Fiji - 2 weeks alone in December - Where, What, Why? Help Please!

[ernani]

I have 2 weeks+ of vacation to spend alone during December, and considered spending them in Fiji [I dove Fiji: Taveuni & Ono 20 years ago].

As I am traveling alone, and budget is a consideration, I am looking for ideas where I can combine good diving with reasonable cheap accommodation. Many of the resorts are becoming very expensive when one goes for single occupancy. I am happy with clean, basic accommodation as well as local food.

Any ideas and help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Eau_Girl]

Hi Ernani,

I had just over a week on my own in Fiji before I met my group in the Solomon Islands. I wanted to get in some dives and stay in a comfortable place. I didn't want a backpackers, but I didn't want a top-end resort either. In the end Daku fit the bill. They were running a special package with the Couteau Resort's dive center at the time. I enjoyed it. I've not yet dove any place else in Fiji, but I know that some consider that Savusavu diving is OK, but not the best the islands have to offer. We made it to Namena one day (at no extra charge to me!) which was really nice.

Send me a PM if you have any specific questions.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pa...fiji-savusavu-trip-report-october-2009-a.html

 

[OnTheSpot]

Hi Ernani,

I would take another look at Tevuini if excellent diving is what you are after - Garden Island Resort is closest to the famous Rainbow Reefs, practically on their doorstep, about a 15 minute boat ride away. This resort is also great for singles.

There are some great Garden Island Resort Package Deals on offer and the single suppliment is not shocking at only 350 FJD on the five night package.

 

[babiski]

I am heading alone to Turks and Caicos Dec 11-22 and am 'Couchsurfing.org' I am staying with local dive instructors for $15/night! Check it out, it will change the way you travel alone. I am sure there are couchsurfers there as well. Good luck and let me know if you'd like a dive/travel buddy in the future! Kathryn

 

[fiji_diver]

Hi
Budget and great diving. Hmmmm.
Well here are a few to look at.
Volivoli 8 bed dorms, very clean and with 2 bathrooms per room, not to bad for privacy. about FJ$35 per night. Bar food cheap and quite good. Diving can be some of the best but it can get busy. This is one of the few resorts to dive the Vatu-i-Ra passage offering world class big fish and drifts.
Maybe my favorite for value and diving would be Dolphin Bay diving all the Taveuni sites for a fraction of the bigger resorts prices. $160 inclusive of food or less if you go for shared accom. The specials at Garden Island do look quite good too as per OnTheSpot (Dive the World)

Another great option, although not to everyone's taste, is Cagali. Very popular with the locals for weekends and offers some great sites including the Wakaya passage. Very basic accommodation and facilities but superb atmosphere and very Fijian. A little tricky to get to but they will tell you how it is done. Cost about FJ$50 per night inclusive. Very reasonable dive rates.

Eau_Girl's idea for Daku is a also a good one I think but you will get better dive rates from DiveKorosun than you will from Cousteau and they dive exactly the same sites, of which the Namena marine reserve is by far the best.

I hope that helps a bit. Do try and haggle a deal as most resorts are not that busy at the moment and love advanced bookings.

Cheers
Greg

 

[fiji_diver]

Another one I thought of.
Stay on Ovalau, Levuka at the Royal Hotel and dive with Ovalau Water Sports. Similar dive sites to those visited by the Cagali mob, but better boat and a little more up market. You can do a day trip, or more, to Cagali from there if you fancied a night in more traditional surroundings.
Greg

 

[kaaralex]

Hi, i just stayed a few days in Paradise taveuni. The resort is as beautiful as a golf course lawn, even slightly uptight, food is good, shore dives r unlimited and after check out dive with their DM u can dive solo if u wish... but it is definitely not a place for anybody on budget. On way there and back i saw couple of motel-style options, seemed quite decent to me - easy to find on Googlemaps or similar.
However, what should concern you for the money this trip will cost is that I must say i was slightly dissapointed with diving there. There were some famous spots like Great White Wall at Rainbow Reef, which was an AMAZING thing - but we only did one dive (out of 4) there. Right by shore, there is Vuna Reef, we did 4 dives there as well, 2 were outright disapointing, one was OK, and only one was really good. It seemed to my eye (i may be wrong) that corals got quite battered by March cycloon which brought winds over 200kmph. Or maybe my expectations were too high, i dont know.
The second week we spent around Beqa Lagoon at Waidroka Resort, west from Pacific Harbour. Dont know what kind of deal a single person can get, we were grp of 8 divers (mention this as reference when asking them for price but give it a try as it is MORE than worth. It is not "just another resort" but a very laidback place, where guests and staff eat dinner together, there is a friendly German shepherd running around, pool table.. and the chef, Ravi is a Lord of a Kitchen. He just rules them all. The best food i hv ever experienced on a dive trip. Even the most complaining member of our group ate everything that landed on his plates. We were astonished (and relieved to watch this happening.
Shark diving with Aquatrek guys was terrific, we got 3 tiger-sharks 4m long on one of these and 2+m wrasse on another... What i liked even more were 2 dives on Frigates. This was definitely the place with the healthiest and most numerous corals i saw during 10 days of diving in Fiji. It looked fabulous even on a cloudy day.
Sadly I havent dove other parts of Fiji, but hope even this bit can help.

 

[1davey]

Stayed at two resorts inlate July and early August. Bequa lagoon then Matava on Kandavu. Matava was quiet small 9 Bures. great food and outstanding service. One week there was $1,000.00 all inclusive. I seen critters ranging from Mantas to Nudi branchs. Corals there were in pristine condition.

 

[bubbles09]

i stayed at volivoli this time last year and the diving at Raki Raki was pretty average.... the menu at the resort got a bit tiresome too...