Despite it’s tragic past, Makogai has rebounded and created a successful island life. Yes, the remains of the leper colony still exist. However, the thriving community now harvests giant clams, queen bees, and turtles to relocate throughout Fiji.
Today the Dalice Bay is a site of the Department of Fisheries clam program. After cyclone Winston, the island and its dive sites suffered tremendous damage.
In the bay lives a caretaker of the fisheries, some workers and settlers from the main village, in total 7 families.
The Fijian Government has opened a Government Mariculture Center and declared the island and its surrounding reefs a marine protected area.
One of the main projects of the Mariculture Center is the culturing of giant clams (Tridacna).
These giant clams were once in abundance throughout Fiji waters. However, due to overharvesting their numbers are low.
The Australian Government funded project has now transplanted thousands of clams in various parts of Fiji.
Unfortunately, the tanks are old and leaking. The locals informed us that they plan to demolish the existing tanks to make room for brand new ones.
The Maricultural Center had a surprising number of tanks onshore. At least 20 rectangle tanks and 8-10 round tanks.
Read about more detailed blog post on harvesting clams (scroll down toward the bottom of the post).
The workers ensure the infant clams have fresh salt water each day.
After a few years, the locals transplant the clams from the tanks to the shallow waters of Dalice Bay.
The clams are repopulated to other reefs in Fiji once they are deemed large enough to fend for themselves.
There was one giant clam in the shallows. It was probably 4′ across and 2.5′ deep. It is next to a very large tractor tire (not a car tire).
And there are tons of schools of fish who tickled me as I swam through them.
A Day at Makogai
We were blessed to acquire this huge stock of bananas! This is a huge treat for us.
We soak the stalk in salt water for 45-60 minutes to remove all of the critters. Next, we hang a t-shirt over the stock of bananas to slow the ripening process.
The supply ship came in (really close to Sugar Shack) and loaded up the 1 vehicle on island and supplies.
We watched locals cut up 3 medium size clams for lunch.
Could this be why there are so few giant clams left in Fijian waters?
The locals of Makogai are also harvesting queen bees.
There are hundreds of bees flying around this area (but they did not come out in the photos).
Beautiful Pinnacle
We snorkeled on this giant pinnacle that had loads of soft corals, fans, and colorful fish.
In addition, it had the largest clown school we’ve ever seen.
Of course, they were all protecting their perspective soft coral. Darting in and out and surprising us with their noses.
I could watch these little fish all day!
Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events. We were in Makogai in late July 2025 with our friends Chris and Sarah on sv Sea Glub.
Did you read about Makogai’s heartbreaking history in our last blog post?
