Overview

Taveuni is sometimes called Fiji's "Garden Isle," and while it has spectacular landscapes, the island is best known for its diving - some of the finest in the South Pacific.

But this is not diving for the novice. Sites in the Somosomo Strait, a narrow channel between Taveuni and the larger island of Vanua Levu, are renowned for their amazing walls of soft corals - and for the strong currents that can unsettle beginning divers. For the experienced, the rewards of diving the famed 20-mile-long Rainbow Reef include tropical fish beyond count (one site that lives up to its name: The Fish Factory, home to rainbow-colored corals that attract schools of golden damselfish and blue-and-gold fusiliers), plus sharks, sea snakes, and manta rays.

Taveuni's has plenty of topside attractions, too, from traditional Fijian villages to tropical rain forests adorned with ferns and orchids, laced with hundreds of waterfalls, and populated by a curious collection of native birds (including the Peale's pigeon, whose call sounds like the barks of a dog). The hiking may be as rewarding as the diving. And there's even a nine-hole golf course, but you didn't really come here to work on your short irons, right?

 Plan Your Trip

BEACHES

Lavena, a charming village located on the southeastern coast, just a few miles beyond the turnoff to Bouma Waterfall, is also home to the island's best beach, which has fine snorkeling just offshore and a long coastal path that leads to stunning views.

DIVING

Swim down about 20 feet, enter a tunnel, and follow it down 90 feet through schools of goggle-eyed fish to another opening. Swim out, turn around, and gaze down 200 feet farther along the face of a wall carpeted with soft corals. At this depth they give off a pale, whitish-lavender glow - hence the name Great White Wall, one of the most famous dives in the South Pacific.

NATURE

Bouma Waterfall is actually three falls located just a short hike from Bouma village. The trail has some steep parts, and you have to ford a creek along the way, but a swim in the pool beneath the falls is an unforgettable payoff.

 Forums

 News & Events

 Related Articles