Northern Division

Fiji's Northern Division encompasses Vanua Levu, the country's second-largest island, and the smaller islands of Taveuni, Rabi, Kioa, and several groups in the Koro Sea. Vanua Levu is less developed than Viti Levu and draws a more self-selecting traveller — yachties who know the deep anchorages at Savusavu and Nukubati, divers who come specifically for the Namena Marine Reserve, and overlanders willing to accept unpaved roads and patchy connectivity. Savusavu, the main town on Vanua Levu's south coast, is known to Pacific cruisers as one of the finest natural harbours in the Pacific, the bay being a flooded volcanic caldera with a deep shelf. Thermal hot springs emerge on the town waterfront — locals use them to cook; the Savusavu Hot Springs Hotel taps them directly. Taveuni, a 45-minute flight or overnight ferry from Suva, is the island that claims the International Date Line (the 180° meridian runs through it, though Fiji has placed all its islands on the same side for practical purposes). The Bouma National Heritage Park covers 80% of Taveuni's interior; the island's east coast faces the Somosomo Strait, which produces the tidal exchange that drives the diving at Rainbow Reef and the White Wall. Pacific semidiurnal, spring range 0.8 to 1.2 m. Predictions come from Open-Meteo Marine (gridded model, ±45 min / ±0.2–0.3 m).