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Diving the Great White Wall

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We hired Dive Academy to take us out to dive the Great White Wall which is part of the Rainbow Reef.  Ian, our guide took Chris (our friend on SeaGlub), Matt and I on this adventure. 

We specifically scheduled the Great White Wall dive during the neap tide.  We waited a month for this perfect time.

The peak, cathedral-like appearance, or vibrant “bloom” of the white wall occurs during neap tide (twice a month).  This is when the soft, white coral is feeding.

What is Neap Tide?

A neap tide is when the gravitational forces of the sun and moon are perpendicular to each other relative to the earth.  This provides a tide with a minimal tidal range.

Neap tide happens during the first and third quarter phases of the Moon. Neap Tide occurs every 2 weeks +/-.  Visit Taveuni Dive Resort, scroll down their website for the neap tides through 2027.

I should note that you can dive the Great White Wall at any time and it will be be beautiful.  However, it flourishes during the neap tide.

Dive Academy picks us up from the boat and we load our gear.  Matt and I took all of our gear except our tanks (we used theirs).  We assemble our gear and prepare for the dive into the deep.

Here is a map of Jerry’s Jelly dive provided by Taveuni Dive Resort.  We actually dove with Dive Academy and we slowly made our way down and across the white wall.  

Swimming through Tunnels / Shoots

We hop in a fairly shallow area to adjust our gear and ensure everything is functioning properly.

We then begin our dissent and prepare to enter the first shoot (tunnel).  You can swim over the top of the ridge and descend down the wall.  However, we opted to go through nature’s tunnel.

The first tunnel puts you at the “entrance” of the Great White Wall (about 70′). You enter the tunnel and go down to the lower opening.  

The second tunnel let’s you out closer to 35′.

There are loads of fish and soft coral fans inside the tunnel.

The Great White Wall simply takes my breath away.  It is like snow fell under water coating the soft, delicate coral.  The fish provide a vibrant pop of color along with the random green, black, and red coral.

I am using a DJI OSMO Action 5 without a light.  I know the photos could be so much better if I had a light.  However, I am barely able to focus on my diving and camera and could not possibly deal with a light too.

The Great White Wall seems to go on forever.  It is so deep that you can’t see the bottom.  The depth begins is around 75 meters and it is 60 meters wide.

Life Along the White Wall

So much beauty!  The water temp at 101′ was 81F. Can you believe that? 

I love this iridescent bubble.

So many fish, critters, plants, fans, and corals.  I wish we could stay down longer than 30 minutes!

I am a nervous diver, especially on the initial descent.  Ian, our guide was so attentive and calming.  He and Matt kept a very watchful eye on me.  

You’d think this would be one of my first dives.  Nope, I have well over 75 dives under my belt and still get nervous.

Ian checking on me with the “ok” sign a number of times.  At the end he was trying to make me laugh by making rings in the bubbles.

Matt on the top and bottom photo and me in the middle.

Cabbage Patch

We did not have an opportunity to dive the Cabbage Patch off of the Rainbow Reef.  However, our friends did and they shared their photos.  The Cabbage Patch is rumored to be over 4,000 years old and is very extensive.

This is a shallow dive and is most often used for beginner divers. You can see the incredible size in comparison to the diver.

Free Diving

Chris’s girlfriend, Sarah is a free diver.  She dove the White Wall with another boat but we saw her as we were surfacing  

Free diving is relies on breath holding until resurfacing.  They don’t use any breathing apparatus’.  Sarah can free dive down to 20+meters (60′) in good conditions.

It is just her, a bathing suit, weight belt, and a camera.  Absolutely, terrifying, but yet a thing of beauty.  I captured Chris (diving) taking video of Sarah at about 35′.  We were all surfacing.

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  

We dove the Great White Wall on 5 July 2025.

Learn all about Fiji Sea Salt in our last blog post.

