Who's been to Fiji? Advice needed
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jerk85
Registered
Don't mean to hijack this thread, but I also have some Fiji questions and it seemed silly to start a new thread when this info could be useful to all...
Does anyone have any experience renting houses on Taveuni? Specifically we are looking at Sere Ni Ika. My friends have been talking to Bob Goddess, the owner, who has been very helpful answering questions and making arrangements. It seems like a great deal and very reasonably priced, so I was curious if anyone could share their experience. The alternative is staying at Garden Island Resort with the rest of the group, but it bothers me to go all the way to fiji and have no beach!
Also, any experience with the local dive ops on Taveuni? We could dive with Aquatrek with the rest of the group (which requires a cab ride over to GIR each morning) or make our own diving arrangements. Any suggestions?
Does anyone have any experience renting houses on Taveuni? Specifically we are looking at Sere Ni Ika. My friends have been talking to Bob Goddess, the owner, who has been very helpful answering questions and making arrangements. It seems like a great deal and very reasonably priced, so I was curious if anyone could share their experience. The alternative is staying at Garden Island Resort with the rest of the group, but it bothers me to go all the way to fiji and have no beach!
Also, any experience with the local dive ops on Taveuni? We could dive with Aquatrek with the rest of the group (which requires a cab ride over to GIR each morning) or make our own diving arrangements. Any suggestions?
EmeraldSeaDiving
Registered
We went to FIJI June '07 and can't wait to return. We stayed with Beqa Lagoon Resort and were treated very well. The diving was incredible. All of the divers loved it. There was no complaints by the non-divers, and there is surfing available on the FIJI Pipeline as well as other places. In fact we have another group trip going back in June '08 if anyone is interested. If you want a wild night life this aint it. Its a private island with no roads or cars thus making it very quiet, romantic, and untouched in a lot of ways. Hope this helps answer some of those questions.
BTW..Our trip is June 12-21st..2008
BTW..Our trip is June 12-21st..2008
dbittner
Contributor
I was at Beqa Lagoon Resort in June '06 and June '07 with Maui Dreams Dive Co., and I totally agree with your assessment of the BLR experience. We're going again this June, and our dates overlap with yours. We'll be there June 15-22.
Bula!
Dave
Travelnsj
Contributor
For you experienced Fiji people??? I have a stop over coming back from the Solomon Islands in the second week of December for about 6 nights. Do not want to get on another plane so I have been thinking about going to one of three spots 1. Raki Raki 2. Namena Region and 3. Beqa.
What is the best area to go for large schools of fish and pelagic's? I'm not into shark feeding so is Beqa still a good dive spot?
Any info is appreciated.
What is the best area to go for large schools of fish and pelagic's? I'm not into shark feeding so is Beqa still a good dive spot?
Any info is appreciated.
Just got back from Beqa Lagoon. Emerald SeaDiving does give a good assessment. I saw an earlier entry which mentioned mechanical problem on their boats. We had none of those. The Fijian people there were very reserved when they first meet you. But, if you're friendly, and take time to learn about them, they open up. We had a great time with them. The DM's are a bit lax about keeping an eye on their groups. We had a group of 18 and broke into 3 smaller groups for dives. But, people kept losing their DM. So, inexperienced divers might have a problem.
We visited the villages, school, saw fire walkers and listened to a village choir, watched boys do war dances and learned to open coconuts and cook. Wise is the guide for land activities. Really a nice guy. Make sure you have good walking shoes if you decide to walk to the waterfall. Not sneakers, as there will be mud and water. The chef there is VERY good. The service was pretty fast and the desserts at dinner were awesome! Presentation was impressive.
The bures are very comfortable and I loved the soaking pool at my bure. Watched fruit bats fly overhead in the afternoons and mongoose wandering in the mornings.
The reef in front of the resort is 10 - 20 feet and has a great variety of critters. Lots of stars, anemone fish. Saw a crown of thorns. You could spend hours wandering that reef. Great for night dives too.
The shark dive was cool. Lots of remoras and jacks, in addition to the sharks. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see a tiger.
