lauren27

We are trying to decide whether to spend our beach and snorkeling portion of our trip next September in Australia or Fiji. Specifically we are looking at doing a Captain Cook Cruise and/or staying on Lizard Island in Australia OR a Blue Lagoon Cruise and a stay on Qamea in Fiji. Which of these options has better snorkeling? I have read that we would probably need a wet suit in Australia in September, but would we need one in Fiji? Thanks very much for your advice!

Louise

Having snorkeled four times on the Great Barrier Reef and three times in Fiji in my opinion I would definitely choose Australia. Haven't been to Qamea but have been to Matangi and found it more geared towards divers as the surrounding waters are quite deep. All our trips to Australia were in the September-October time frame and although we didn't need wet suits if we swam once a day we found that the more we went in each day the colder we became. I think I would opt for a light suit no matter when you go. There have been a lot of posts on "search this forum" on everything you are questioning if you want to read them. If you pick Australia I would recommend Lizard Island and in Fiji, we found the best snorkeling on the Blue Lagoon Cruise. I preferred the longer cruise. Which ever country you choose to go to I know you will love them both.

SnRSeattle

re wetsuits, at the risk of looking silly, we always wear wetsuits when snorkeling. Why? For sun protection! Once my husband only got sunburned in the little section between the wetsuit and the swim fins and was glad that it wasnt' all over his legs and back. He even wears a neoprene hood because of lack of hair and I put sunblock all over my part. You DON'T want to get sunburned on vacation and Australian sun is pretty fierce. And the snorkeling is so awesome that you won't want to get out of the water! Wet suits also help with bouyancy, so you use less energy, so you can stay out longer. Lucky you to be able to go to Lizard!
Sally in Seattle

pat_woolford

lauren, you're going to get very similar water temperatures in Fiji as you will in Far North Queensland (Capt Cook Cruise) as they're on about the same latitude. Obviously local conditions at the time in either area can make a difference. As Louise says, the longer you stay in the water without a wetsuit, or at least a "shortie", the colder you get. And Sally has a point about sunburn protection, when snorkelling its very easy to badly burnt on shoulders and backs of legs before you notice.

Angler973

We've snorkeled in both Australia and Fiji. Both were beautiful, but we preferred Fiji. If you like snorkeling from shore, you can't beat Qamea. We also had great snorkeling just a short boat ride from Yasawa Island (which you will also get to see on the Blue Lagoon Cruise.) We didn't need wetsuits for Fiji, but wore lycra skins for sunburn protection. Oh, almost forgot -- we didn't run into any jellyfish problem in Fiji as we did in Australia.

Louise

I wouldn't discount the fact that there are no jellyfish in Fiji. Three years ago the area we were in was so bad we couldn't snorkel.

pat_woolford

This question only makes sense if you compare like with like, the Great Barrier Reef is 2000kms long and Capt Cook Cruises can't possibly cover all of it, although it goes to some good sites. The GBR is not World Heritage listed for nothing.

All tropical waters have jellyfish, there's two dangerous species found on northern part of Queensland coast and for part of year, not the reef. And dangerous marine stingers are also found on Pacific Islands and SE Asia, their tourism people are pretty careful not to mention this.