |
Mostly reef dives |
Marine life: |
Dolphins, sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, turtles, barracuda, trevally, cuttlefish, surgeonfish, fusiliers, antheas, flashlight fish |
When to go: |
Any time of year |
How to get there: |
From the UK - Air New Zealand fly to Fiji form London Heathrow on Thursday and Saturday afternoons via Los Angeles.
Worldwide - from Los Angeles flights take 10 hours, from Honolulu they take 6.5 hours, from Melbourne 4.5 hours, from Sydney 3 hours 50 mins, from Brisbane 3.5 hours, from Auckland 3 hours, from Tokyo 9 hours and from Seoul 11 hours.
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Fiji is a remote group of over three hundred islands in the South Pacific that are characterised by white sands and clear blue seas with lush vegetation on land. Fiji has two seasons: a wet season from November to April and a dry season from May to October. On the larger islands, the leeward (west) edges are drier than the windward coasts. Air temperatures range between 18 and 31°C, averaging 25°C. July and August are the coolest months. A third of Fijian islands are uninhabitable. The smaller islands are generally formed from coral and the larger islands are volcanic. The capital of Fiji is Suva, the largest city and main port on the archipelago.
Settlers first arrived on Fiji from the Solomon Islands around 1500BC. Europeans generally did not visit Fiji until the 19th Century when they discovered sandalwood on the islands. Fiji was pronounced a British crown colony in 1874. In an attempt to make the economy self-sufficient sugar plantations were developed which required cheap labour that was bought in from India between 1879 and 1915. After this point the population increased and the population now stands at about 800,000 with 75 percent of this number living on Vitu Levu. Fiji became independent in 1970 after a series of violent protests and by 1987 it had been declared a republic.
Much of Fiji remains unexplored as far as diving is concerned. The coral is colourful with brain corals and fan corals, and the fish life is diverse as long as pollution and over fishing do not affect the area. Many dive operators have multilingual dive guides speaking Korean, Japanese or European languages. Liveaboard diving is recommended if you want to access more remote dive sites. Prices on liveaboards include diving, meals, accommodation and transfers. The currency used is the Fijian Dollar, which is equal to US$0.51.
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