Why Fiji Should Be on Every Underwater Photographer's Radar

Drawn from a recent episode of The Underwater Photography Show, this article shares what Alex Mustard discovered on a return to Fiji after nearly a decade away — and why he believes it's one of the most underrated wide-angle destinations in the Indo-Pacific.

Getting There: Easier Than You Think

The first thing worth saying about Fiji is that the travel is far less daunting than its position on the map might suggest. And I (Alex) say that coming from the UK — essentially the opposite side of the world — I found it surprisingly smooth. Bags checked in London, no dramas, collected in Fiji without issue, and the same on the way back. Major airline to major airline, no unusual check-in situations, no unfamiliar airport queues, no middle of the night flights. It was a lot of hours in a seat, but it was easy, say compared with getting to Raja Ampat.

For anyone on the US West Coast, or in Australia or New Zealand, the case is a lot, lot stronger. Direct flights run from Vancouver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to Fiji, which is genuinely a rare treat for a tropical Indo-Pacific destination. There are not many places where you can board a single flight from a major hub and arrive somewhere with world-class reef diving. That alone should put Fiji considerably higher on people's lists than it currently sits.

Part of the reason it's underrepresented on the underwater photography circuit may simply be capacity rather than quality. Fiji has been hailed as a stunning reef diving destination since I started diving, long before Indonesia and the Philippines really opened up to tourism. But there is only one liveaboard operating in Fiji — the Nai’a — and it has a loyal, returning clientele. Meaning there aren't many spare weeks to book onto (if, like me, you are looking for an empty boat for a workshop). Beyond the liveaboard, there are two main diving areas on the main island of Viti Levu. First is the Volivoli resort in the northeast, from which you can reach some of Fiji's most spectacular soft coral and fish dives by a 40-to-60-minute boat ride. The other is Beqa Lagoon (pronounced Benga) in the south, which is today best known for its large-scale baited shark dives attracting bull sharks, silvertips, lemon, nurse and increasingly tiger sharks. I didn't do the shark dives on this trip, but from previous experience, the group size on those dives makes a huge difference. On our first day there was a large 20-ish group of divers and that kept the sharks quiet and cautious. We then went back the next day, there were just a few divers and a much stronger current and it was a completely different vibe. One of the more hairy shark dives I have had!

The Reef Diving: A Cut Above

Anyway, what the Nai’a itinerary does brilliantly is offer a genuinely rounded coral reef experience. Yes, Fiji is famously the soft coral capital of the world, and that reputation is well-earned — but what I hadn't fully appreciated until this trip is how amazing that colour is compared to other destinations.

The soft corals are predominantly Dendronephthya and Scelronephthya species, and they are nearly all strongly, vividly coloured individuals. You're not looking at the dull purpley-brown colonies that often don't translate well to photographs. These are oranges, reds, bright pinky-purples, rich deep purples — and there is a lot of them, absolutely everywhere. The sea fans are the same. In Raja Ampat you get plenty of the Melithaea fans that fork down the branches — nice, but in Fiji the same genus, and I guess species, is much more richly hued, with golds and poster reds. The Annella fans, which in the Red Sea tend toward a pale orangey-beige, and can even be grey in Raja, are Ferrari red in Fiji. Just boom — a completely different impact.

The current is what drives all of this. As they say in Fiji “no current, no fun”. But it's not extreme — nothing like Komodo or the wilder corners of Raja Ampat — but you should expect water movement on all dives, and that feeds both the corals and the fish life sitting above them. The anthias, in particular, are a real feature. In the Red Sea, Pseudanthias squamipinnis — the scalefin anthias — is a major photographic subject, with its rich orange colour dominating reef scenes. In Indonesia, the same species is notably less vibrant and much smaller, and I rarely seek it out deliberately. In Fiji, they have that same Red Sea-quality orange, and while the males are slightly less purple than in the Red Sea, the overall effect is superb. On top of that, there's also the slender magenta anthias, a schooling species that swarms over the reef in large numbers. Together, these fish drape the reefs in colour in a way that just elevates wide angle photos.

One quirk worth noting for those of us trained in the northern hemisphere: the shadier, more soft-coral-rich side of pinnacles in Fiji is the southern side, not the northern.

