Fiji: Rakiraki, Pacific Harbour & Taveuni

[abbylou1910]

I'm currently working with a travel agent to plan a 3 week dive vacation to Fiji in July. My current plans are 5 nights at Volivoli Beach Resort in Rakiraki with diving in Bligh Waters. Then we plan to travel to Pacific Harbour stopping in Sigatoka to see the sand dunes, Naihehe cannibal caves and possibly Sri Siva Temple. In Pacific Harbor we plan on spending 5 nights at Uprising Resort in Pacific Harbor in order to dive for 2 days (shark dive included) visit a local village, tour waterfalls, do a whitewater rafting trip and see a firewalking ceremony. After that, we plan on travelling to Taveuni to spend 7 nights diving Rainbow Reef. Currently we are scheduled to stay at Garden Island resort, but I've been going back and forth with the travel agent as I didn't like some of the reviews that I read about the dive operator and I don't really like the fact that there isn't a beach. He said that the good thing about this resort is that it is centrally located to many of the land activities that we plan on doing (Bouma falls, Waitavala waterslide, Lavena Beach coastal walk, Vuna Blowholes, pearl farm, International Dateline, [FONT=arial, sans-serif]Historical Catholic Mission, and church visit). We looked into Nakia and Coconut Grove and they'd be significantly more expensive.

Here are my questions:
Has anyone stayed at any of these places? Do you think this is a good trip to see a lot of what Fiji has to offer? Is there any activity that we don't have scheduled that you'd recommend?

I like the idea that Volivoli has a beach. Would anyone recommend Wananavu over Volivoli? I went back and forth for a while, but not sure about spending $160+ each for my husband and myself to make the swtich.

Anyone have any other recommendations on Taveuni with a beach and good dive operator? I really loved the idea that Nakia supplied mountain bikes to explore the island. Can anyone recommend a place that is similar, but cheaper?

I'll be happy when I book the resorts. I've been reading so many reviews my eyes hurt!

Thanks for your time! [/FONT]

 

[JMorben]

We have been to Nakia twice and dove with Taveuni Ocean Sports. With over 500 dives, Taveuni Ocean Sports owned by Julie Kelly is simply the best. Nakia is a fantastic place to stay -- small and excellent food. Read the reviews on Tripadvisor. They are very accurate. Their location is close to all of the good dive sites. With the time and expense of getting to Taveuni, you will be sorry if you stay at any other place than Nakia.

 

[abbylou1910]

Thanks for your response! Like I said, I loved the reviews of Nakia, but staying there would be significantly more expensive than what we had already figured out...$2000 to be exact! Unfortunately, I can't justify that. My travel agent just found Aroha Taveuni and I think I'm sold! I'm going to see if we can dive with Taveuni Ocean Sports. If not, we'll go with Taveuni Dive. Either way, I'm happier using those operators than the one at Garden Island. A few reviews of their dive operation really turned me off. Do you have any other advice for activities in Taveuni? I'm so excited to see the waterfalls and experience the island!

 

[Dustyreefdiving]

My wife and I got back from Taveuni Island in June. We stayed with Paradise Taveuni. They were very nice, food was excellent, took us to excellent dive locations. We got Nitrox while we were there and it was bad, but at that time they imported their nitrox from the main island and are now getting their own system. Allen and his wife are a delight. I found their place relaxing, refreshing, and just an overall great place to go diving. I will go back again.

 

[Triggerman]

You might want to check out Wananavu Beach Resort, northern tip of Vitu Levu. I was at Wananavu Dec.2012, and had an amazing time!! The location is a little hard to get to, a very bumpy hour and a half drive from the airport but well worth the effort!! The bures are fantastic to stay in, and the food was very good, and I'm a picky eater!! The diving was excellent! Lots of cool things to see from the "big stuff" turtles, sharks, schools of fish to great macro and fantastic corals! Hopefully Chris and Vicky still run the dive shop, they did a fantastic job when I was there!
Here are a few recommendations:
- Ask for Esa to be your dive master, he is the most relaxed, easy going dm, a pure joy to dive with!
-Ask to go to the following dive sites: Heartbreak Ridge, Black Magic Mountain (some current but well worth the effort when you see the "fish highway"), Mellow Yellow (stay on top of the pinnacle for your safety stop and watch all the different clown fish in the anemones!), and Potluck.
-Have the pizza for supper!!
-Ask for a beach front bure!

