Salad Bowl - Kadavu & Great Astrolabe Reef
The Salad Bowl is a gentle introduction to Kadavu’s reef system, a comfortable 20-meter max depth making it ideal for those new to the area or still building confidence. We usually find it’s a calm drift over healthy plate corals, like giant dinner plates stacked up, hence the name. Keep an eye out for smaller reef sharks cruising the edges and the usual suspects like parrotfish munching away. It’s a reliable spot for a relaxed dive, a good warm-up before tackling some of the more current-swept sites here.
- Location
- Kadavu & Great Astrolabe Reef, Fiji, Central & South Pacific
- Coordinates
- -17.313800, 178.013600
- Type
- reef
- Maximum Depth
- 20m
- Difficulty
- Beginner
Marine Protected Area: Vanua Rakiraki, Ra
Nearby Dive Sites in Kadavu & Great Astrolabe Reef
- 3 Sisters - 23m
- Always Cool - 19m
- Amazing Maze - 19m
- Annie’s Bommie - 20m (reef)
- Anytime - 22m
- ANZAC - 22m
- Aquarium - 17m
- Arch - 20m (cave)
- Backyard Beach - 13m
- Barracuda Drift - 18m (drift)
- Barracuda Hole
- Base Jump - 20m
- Bats Reef - 18m (reef)
- BAWAQA - 0m (wreck)
- Beqa Lagoon (reef)
Nearest Dive Centres to Salad Bowl
Marine Life in Kadavu & Great Astrolabe Reef
Home to 385 recorded species including 289 reef fish, 66 hard corals, 12 sea snails & nudibranchs, 3 clams & mussels, 3 sharks & rays, 2 other.
Notable Species
- Bullethead Parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus) - Reef Fish
- Parrotfish (Thalassoma hardwicke) - Reef Fish
- Parrotfish (Thalassoma lutescens) - Reef Fish
- Roundhead Parrotfish (Scarus globiceps) - Reef Fish
- Dusky Parrotfish (Scarus niger) - Reef Fish
- Dot and dash Butterflyfish (Chaetodon pelewensis) - Reef Fish
- Bird wrasse (Gomphosus varius) - Reef Fish
- Schlegel's Parrotfish (Scarus schlegeli) - Reef Fish
- Lineated Butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasciatus) - Reef Fish
- Banded Goatfish (Parupeneus multifasciatus) - Reef Fish
- Banded-tail Coral-cod (Cephalopholis urodeta) - Reef Fish
- Batavian Parrotfish (Scarus psittacus) - Reef Fish
- Black-backed Wrasse (Anampses neoguinaicus) - Reef Fish
- Two-tone wrasse (Thalassoma amblycephalum) - Reef Fish
- Triangular Butterflyfish (Chaetodon baronessa) - Reef Fish
- Bandcheek wrasse (Oxycheilinus digramma) - Reef Fish
- Citron Butterfly (Chaetodon citrinellus) - Reef Fish
- Blunt-head Parrotfish (Chlorurus microrhinos) - Reef Fish
- Wrasse (Cheilinus trilobatus) - Reef Fish
- Filament-finned Parrotfish (Scarus altipinnis) - Reef Fish