Ovalau Island diving
Ovalau is the most developed Island in the laidback Lomaiviti group of islands. The reef system extends over about 400 square kilometres providing numerous dive sites. The diving is excellent with teeming marine life which includes humpbacks, dolphins, sharks, mantas, tropical reef fish and lots of soft and hard corals. The Lomaiviti’s are is not so busy and some of the dive sites are quite far out and can only be practised on liveaboard diving.
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: 30 – 50 metres (98 – 165 feet)
Possible to dive: All year round
Ovalau’s marine landscape is diversified and has shallow protected lagoons and deep waters outside the Lomaiviti islands reefs making it a suitable environment for large marine life. You may encounter dolphins and whales here. In fact the Lomaiviti group of Islands is often referred to as "Fiji's Big Fish Capital". Commonly seen are humpbacks, whales, dolphins, hammerheads and grey reef sharks. The reefs surrounding the islands have major currents and upwelling from the deep waters making it rich in nutrients. The most common dolphin species here is the spinner dolphin. They are usually very playful and curious and may approach you. The time to see humpbacks is during the winter which runs from July to October. This is because they come from the arctic waters to calve and mate in tropical waters. In the inner reefs you can also see other marine life like barracuda, manta rays, turtles and grey reef sharks just to mention a few.
A popular dive in the Ovalau environs is Mount Mutiny. On this dive you will get to dive the “Rainbow Wall” which gets its name from the wall of thin staked Siphonogorgia soft corals that dominate and which have a big range of colours and cover the southern side of Mutiny. This stretches over 200 metres at depths of between 18 metres (60 feet) and 37 metres (120 feet). It is indeed an extraordinary soft coral dive.
Also to be seen in Ovalau sites are huge clams, magnificent red sea fans, cleaner shrimps, blue ribbon eels, sweet lips and lion fish. There are numerous species of invertebrates and a large diversity of flatworms and nudibranches. This is truly an underwater photographers paradise.
The dive sites in Ovalau and surrounding area are as diversified as the marine life.
There are superb walls covered in colourful hard and soft corals, gorgonia and feather stars which harbour lots of sharks and big fish.
There are also bommies that come from deep down to about 3 metres (10 feet) of the surface. There is a lot of life here that includes eels and shrimp on the sandy bottoms.
For advanced divers who like a good drift dive, during the high waters the ocean water can run at a speed of 3-4 knots. The visibility during high tide is excellent and can go over 50 metres (165 feet). So you can let yourself drift as you take in the beauty of the dive sites.
There are many caverns, swim-throughs and caves.
All in all, the diving here is caters for all levels of expertise and taste and you can let your local diving center work out a program that suits your needs best. Dives are done on a daily basis. The diving centers here also offer courses from beginner to advanced levels.
Apart from diving and water sports you can also go back in time by taking a walk on Levuka’s main road. You will find many places and buildings with an interesting historical background. There is the Navoka Methodist church and the Sacred Heart Church that were constructed way back in the 1860s. The library, museum and town hall date back to 1898. These are a few historical sites you could visit while in Ovalau.
