Mamanuca Islands diving
The Mamanuca group of islands is made up of 13 islands north west of Nadi. The diving here is good with calm waters and coral reefs for novices and more challenging barrier reefs for the more experienced diver. There are lots of colourful corals and encounters with manta rays, turtles, sharks and dolphins are frequent.
Always dive according to your level of training.
Never enter the water without checking with the local dive center for safety, additional information, level required for each dive site and without being accompanied by a professional.
All the information provided is purely informative for our readers and shouldn't be used as is to plan your immersion.
Visibility: 25 – 50 metres. Best during the winter months from May to October
Possible to dive: All year round
The Mamanuca Islands offer diving for divers of all levels of expertise. Novices have the calm waters and reefs while the more advanced diver can explore the more exposed ocean side of the barrier reef that has passages. The visibility is good and often goes beyond 35 metres. While diving the Mamanucas the chances that you will encounter dolphins, manta rays, turtles and big pelagics are high. The dive sites are decorated by colourful corals and reef fish.
Amunuca Island is located in the north of the Mamanuca group of islands. Here you have the possibility to dive on a wall, not deep, 14 metres (46 feet), but which has a huge diversity of tropical fish and hard corals. This site is a good choice for novices as it is not so deep and there is so much to see. Also on this island there is a bommie with lots of tropical fish and lots of nudibranches. There are pinnacles blanketed in big gorgonian sea fans as well as impressive overhangs.
Amunuca also has a wall dive, 30 metres (98 feet) with a lot of swim throughs and a cave. Black tip and white tip sharks are a common sight here.
There is a popular dive spot in the Mamanucas referred to as the Supermarket. Here you can see different species of sharks like bronze whalers, grey sharks, black tip reef sharks and white tips. You can also do a drift dive here along a wall and see plenty of eels and lionfish
The Malolo Barrier Reef has an abundance of corals and fish. There are several walls around this reef dropping to depths of 30-50 metres (98 – 164 feet). The diving here and visibility are excellent. Expect to see sharks, turtles and rays. Also commonly seen here are bottlenose dolphins. .
Wreck lovers come to the Mamanucas to explore two wrecks. One is a World War II bomber that lies at 26 metres (83 feet) and is partially intact. The other is Salamander, a 40 metre (131 foot) cruise ship that is lying at a depth of 12-28 metres (39 – 92 feet) and is covered in anemones and soft corals.
There are well established dive schools here where you can take courses from beginner to advanced level. They organise daily boat outings to the different dive sites. Dive schedules can be tailored to fit your particular needs making sure you take full advantage of the great diving offered.