We visited the villages, school, saw fire walkers and listened to a village choir, watched boys do war dances and learned to open coconuts and cook. Wise is the guide for land activities. Really a nice guy. Make sure you have good walking shoes if you decide to walk to the waterfall. Not sneakers, as there will be mud and water. The chef there is VERY good. The service was pretty fast and the desserts at dinner were awesome! Presentation was impressive.
The bures are very comfortable and I loved the soaking pool at my bure. Watched fruit bats fly overhead in the afternoons and mongoose wandering in the mornings.
The reef in front of the resort is 10 - 20 feet and has a great variety of critters. Lots of stars, anemone fish. Saw a crown of thorns. You could spend hours wandering that reef. Great for night dives too.
The shark dive was cool. Lots of remoras and jacks, in addition to the sharks. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see a tiger.
smfcpacfp
Registered
where is Bequa Lagoon? Which Island?
My wife and I leave for a one week+ trip to the Turks & Caicos this Friday!
My wife and I leave for a one week+ trip to the Turks & Caicos this Friday!
Beqa is a small island in Fiji. Just off Vita Levu.
Which island in Turks are you staying on? I've been to Provo, Grand Turk and Salt Cay. Saw a couple of dolphins while diving a reef off Salt Cay last year.
Which island in Turks are you staying on? I've been to Provo, Grand Turk and Salt Cay. Saw a couple of dolphins while diving a reef off Salt Cay last year.
smfcpacfp
Registered
Grand Turk. My wife is a little excited, but i don't get excited until I actually leave.
Luko
Contributor
One or two months ago, I asked a few questions down here, all related to diving or lodging in Fiji. As I'm now back from the islands, I wanted to input some feedback about my recent fijian dive experience for whomever it might interest.
Firstly I'm traveling with my wife end 14 yo. daughter, both non divers, I'm the only -quite experienced- diver of the bunch.
I had chosen Kadavu, the Yasawas (mostly as a counterpart for the two girls of my party) and Rakiraki area on a very tight schedule (only 12 days in the Fiji).
1- Kadavu :
I had booked four days with Waisalima beach resort. Good choice : it was a heartbreak to leave, Maureen, the ozzie owner and all the fijian staff are still in our minds.
The settings are nice, we booked the family bure at the western end of the property, which can accomodate up to 4/5 people. Be prepared to be waken up early by the birds, I still have that kingfisher early laughs reosunding in my ears.
The bure includes quite comfortable beds, mosquito nets, although in this rainy season the mosquitoes were frantic.
The tidal beach provides a nice snorkeling area on a small dropoff, some 50m off the shore. Very lively on hard corals, but like in all Kadavu at that season , some small coral fish but very few bigger fish specimen.
One of the strong points in Waisalima is the food that either fijian woman cooks : delicious fijian meals with local products, like taro leaves, kassava, breadfruit, fish, mudcrab, coconut.. something we missed in the other part of our trip.
While there we had two sorts of activities : diving and local activities, such as attending to the weekly ferry arrival (don't laugh it's a fun experience and a good way to meet and talk with the local people, highly recommended), hiking to waterfalls or going to the village.
I had six dives with Viti Watersport, which is located 20m next door to Waisalima dining room and Mo's office. Viti watersports provides two tanks morning dives, returning at 1PM, the main advantage is that you can program othre activities in the afternon, like the ones I mentioned above.
I was the only diver with soft speaking instructor Mike for the first day, a couple of german divers joined for the following days. All the dives were completed in the Naiqoro (pronouced nain'goro) passage area, either in the deep passage which splits the Great Astrolabe reef or in the marine reserve area, inside or outside, weather and tide permitting, the Great Astrolabe reef.
First impression, I was stunned with the wealth of hard coral, like no El Nino and no global warmth had ever impacted the area. especially on the outer side of the Great Astrolabe, spots like "Fish Market" are a maze of large acroporas, table, elkhorn, lettuce, fire, brain, any-hard-coral-you-name-it corals.
My special attention goes to Purple Wall a drifting wall dive on the sides of Naiqoro passage, covered with mainly purple soft coral, but also all sorts of tones ranging from white to bright orangy or deep red soft corals.
On every dive we had either whitetip or grey reef sharks sights, on one dive, a spotted eagle ray passing into the blue. Unfortunately We had no manta ray encounters (off season) nor any bronze whalers sightings, which are common in this area. On the downside and except for the outer reef sites, like "fish market", I found that fish life was not lively enough.
