When you think of visiting Fiji, you probably envision those picturesque bamboo villas elevated on stilts over water. Or reality TV shows where demented singles are locked away in a mansion to fulfill their most lascivious desires. And while this vacation paradise is not inaccurate, the side that I was most interested in seeing was far from a relaxing holiday in the sun. I was going for my own rendition of “paradise”; exclusively and entirely for diving.
By 2021, I found myself on a spotter plane flying from Viti Levu, the mainland of Fiji, to the country’s dive capital, Taveuni island. This island was formed by a volcano, and is known particularly for its plant life, which is why it’s known as “The Garden Island of Fiji.” Occupied by 20,000 people, 75% are native Fijian. Exactly why I went with an eco-homestay instead of a commercialized resort—a first for me as a solo diver. This choice offered me opportunities to see the most untouched dive sites in this region, guided by the very people who had been navigating them for generations.
Embarking on 23 back-to-back dives over seven days, Taveuni cemented itself as one of the best places to see soft coral thriving. From macro scouting and pilot whale tracking, to vast walls of white coral and incredible color variety at every site, this place was scuba paradise. While the diving made a lasting impression, it was the friendships made in Fiji that surpassed it all.
Everyone I met wanted to share their stories with me. Stories of diving in the most remote places on earth, finding their identity in the sea, and giving back in order to do right for their coastal communities. The more stories I heard, the more inspired I became. And because of this, Taveuni was the birthplace of the Edges of Earth expedition.
But just like that, after successfully completing a week of life-changing diving, I was hospitalized on my last day in Fiji. After getting a horrific, full-body illness that had me completely knocked down to my knees, I knew one thing for sure: Fijians are some of the kindest people on the planet. My host family took care of me as if I was one of their own. And honestly, if it weren’t for them, I might not have made it out of Fiji alive.
On the surface-level, Fiji is a vacationer’s dream—it's carefree and relaxed, with lots of access to infinity pools. But there’s so much more than meets the eye if you get to the bowels, the depths, the guts of Fiji. With the nation including 330 islands—one third of which are totally uninhabited—Fiji covers 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000 square miles) of the South Pacific ocean. There’s a lot out there to explore, taking you far away from the sun bathing and swimming pools.
Flash forward to June 2023, I touched down in Viti Levu yet again—this time with the Edges of Earth expedition team. We took a two-and-a-half hour car transfer heading south to a place called Pacific Harbour to explore the Shark Reef Marine Reserve and The Beqa Lagoon. Surrounded by 30 kilometers (19 miles) of barrier reef, there are three islands that make up the Lagoon—Yanuca, Davui and Beqa. The reef acts as protection and an underwater lifeline, making these three islands particularly active and thriving.
On my first visit to Fiji, I briefly had the chance to meet an aspiring scientist, Natasha D. Marosi, Director of Conservation with Beqa Adventure Divers and Founder of My Fiji Shark. She had a similar backstory to me: a New Yorker living the corporate world who fell in love with scuba diving and radically upended her life. It’s not every day you meet someone who can fully understand a life choice of that magnitude. But there I was, in the South Pacific, talking to a woman who unapologetically chased her passion.
But a quick chat with Natasha wasn’t going to be enough for our team. We wanted to go deep with her and fully understand her motivations. Why would a successful lawyer living in one of the world’s epicenters leave it all behind for Fiji—an island nation baking in the Pacific sun? Her answer to this seemingly complicated question was simple: bull sharks.
Initially, this Nat Geo article is what shaped our understanding of bull sharks. Before meeting Natasha, we had never seen an apex predator, let alone actively dove with one. Natasha explained that in order to comprehend her personal journey, we needed to see these bull sharks in the wild ourselves. Needless to say, signing the Beqa Adventure Divers eligibility waiver hit a little different due to engrained preconceptions formed over a lifetime.
