BEQA REEFS & WRECKS

Fiji ’s Beqa Lagoon has become famous around the world for just one dive site – Shark Reef – the best shark dive in the world. However, Beqa Lagoon has much more than sharks, with rich coral reefs, artificial reefs and an amazing collection of marine life. We recently spent a week diving Beqa Lagoon with Beqa Adventure Divers (BAD) that are based in the very comfortable Lagoon Resort at Pacific Harbour . While photographing the incredible sharks and fish of Shark Reef was our main goal, we also had plenty of opportunities to explore the rich reefs and wrecks in Beqa Lagoon.
 BAD operate two dive boats, ‘Hunter’ and Predator’ that are fast and comfortable for dive trips to Beqa Lagoon. The staff from BAD are well organised and very professional, once we gave them our dive gear we virtually didn’t touch it again for the rest of the week, it was set-up for us on the boat each day and washed and put away after the dives – great service.
 Our first reef dives were at Combe Reef on the wonderful hard coral gardens at this site. Diving in October the water temperature was a lovely 26C degrees, while the visibility was superb, 30m plus. We descended to 15m, and slowly followed the guides from BAD as we encountered abundant reef fish, nudibranchs and other invertebrates. There was plenty to photograph, with two large moray eels holding our attention for a while. At the end of the dive we moved into shallow water to investigate a series of ledges and caves. These were lined with colourful sponges and soft corals, and home to squirrelfish and lionfish. This was not rushed diving, we were down for over an hour until our air supply got down to 50 bar.
 Between dives we enjoyed a feast of biscuits, washed down with tea, and chatted to the staff from BAD as they changed over our tanks. For the second dive at Combe Reef we headed along a wall, seeing many large gorgonians and soft corals. We encountered a gully full of sergeant majors and caves overflowing with soft corals. Highlights of the dive were several fire dartfish and a patch of garden eels that slowly disappeared into the sand when we got too close.
 Pearl Rock was our next reef dive and it was just magic. This site has several coral heads rising from 25m and swarms with fish life. Hunting fish with our cameras we had no shortage of subjects – parrotfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, hawkfish, wrasse, hogfish, grubfish, rock cods, damsels, squirrelfish and the list could go on and on. The corals here were wonderful, sea whips, gorgonians and especially the array of soft corals. It is easy to see why Beqa Lagoon has been called ‘the soft coral capital of the world’. As we slowly navigated the reef we found nudibranchs, sea stars, featherstars, lionfish, anemonefish and masses of fairy basslets. But the standout feature was two blue ribbon eels. Common in Bega Lagoon, these slender eels are fascinating to watch and tiny, you would probably swim straight passed them if not for the keen eyes of the BAD guides. Our second dive at Pearl Rock was just as good with juvenile white tip reef sharks and a cute leopard blenny performing for our cameras.
 In the 1990s four 33m long Taiwanese long line fishing vessels were scuttled in Beqa Lagoon as artificial reefs. After years of raping and pillaging fish populations, these wrecks are now home to a wide variety of fish species. The Tasu II was the first of these ships that we explored. The ship sitting in 26m of water at a wonderful dive site called Seven Sisters.
 The ship rests on a rubble bottom, which is where we headed first – finding a colony of garden eels, shrimp gobies, sea stars and nudies. But the best find was a tiny octopus strolling over the bottom. With paisley patterns on its skin, this unusual octopus was like nothing we had ever seen before and neither has Neville Coleman, who believes it is a new species.
 We then moved onto the ship, checking out the prop, cabins and holds. This is one colourful ship with a profusion of sea whips, gorgonians and soft corals adorning every fitting. Exploring the wreck we encountered a dragonet, nudies, a variety of reef fish and an elusive longnose hawkfish. After 20 minutes on the wreck we then moved on to explore the coral gardens at Seven Sisters. This reef is exceptionally colourful with an abundance of gorgonians and soft corals, and the usual population of reef fish.
 Our next dive was nearby at Side Streets, a great collection of bommies in 20m. This site has many huge gorgonians and a closer inspection revealed allied cowries and gobies. Exploring the reef we found garden eels, scorpionfish, hawkfish, nudies, sea stars and a shy white tip reef shark.
 Another colourful ship sunk in Beqa Lagoon is the Achi Maru, which sits in 30m. While swimming around this ship we encountered trevally, fusiliers, garden eels and a range of reef fish. But the wreck was quickly forgotten when we explored the reef at this site. Called Carpet Cove this is the best critter site in Beqa Lagoon. In no time at all we had seen leaf scorpionfish, crinoid clingfish, shrimps, gobies, nudies, blennies and several blue ribbon eels. A second dive at this site was just as good with batfish, Spanish mackerel and a small green turtle.
 Our final day of reef diving saw us exploring another great collection of bommies at a site known as ET. The main pinnacle rises from 20m to 2m and is decorated with exquisite corals – gorgonians, sea whips, sponges, ascidians and especially soft corals. Our BAD guides led us to a long cave that cuts right through the bommie and is packed full of wonderful corals. They then lead us to another cave over-flowing with colourful corals. The fish life at this site was incredible; trevally, fusiliers, rainbow runners, fairy basslets, clown triggerfish, moray eels, lionfish, squirrelfish and hawkfish to name just a few. We found an octopus and several long-nose hawkfish, but the highlight was a flashing file shell hidden amongst the soft corals. Our final dive was on another part of ET called ET2. More giant bommies, caves and swim thrus to explore. The fish life was again wonderful, with a feature being several blue ribbon eels, including a black and yellow juvenile.
 After ten dives on the reefs and wrecks of Beqa Lagoon we had barely scratched the surface of the potential dive sites in the area, but what we did see was just brilliant. With its fabulous reefs, wrecks, marine life and sharks, Beqa Lagoon is not only the best all round dive destination in Fiji, but one of the best in the world.

  Article appeared in Dive Log No.256 November 2009

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