My main problem was for me that my flash connections had gone severely AWOL after my third dive and I had no solutions to fix it back for the whole trip.
We had a really nice stay at Waisalima which I can recommend warmly for diving purpose and if you want an insight of the fijian life. Probably that sharing with Mo a bottle of Champagne which I had brought from France helps a lot relaxing and chatting before dinner. I wish we had brought some more french art-de-vivre in this remote place. If you ever go to Waisalima, remember it's a remote place so it would be a good idea to bring some luxury items to share : like cheese and champagne for instance (Mo's favorite brand : Ruinart)...
2- Yasawas :
Heading up afterwards to the Yasawa islands…I made my mind for Oarsman’s Bay in further up north Nacula island.
It takes about 4 ½ hours and 220 Fijian bucks return trip, for an enjoyable voyage aboard the electric yellow Awesome adventures ferry.
The beach there is ABSOLUTELY stunning, one of the best I have ever seen in more than 30 years of beachcombing (my favourite being Beach #7 on Havelock, Andaman islands, India).
Although I didn’t expect much about diving, I met Niko from the quite recent Yasawa islands divers at nearby Coral View resort, who tailored me a couple of dives.
Niko is starting a shark feeding dive on a gorgeous site he calls Cathedral, because of the crevices an swim throughs : even though I am not a shark feeding aficionado the dive was so good, I asked him to do it again the day after, in the purpose of getting available light shark shots… which turned out to be photographically feasible, as the visibility in the Yasawas is good to very good (25m or more).
Apart from beach activities like snorkelling off the beach, big islands like Nacula provide interesting cultural activities like visiting traditional villages. The advantage of such small resorts managed by the village community is that you still feel you’re dipped into the Fijian village culture : as the night falls, someone pulls a guitar out and you’re in for some singing, a couple of bowls of kava, their narcotic drink, and eventually a good night sleep.
The departure was another heartbreak, how can you not be moved with the whole staff singing the moving Isa Lei farewell song. Sunglasses are helpful in this moment, even when the sun is totally concealed.
3-RakiRaki – north of Viti Levu .
I then booked two nights at Wananavu beach resort to dive the Bligh Waters, it’s a 2h30 drive from Nadi that we arranged very conveniently with Wananavu : their comfortable transfer coach waited for our arrival from the Yasawas, late afternoon at Denarau Marina.
Wananavu is a bit on the expensive side but it’s a lovely resort, located on a hillside overlooking Nananu I Ra island and the Vatu I Ra waters. Their bungalows are spotless with a Fijian taste, the pool is great, the staff greet you like you were friends the downside is that it lacks a bit of the Fijian culture we were dipped into, on our previous accom choices… apart from the waiters warmth, something too westerny for my personal taste oozes from the place. I’ll probably try to stay on Nananu I Ra island backpacker place next time.
I arranged my dives with Julie Trussell at Kaiviti Divers, which is located on the marina next to Wananavu. Unfortunately, I only had time for one day diving and asked for a three tanks dives day. Diver’s comfort is one of the strength if Kaiviti : they take all your gear from your room, rinse it and you find it back hanging on your bungalow terrace the day you’re leaving.
Along with 5 other divers, it took us more than a one hour boatride to get to the spot called “G6”, then to a close site called “Garden of Eden” and finally on our way back after a lunch break on Bird island, on “Vatu-I-Ra Express”.
On all of these dives you realize why Fiji is called the soft coral capital of the world. Being familiar with Red Sea and South Eastern Asia dives, I had never witnessed such density and color variations for coral. Typically the dives occur around the walls of large patches coming up from the depths, crowned with glittery golden, blood red or lavender purple soft corals and swarms of anthias. On each dives we spotted grey reef or whitetip sharks, large spanish mackerels.. we sometimes had to choose whether we’d try to follow the large schools of trevallies and barracudas or the ubiquitous shark.
4- conclusion
On a diving point of view, the Bligh waters up north of Viti Levu provide superior diving and deserves more than just a couple of days, I’ve been told locally that Somosomo straits and Namena are even better areas. On the other side, I reckon it’s a diving only kind of place, non divers would get easily bored.
I loved Kadavu for a combination of remoteness and cultural experience.