Find the Great White Wall on No Foreign Land 

Rainbow Reef Dive

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Diving Rainbow Reef and the Great White Wall has been a dream of mine for a few years.  We had tried to dive here last season, but Matt injured his ear and then we tore our main sail and couldn’t get to the site.  So, this trip back to Fiji was focused on diving this spectacular area.  We arrive in Viani Bay which is our launch point for the dive sites on Rainbow Reef.

Rainbow Reef is legendary and has well over 20 pristine dive sites.  It has been called the “soft coral capital of the world” but I might beg to differ when comparing it to Bonaire.  Some of the most popular dive sites include The Great White Wall, The Fish Factory, The Zoo, and Cabbage Patch to name a few.

Where is the Rainbow Reef Located?  It lies in the Somosomo Strait which is the passage that runs between Vanua Levu (Fiji’s second largest island) and Taveuni Island (Fiji’s third largest island).  In Fijian Somosomo Strait means “good water” and it is called this because the strait has strong tidal currents, providing a good supply of nutrients, just the right ingredients for healthy and diverse soft coral and abundant fish.

Photo courtesy of Taveunit Dive Resort

The Great White Wall Dive

Our friends on Pogeyan who have been diving this area for years take us out on our first Rainbow Reef dive.  They take us to the Great White Wall which happened to be in full bloom (a rare occurence evidently).

Matt and I had not been diving in awhile so we take it slow.  First we wanted to make sure his ear (which he perforated last season) was ok and second we wanted to make sure all of our gear worked properly.  Our friends took the adventurous way down to the wall which was through a tunnel.  But I was not having any of that!  So, Matt and I took a leisurely descent down to about 12-15 meters and swam over the edge.  And let me just say “WOW”

It was as if snow had fallen on the soft coral under water!  The top left photo shows the white coral with the naked eye (25 meters/85′ below the surface) and in the upper right corner is the same white coral with a light on it (from our friend).

I am not sure how it happens but the white wall actually glows and shimmers!  It doesn’t come out so great with my little GoPro and no light, but it was glorious.

Once you swim past the Great White Wall you get into tons of color.  It is obvious why they call this the rainbow reef.  So many purples, yellows, and greens!

The dive takes my breath away with its pure beauty!

So many bright colors, tons of schools of fish in all sorts of varieties, and hard and soft coral intermixed on the wall.

We found a rather large clam with a personal guardian and a beautiful black soft coral growing in the center of a larger white hard coral.

Our total depth for the Great White Wall was about 26 meters (85′) and the water was moderate but we did have wet suits on (3mil).  There was a slight current pushing us along the wall.  A truly amazing dive.  I wish we had more time to do this multiple times!

The Zoo

Our next dive with with Dive Academy at the Zoo!  We hired a guide to dive with us on the Rainbow Reef “Zoo” because there can be dangerous currents.  It is super nice to be picked up from the boat, borrow tanks, and be picked up and dropped off at the dive site.  Our guide, Ian was full  of excitement at diving the zoo.  This particular dive site is known for its large pelagic fish and it is also known as a mating grounds for gray sharks!

We saw schools of barracuda, two gray sharks (not mating) several white tip sharks, a few trevallis and groupers. Of course, I did not get any photos of these big guys as they were a bit too far away for them to come out good.  But I did get a couple of sharks playing with Matt (top two photos).

We saw lots of soft coral with little nemos protecting each of them.  I don’t know why, but I always want to stick my finger in the center of the soft coral….but I never dare to!

And we saw lots of these hard corals with little protectors.

So much beauty in one spot on the reef.

An Octopus!

It is always a special treat to find an octopus and this one wanted to check us out too.  He was huge!  Can you spot him in the top photo??  He blends in so well with the coral.

He was so curious!  It reminded me of the documentary “The Octopus Teacher.”

It was the perfect way to end a perfect dive!  Truly wish we could spend a month here exploring the other dive sites at Rainbow Reef!  An absolute must see when you are in Fiji!

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occured toward the end of August.  In our last blog we have a posse part at Nawi Marina.