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Scuba diving
Leleuvia Island Diving | Fiji Scuba Diving Adventures
The Training
Both qualified and non-qualified divers can join our expeditions. All volunteers are required to be trained up to PADI Advanced Open Water standard or equivalent before they can participate in underwater surveys. Dive training is carried out in the first two weeks of expeditions.
Due to the nature of the research you will be carrying out, it is essential that all divers have full control of their buoyancy and are confident in the water, and for this reason the ‘Peak Performance Buoyancy’ Adventure Dive is a compulsory component of the Advanced Open Water course undertaken during your training in Fiji.
We are also able to offer extra courses for those volunteers who want to advance their diving qualifications. The Emergency First Response (EFR) course, Rescue Diver course and Divemaster course are all available to take on site. Please see the expedition costs page for more info.
The Diving
There is an amazing variety of coral reefs and marine life in the waters adjacent to Leleuvia Island; Leleuvia house reef alone is home to a huge variety of marine organisms and we are able to teach volunteers to recognise many of the species we survey just by snorkeling on the house reef.
During our 2009 survey of the lagoonal, fringing and barrier reefs we discovered some incredible SCUBA diving sites that volunteers can now explore during our recreational dives. Many of these sites have never been dived before and there are many more waiting to be discovered. So if you are used to cold water diving in the UK or USA for example, you will find the crystal clear visibility and warm water temperatures of Fiji a real treat! We are very lucky to have foraging grounds for endangered Green and Hawksbill turtles in the waters immediately surrounding the island which makes them a common sight during both survey and recreational dives.
The outer reef is just twenty minutes away in our boat and the deep waters there are home to large schools of targeted fish species like Red Snapper and Barracuda, which we see regularly during our survey dives. You will enjoy the incredible experience of diving in amongst these huge schools of fish which many of our past volunteers have named as being one of the most amazing sights of their life.
Every year from July to September there are Humpback Whales migrating South in the deeper waters of the outer reef and late last year we had a female Humpback Whale and her calf breaching just a few hundred metres off Leleuvia’s beach! Our friend Cara Miller, a Whale and Dolphin researcher from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society visits our site to provide our volunteers with fascinating information about local cetacean species and her important research in the region.
The lagoonal waters are home to resident pods of spinner dolphins which regularly approach our boat to bow ride, a wonderful way to start your day on the way to a morning dive! The outer reef provides the ideal environment for other large marine life, including reef sharks, eagle rays and turtles, schools of large pelagic fish and occasional sightings of whales. Our Fijian island marine conservation expeditions give you the chance to experience one of Fiji’s most renowned dive locations, whilst supporting research into biodiversity conservation, sustainable fisheries, marine protected area (MPA) management and a local environmental education programme.
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