Pacific Harbour is becoming one of the most renowned places to experience bull sharks in their environment. That’s because it's home to the Shark Reef Marine Reserve, a protected area dedicated to shark conservation. Here, the bull shark (known as "Biu Vula" in Fijian) can grow up to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) in length and can weigh up to 225 kilograms (500 pounds). These large, robust creatures are known for their broad, flat snouts and aggressive, unpredictable behavior—characteristics that have led to their notorious reputations as one of the most dangerous sharks on the planet.
However, divers in Pacific Harbour have been able to safely observe and interact with bulls due to tight regulations and procedures put in place by the pros. This provides an invaluable opportunity for scientific study and shark conservation efforts. Bull sharks are unique in their ability to thrive in both salt and freshwater environments. That means they are found everywhere. In Fiji, they primarily inhabit estuaries and shallow coastal waters, allowing divers to see them quite easily.
For Beqa Adventure Divers, the preservation of shark species and their natural habitats has been the pillar of their eco-operation. The team not only regularly patrols the Shark Reef Marine Reserve to safeguard against poachers, but has been working with the Ministry of Fisheries to do so. Just last year, this collaboration saw the implementation of the first-ever riverine patrols to enforce the ban on gill netting in the rivers, estuaries and bays. These patrols help to ensure that these areas vital for shark reproduction and feeding will continue to support their populations.
Bull presence helps support the thriving underwater environment we were in Fiji to see. Getting into the water with them requires dive choreography and a tight watch from those who study these creatures every day. After a serious briefing, we descended to 30 meters (100 feet) to watch the action in real time. And Natasha was right. We realized quite quickly why she decided to move to the edges of earth. Simply put, diving with bulls was incredible.
Those preconceived ideas we had prior to our dive were shattered in moments. Their calm cruising minimized any fear we had, making us comfortable as quiet observers in their territory. Watching them navigate with pure ease in intense ocean conditions left us feeling a sense of deep appreciation for these ancient creatures. It had rained for days leading up to our expedition in Fiji, and the water was far from chill.
There was not a single moment our team felt unsafe on our back-to-back shark dives, especially under the watchful eyes of Natasha. Even when surrounded by 30+ bull sharks in the dark and murky rain-impacted waters, we saw no aggressive behavior. After our dives, we felt the same urge Natasha had felt when she first arrived, and has felt every day since: we too wanted to demystify bull sharks.
Beqa Adventure Divers is equal parts a fully-functional dive shop, a conservation hub and a research center. Local Fijians are offered employment, moving them from non-divers to divemasters based on high standards set by the longstanding management team. Natasha has been able to tag and study bull sharks with the help of this highly-trained crew, while also hosting other researchers and youth groups to further educate them on shark species. With a mission to change the shark narrative, the team’s goal is to make diving with bulls accessible, secure and available for years to come.
Back in 2018, Natasha launched a conservation initiative called ‘My Fiji Shark’. The program offers named individual sharks for adoption to help fund the range of new conservation projects. These sharks are all personally known to the Beqa Adventure Divers team and logged in the scientific database of the Marine Park some for over 20 years. ‘Topsail’, ‘Lil’ Lefty’, ‘Hustler’, ‘Wanda’ and ‘Sprinkles’ are just a handful of the sharks we had the pleasure of coming face-to-face with on our dives.
With My Fiji Shark, the objectives are twofold: change people's perceptions of sharks and raise funding for new research and projects.
I adopted a shark named ‘Chop Suey’, which felt quite fitting given this shark’s overall vibe and unique characteristics. This concept of cleverly naming each shark gives each of them a flair of personality. It reduces a sense of fear surrounding these creatures and makes them more familiar and friendly.
Every place we explore provides us with new ways of processing our natural world. As we move around the globe, we get progressively more connected to the ocean through the people we meet. Someone like Natasha, who was brave enough to leave every shred of comfort behind to follow her passion, allows us to look inward, and reflect on ourselves more easily. We find ourselves asking, “what are we doing to contribute?”
We left Fiji exhausted from days of diving in ripping current and churning waters. We also left hopeful for our planet's survival, knowing that there are people giving their entire being to conserving, restoring and protecting our world’s most magnificent natural wonders. Getting to spend time with people who are making shark diving possible is equally as fascinating as seeing the bulls in the wild.
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