Liveaboard Diving in Makongi Island
What to expect on a Makongi Island Liveaboard
Liveaboards to Makongi Island usually visit this area as part of a multi-stop Fijian dive itinerary to explore the nearby reefs. In the past, at the turn of the century, Makongi Island was the last leper colony in Fiji. Today however it's the home of the Fijian turtle and also a clam farm houses on the island. A barrier reef protects the north side of the island with many great dive sites. Makongi Island is a home for a large diversity of marine life. There are several dive sites near the island where a Fiji liveaboard may take divers to dive.
Makongi Island Underwater
A liveaboard cruise at Makongi Island gives divers a chance to experience unspoiled diving among beautiful reefs with colourful hard and soft corals and an abundance of marine life. Different species of sharks like white tips, hammerhead sharks, grey reef sharks, nurse sharks are here to be seen. But you can also encounter manta rays, eagle rays, moray eels, sea turtles, giant groupers, clownfish, pygmy seahorses, nudibranchs, ornate ghost pipefish, schools of fusiliers and occasionally a whale swimms by.
Dive Sites of Makongi Island
E-6 and E-8 - One of the favourite liveaboard dive sites of Makongi Island are E-6 and E-8. These sites are named E-6 and E-8 for the amount of film and video shot at each location. Both E-6 and E-8 are pinnacles that start at a depth of 1000 meters and rise to the surface. At E-6 there is a horeseshoe shaped grotto which walls are covered with macro life and is filled with anemones, large clams, lionfish and beautiful sea fans and soft corals. These pinnacles also attract a spectacular marine life of hammerheads, white tips, sweet lips, shoaling pelagics around swimmthroughs, an occasional whale but foremost beautiful sea fans and corals which makes this site perfect for photographers.
Coral Gardens - You will find a number of reef platforms covered with hard and soft corals. You can see turtles, white tips, moray eels, nurse sharks and lion fish. Visibility is usually limited by 15 meters due to a large number of plankton.
Rustic Arch has been discovered by the photographer Rust Madsen. It's a natural coral arch covered with amazing hard and soft corals, gorgonians, anemones, lion fish, white tips, Napoleon fish.
White Rock is at the entrance of Makongi Channel. It is a rock with a white top thanks to the waves breaking on top of the rock. Here you'll find eagle rays, manta rays, eels, white tips, large schools of fusiliers and many soft and hard corals.
Makongi Channel - here you will usually experience a strong current which make this dive a drift dive. Makongi Channel is the entrance to the reef with great visibility up to 35 meters and an abundance of local flora which makes it an interesting dive site.
Top tips for divers
Prepare yourself for dives with depths varying from 10-40 meters surrounding the reefs so it's recommended to set a depth alarm on your computer, also will these be an extra safety measure for diving with Nitrox.
The water temperatures vary between 25-30 degrees Celsius and visibility between 15-40 meters.
Getting to Makongi Island
Makongi Island is located in the south-western part of the Pacific Ocean near Savusavu Archipelago. Most Fiji liveaboard Vessels will depart from either Suva or Volovoli Beach Resort and visit Makongi Island on their trips. All international flights arrive at Nadi Airport on Viti Levu after which you can get a connecting flight to Suva.
