Great White Wall, Fiji: Your Complete Guide to Taveuni’s Best Dive Site

Named one of the best dive sites in the world, the Great White Wall in Fiji is so awe-inspiring that even months later, words fail me when I try to describe it.

Diving it is a borderline religious experience that generously rewards divers who make the pilgrimage to the small island of Taveuni, Fiji’s Garden Island and the gateway to the Rainbow Reef.

The joke amongst divemasters is that it’s the “only place it snows in Fiji”, because when you dive this site it’s almost like seeing a wall of snow, so covered it is in densely-packed white and faint-purple soft corals.

With a faint luminescence, it’s like seeing freshly fallen snow glimmer in the pastel winter sunlight, yet underwater and on a sheer vertical wall that drops into the abyss below.

The near-shimmer of Dendronepthya soft corals is breathtaking, a stark white from afar — and yet as you approach the wall, interspersed corals reveal a hidden rainbow that isn’t first visible to the eye, where you could spend hours and hours looking at its macro universe… if only you could spout gills and stay there.

You’ll never rue your NDL more than on a dive at the Great White Wall in Fiji, I can promise you that: I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of time that would ever really feel like enough on this wall.

In the mere moments I had to take in the close-up views of the wall, it revealed so much richness in just a flew glimpses.

On my two dives at the Great White Wall, I saw a beaky longnose hawkfish, a royal purple-tipped decorated dartfish, a leaf scorpionish, and my personal favorite (which I was unable to photograph with just a GoPro) — the otherworldly peacock nudibranch.

I’m lucky enough that I got the privilege to dive the Great White Wall not once but twice on my trip to Taveuni, and I’d truly dive it every single day if I could.

When Can You Dive the Great White Wall in Fiji?

Unfortunately, no one can dive it daily, not even local divemasters (I know, put away your applications now).

The Great White Wall is characterized by extremely strong currents during the majority of the month — that why the soft corals are so dense and healthy — but also meaning that it’s only accessible for a brief window.

When the current is at its strongest, the corals feed on the plankton and nutrients that rush through past the wall.

After the coral has fed and opens up and blooms, that’s the best time to visit the Great White Wall — before the soft coral closes back up to feed again at the next strong current.

The currents are at their strongest when the full moon and new moon are out, impacting the tides the most.

As a result, the window for the Great White Wall tends to fall around the mid-lunar part of the cycle.

Generally, dive shops will plan a two window between these phases of the moon cycle, where they’ll send boats out to the Great White Wall.

This generally means that there are four days each month that they’ll dive the Great White Wall, and dive shops will usually have it posted to help you plan.

You can find the tentative schedule all the way through to 2025 here, though of course, this is just a projected schedule and other factors may change the exact dates, or cancel them entirely in the case of bad weather.

Of course, the Great White Wall is always there — it doesn’t exactly pack up and take a break.

It’s just that at other times of month, the current is simply too strong to safely dive at recreational depths (or you’d see it for only a few seconds before it yeeted you off somewhere far, far away).

Alternately, at other times, the soft corals on the wall will be feeding and not blooming, so you would see “the great brown wall” instead!

Just like snow, its beauty is enhanced by the knowledge it’s temporary and can’t last forever.

Note: In doing my research, it seems there are a few companies that boast that they do the Great White Wall every day. However, I wouldn’t take this to be a good thing — it means they’re willing to take you there when conditions aren’t ideal. Do so only if you have no other options.

Who Can Dive the Great White Wall in Fiji?

In order to dive Fiji’s Great White Wall, you need to hold at least a PADI Advanced Open Water certification.

The wall requires you go to at least 25-30 meters (82-100 feet), which a regular Open Water Certification does not allow, as your certification stops at 18 meters (59 feet).

The wall itself starts at 20 meters or 66 feet… so you can see how having just Open Water certification won’t do you much good here.

Besides the depth requirement, I don’t think the Great White Wall in Fiji is incredibly difficult or advanced though — I had about 50 dives at the time I did the Great White Wall and I was fine.

There are two swim throughs that you do on the dive, but they’re easy to do, so long as you have a handle on your buoyancy.

What Is Diving the Great White Wall Like?

A typical dive profile at the Great White Wall is as follows.

You descend to the point where there’s the first swim through, around 15 meters or 50 feet down.

The swim through is very wide and spacious, nothing claustrophobic or crazy, so don’t be afraid. You swim through in through single file, so that you don’t damage any corals with your tank.

You then go down through the swim through, descending 10 meters and exiting the swimthrough around the 25 meter (85 foot) mark, with the wall going down into oblivion below you — it’s completely jaw-dropping.

Then you spend as much time on the wall as either the current or your dive computer allows, watching your NDL closely to avoid going into decompression.

This is where your divemaster will point out some of the beautiful fish on the dive, like the decorated dartfish you can usually find here tucked away in the recesses and niches of the wall.

After you’ve dove the Great White Wall, the second part of your dive begins — and this part is just as magical in its own way.

You’ll make your way across the top of the wall and then you’ll see some beautiful purple bommies, perfect for spotting more macro life and admiring the beauty of the soft corals.

There’s a lot to see here, and frankly, even if this was the only part of the Great White Wall, I’d still find it one of the best dive sites in Taveuni!

Keep an eye out as there’s a lot to see in this part: I saw an octopus on both dives, a huge giant moray eel, so many adorable butterflyfish, and Maori wrasse with gorgeous markings.

Once you reach the designated reserve of your tank (which your divemaster will inform you of), you’ll signal to the divemaster and begin your ascent with a safety stop along the way.

Who to Dive the Great White Wall With?

For diving the Great White Wall — and all your dives in Taveuni, honestly — I recommend going with Taveuni Ocean Sports — not sponsored, paid out of pocket and loved it!

Julie and her team are extraordinary, and she has over 20 years of experience running a dive shop in Fiji (and something insane like 12,000 dives under her belt!)

Over the course of five days, I got several chances to dive with different divemasters on the team, and every single one of them was incredible, paying incredible attention to detail, finding gorgeous macro life, and of course, making sure we were all safe.

What I thought was really special about her divemasters is how much they care about your diving skills progressing as well, not just guiding your dive.

One of my divemasters took a particular interest in monitoring my buoyancy and correctly assessed that I was quite overweighted.

This came to my surprise as I had always dived with 12 pounds in a 5mm wetsuit.

With his guidance, we were able to shave off 4 pounds so that I was diving with 8 pounds, and he said that with some time and practice, I could probably be diving with 6 pounds at 5mm eventually!

I really appreciated that he took the time to not only guide our dive safely but ensure I dove better with each passing dive.

I’ve been a much better diver ever since, and it’s all thanks to Julie’s incredible team at Taveuni Ocean Sports.