The Best Sites: Namena and Vatu-I-Ra

The highlight of the trip, without question, was the classic pinnacle dives in the Namena and Vatu-I-Ra marine conservation areas — both of which the Nai’a visits, and both of which can also be accessed from different resorts. When you hit these sites on the right tidal flow and everything is firing, the concentration of life, soft coral, and fish is genuinely mind-boggling. The vibrancy is remarkable even by the standards of world-class reef diving. I think part of the reason is that the reefs are so pretty here is that the biodiversity is slightly lower than the Coral Triangle. The sheet variety of species in Raja Ampat can sometimes make the scene a little messy. In Fiji, a smaller number of species dominate, and the result is a cleaner, more coherent aesthetic, like a well designed garden. A few species of anthias instead of ten, a handful of dominant soft coral types — it photographs beautifully. It's not a coincidence that a photo I took in Fiji on my last visit is the image that the BBC Blue Planet 3 team chose as the lead visual for all of their promotional communications. I've taken an enormous number of photographs in Raja Ampat, but the one they reached for came from Fiji, and I think that says something real about the aesthetic quality of those reefs.

Beyond Wide Angle: Sharks, Hammerheads, and Macro

The trip wasn't purely about soft corals and wide angle. There were no baited dives on the Nai’a , so the sharks weren't presenting as photographic subjects in the conventional sense, but they were a constant presence throughout the trip — easy to incorporate into backgrounds and reef scenes. Hammerheads appeared on five separate dives, including a school. I actually logged my 6,000th scuba dive during the trip, and my dive buddy Mehmet got the school of hammerheads on that dive. I passed a school of bigeye on to Mehmet and while he was shoot them the hammers came in! That same site also had pygmy seahorses, which gives a sense of the range on offer.

For macro, I'd describe Fiji as a good reef macro destination rather than a dedicated critter hunting ground. What makes it interesting is that being outside the core coral triangle, it has a solid number of endemic species. There are endemic anemonefishes, gobies, blennies and various small creatures worth seeking out, including a pretty shrimp goby named after Randall (a species with a notably nice dorsal fin). I also enjoyed shooting more standard creatures living directly on brightly coloured soft corals and sea fans, which created outstanding backgrounds. There's also an abundance of the bright green Tubastraea-like hard coral that adds strong colour to macro compositions.

One thing worth flagging is that we saw significant coral bleaching. Water temperatures hit record highs in the southern summer (February–March), and while the bleaching was widespread, most corals appeared to be beginning to recover rather than dying off. Whether the approaching El Niño cycle will bring cooler water to the West Pacific and give the reefs a break remains to be seen. Usually El Niño brings warmer conditions to the East Pacific and cooler to the West. Anyway, it's something to be aware of when planning a visit.

Gear Choices for Fiji

Fiji is classic reefs, so lots of fisheye dives for scenic. I did about half of all my dives with fisheye and then divided the other half between all my other wide and macro options. I really enjoyed the Nauticam WACP-1 on these reefs. The fisheye is the primary tool for Fiji and probably always will be given the scale and colour of the reef life. But the mid-range
zoom earned its place consistently. Sharks, turtles, mantas, schools of fish — all are better served by something with a bit of reach — and the WACP also let me isolate tighter reef scenes: 30 fish and a stunning sea fan, rather than the whole panorama with small anthias.

One of my group was shooting a Nikon D500 with the Nikon 8-15mm fisheye zoom as her main lens, but I pushed her during the trip to also use her Sigma 17–70 on the crop sensor. The anthias in Fiji, while beautiful, are actually quite small — sometimes almost too small in a full fisheye frame. The mid-range zoom let her give them more presence in
the shot, and many of her favourite images from the trip came from that combination. For macro, I rarely used the SMC, and shot pretty much everything with the MFO-1 on my lens.

Final Verdict

For the underwater photographer sitting in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Vancouver and deciding where to head next — or those willing to put in a long but uncomplicated transit — Fiji deserves to be right up at the top of your list. It's closer and easier than its South Pacific reputation might suggest, the visual quality of the reefs is exceptional, and it remains, relative to its quality, and despite its longevity, largely off the mainstream underwater photography radar at present. I left planning my return well before the decade mark this time.

Watch the full episode, including footage from the dives here: