Fiji

Spend time at Fiji’s Beqa Lagoon Resort (pronounced ben-ga), and your opinion of sharks might change.

Start with reef sharks. By day, they’re as lazy as tourists lying out by the pool. Dusk brings another story at a site called Pearl Rock, 20 minutes from the resort.

• Read more about scuba diving with sharks

“It’s a night dive I wouldn’t take a novice to,” says Joe Lum-On, head dive instructor for the resort. “They become like hyenas, hunting in packs. They maneuver until they’ve backed a fish against a rock.”

The kill is a natural part of life on the reef, but few people ever see it.

“It’s exciting for the diver, but we do have to prep them not to think too much about the goatfish or parrotfish getting cornered, because that’s how it is.”

If You Dive in the Daytime

What happens during the day at the site Cathedral, however, doesn’t require any preparation. The drill is one divers know well: Handlers open a chum-filled box to entice up to eight species of curious sharks, including bull (shown above), gray reef, lemon and nurse sharks.

And tigers.

“The other species make way for her,” says Lum-On of the response to a tiger dropping into the arena.

If there is one tiger and eight bulls, the tiger might not want to hang around. But if two or three tigers approach, the other sharks vacate for them. You’re watching hierarchy in action.

Says Lum-On, “You can feel the respect she commands.”

DIVE CONDITIONS: The water temperatures never vary more than a few degrees from 81 degrees F. However, visibility can be affected during the rainy season, November to April, dropping to 60 feet from the usual 100.

INSIDER TIP: Leave the neon dive gear at home because bright colors attract unnecessary attention from the sharks. If you don’t own black gear, the resort can provide it.

FOR MORE INFO: beqalagoonresort.com

5 Other Great Night Dives:

• Kona

• Indonesia

• Bahamas

• Maldives

• Red Sea