Anyways, hope this helps!! Good luck planning your trip!!!

 

[Shasta_man]

I don't think central location is particularly a problem in Taveuni. The island isn't that big, though it would be a little easier.

Check into whether the beaches you are considering are actually useable because for several locations I was at, when the tide was out, the reef line was pretty far out and the water was only knee deep close in. Staying near the airport, the water was quite sandy and murky with an island renowned for seasnakes just offshore. I love seeing seasnakes while diving and saw several right on the beach while walking along, but accidentally stepping on one in murky water, even though their rear fangs make it difficult to bite you, ain't attractive. Since they are deadly if they do bite u... Not suggesting a big problem, but make sure you are getting what you expect. Do not depend on the nice website or brochure photos. We love Fiji but our Taveuni trip in early June was horizontal whiteout rain for 6 of 9 days. Taveuni gets some of the highest rainfall on Earth. The cool beachhouse we rented turned out to have the caretaker from hell and the house eventually leaked everywhere so we literally had to pile the furniture in one small area of the house. And I got sick from some ahole on the plane over. But that eventually worked out to a visit to a third world hospital at 2AM, after driving through heavy storm with frogs all over the road, to ensure I wasn't actually dying of some Fijian creeping crud, but I digress. Oh yeah, and my wife got carbon monoxide poisoning, twice, just on the ride out to the dive site because the design of the dive speedboat the Swiss Fiji Divers used drew exhaust from the dual 200 HP outboards back up into the boat and the tanks on the outside prevented easy access to fresh air, turning her into a coughing spitting mess in no time, ending with her lying on the beach for a half hour to recover oxygen (With little experience about it, we didn't realize exactly the problem until the middle of trip 2. They dropped us off for a good shore dive at the SI site.). The experience did drive us to recover with an excellent trip to Palau.

 

[CheddarChick]

Please make sure you write a trip report when you come back!! You are going on my bucket list trip for 2016, and I need tons of help!

 

[cubbiegirlem]

I don't know anything about Volivoli, but I would definitely suggest diving with Wananavu. Their operation can't be beat, and I had the BEST time diving with them. I always felt safe, and they were very in tune with the needs and skills of our group and gave us the best possible experience. But more than that, they are all just such great people that you truly feel like you're with friends. I went with a group, and several months later many of us still keep in touch with the dive staff on facebook. I think many were holding back tears when we left because we all had such a wonderful time. You do not have to stay there to dive with them, and they frequently take out divers who are staying at neighboring resorts. I would go back in a heartbeat, and hope to be able to do so someday.

The resort at Wananavu is good, but again, I can't compare it to the other options, and it was really dive wananavu that made the experience for me. I just know that I can't imagine possibly having a better dive experience, so I wouldn't dive the Bligh with anyone else.

 

[cbm32]

We have never stayed at Uprising, but did stay just down the beach at Fiji Palms. We walked down to uprising to have lunch. Had the buffet and it was pretty forgettable, but everything looked really nice. Went back a couple of days later just to meet and chat with another couple from scubaboard. Their villa was small and basic, but neat and clean. The shark dive is great but the other diving in the harbour was pretty dismal (we were there in the heart of the rainy season though....and rain it did).

 

[cubbiegirlem]

Since I posted on this thread, Chris and Vicki (the managers at wananavu) have announced that they're leaving the operation. They definitely were a big part of what made me strongly recommend diving there. Might be good to keep an eye on future reviews after the management change if you're thinking of diving with wananavu.