where to dive in south pacific?

I am going to be taking my honeymoon next august to the south pacific
and I want to go to an island that will give me the best diving. I am
very confused between all of the islands ie. Bora Bora, Tahiti, Fiji,
etc.

Greg Mossman...

Not Tahiti. Probably not Bora Bora. Maybe Fiji, but there are many islands
in Fiji and some aren't as good as others.

Is there one island that has better diving than the others or are they
all the same? Since this will be one of the few times in my life that
I can go to that part of the world, I do not want to make a mistake. I
would really appreciate input from anyone who knows.

Greg Mossman...

Your problem is that the best of the diving islands and the best of the
honeymoon islands rarely overlap. Fiji will have corals superior to the
more remote Tahitian Islands and more diverse fish life as well, but you
have to do your homework since some islands have suffered from coral
bleaching. Normally I'm a do-it-myself traveler, but in your case I'd
highly recommend using a dive travel agent that specializes in the South
Pacific and can (hopefully) give you current information about sites that
may still look pretty in the brochures but were wiped out in the last year
by whatever typhoon or el nino came through.

I spent 10 days in Tahiti and 6 days in Palau with the owner of this
company. I know he books a lot of Fiji trips too, and has traveled there
extensively, plus they're a great resource to see how the various locales
relatively stack up as honeymoon or dive locales. For instance, I know they
don't like to recommend Tahiti as the best spot for honeymooning Americans
because our inhibited male eyes can't help but wander over to the
lasciviously displayed beachfuls of bare breasts, and that's not the best
way to start off a deeply devoted marriage.

and an upcoming trip to the Caribbean, but they purportedly do a fine job
with Fiji as well. Like the owner of Trip N Tour, the owner of Island
Dreams is also a very well-traveled diver and a nice guy, though I've only
met him once.