Description
This is the shark diving mecca of the world! Beqa is an island in Fiji of about 30 kmē located 10 km from the south coast of Viti Levu Island.
Nurse sharks, white tip sharks, blacktip sharks, and coral sharks are present everywhere, you should almost push them! During the dives dolphins and turtles compete for the star.
In the Beqa lagoon, 4 wrecks of Taiwanese trawlers, about 34 meters long, were discovered and sunk at a depth of 30 meters to serve as artificial reefs with groupers and schools of fusiliers. Their decks culminate at 20 meters which makes them accessible to Open Water Diver and very attractive for photographers.
Information about the site
Carpet Cove is one of the better diving sites to be found in Beqa Lagoon. The site has 2 main features and it will depend where you start this dive which comes first. You are likely to descend on to the site of the Japanese fishing boat which was sunk here in 1994. The wreck sits upright, entirely intact in water ranging in depth from about 20 to 30 metres.
As you make your way around the wreck you will see it is covered in encrusting sponges and soft corals. Among the fish here are lionfish (often pretty big ones) that move slowly within the more sheltered parts of the ship, their pretty but dangerous spiny fins splayed.
Only a few fin kicks from the wreck is the wall which forms part of the main reef where the rewards of investigation are plentiful. Hard corals, soft corals and fans all speckle this reef. Also surely featuring in any set of pictures from Carpet Cove will be the wide-eyed gaping of a blue ribbon eel or two as there always seem to be a few specimens around.
You may also see brilliant purple queens, red-and-black anemonefish, 2-tone dartfish and black-spot pygmy wrasses somewhere in the vicinity. Curious batfish have also been known to circle close to scuba divers, so don't be alarmed if one appears right in front of your mask.
Also worth looking out for in and around this reef are the many and varied scorpion leaffish - green, yellow, black and white - wafting passively with the movement of the water. Leaffish are quite common throughout the whole of the lagoon. Of course the name of the site refers to the carpet of anemones in the shallower parts of the site so it is no surprise that plenty of anemone fish call Carpet Cove their home.
Recommended diver experience level
Advanced DiverAdvanced Diver,Advanced diver with certificate up to rescue diver and at least 50 dives