I wouldn’t recommend the place for people looking for western comfort, but Fijian warmth balances the shortcomings anytime. Hard coral variety is excellent, unfortunately it wasn’t the period for big fish like mantas, and coral fish wasn’t as impressive as in the Bligh waters.
Also Kadavu provides many different kind of dives, Manta reef on the western tip is said to be completely different than Naiqoro Passage 30km east… with more time, it would have been intesting coupling the different areas.
Now, if you want to talk about beaches, Yasawas are the islands you’re looking for. Add some fun diving and you call it paradise.
As a conclusion, I would go back anytime to the Fiji islands but for a longer stay… (which is already planned). I might go back to some of the places and I will certainly add the famous Beqa lagoon tiger shark dives and either Namena or Somosomo straits areas.
Firstly I'm traveling with my wife end 14 yo. daughter, both non divers, I'm the only -quite experienced- diver of the bunch.
I had chosen Kadavu, the Yasawas (mostly as a counterpart for the two girls of my party) and Rakiraki area on a very tight schedule (only 12 days in the Fiji).
1- Kadavu :
I had booked four days with Waisalima beach resort. Good choice : it was a heartbreak to leave, Maureen, the ozzie owner and all the fijian staff are still in our minds.
The settings are nice, we booked the family bure at the western end of the property, which can accomodate up to 4/5 people. Be prepared to be waken up early by the birds, I still have that kingfisher early laughs reosunding in my ears.
The bure includes quite comfortable beds, mosquito nets, although in this rainy season the mosquitoes were frantic.
The tidal beach provides a nice snorkeling area on a small dropoff, some 50m off the shore. Very lively on hard corals, but like in all Kadavu at that season , some small coral fish but very few bigger fish specimen.
One of the strong points in Waisalima is the food that either fijian woman cooks : delicious fijian meals with local products, like taro leaves, kassava, breadfruit, fish, mudcrab, coconut.. something we missed in the other part of our trip.
While there we had two sorts of activities : diving and local activities, such as attending to the weekly ferry arrival (don't laugh it's a fun experience and a good way to meet and talk with the local people, highly recommended), hiking to waterfalls or going to the village.
I had six dives with Viti Watersport, which is located 20m next door to Waisalima dining room and Mo's office. Viti watersports provides two tanks morning dives, returning at 1PM, the main advantage is that you can program othre activities in the afternon, like the ones I mentioned above.
I was the only diver with soft speaking instructor Mike for the first day, a couple of german divers joined for the following days. All the dives were completed in the Naiqoro (pronouced nain'goro) passage area, either in the deep passage which splits the Great Astrolabe reef or in the marine reserve area, inside or outside, weather and tide permitting, the Great Astrolabe reef.
First impression, I was stunned with the wealth of hard coral, like no El Nino and no global warmth had ever impacted the area. especially on the outer side of the Great Astrolabe, spots like "Fish Market" are a maze of large acroporas, table, elkhorn, lettuce, fire, brain, any-hard-coral-you-name-it corals.
My special attention goes to Purple Wall a drifting wall dive on the sides of Naiqoro passage, covered with mainly purple soft coral, but also all sorts of tones ranging from white to bright orangy or deep red soft corals.
On every dive we had either whitetip or grey reef sharks sights, on one dive, a spotted eagle ray passing into the blue. Unfortunately We had no manta ray encounters (off season) nor any bronze whalers sightings, which are common in this area. On the downside and except for the outer reef sites, like "fish market", I found that fish life was not lively enough.
My main problem was for me that my flash connections had gone severely AWOL after my third dive and I had no solutions to fix it back for the whole trip.
We had a really nice stay at Waisalima which I can recommend warmly for diving purpose and if you want an insight of the fijian life. Probably that sharing with Mo a bottle of Champagne which I had brought from France helps a lot relaxing and chatting before dinner. I wish we had brought some more french art-de-vivre in this remote place. If you ever go to Waisalima, remember it's a remote place so it would be a good idea to bring some luxury items to share : like cheese and champagne for instance (Mo's favorite brand : Ruinart)...
2- Yasawas :
Heading up afterwards to the Yasawa islands…I made my mind for Oarsman’s Bay in further up north Nacula island.
It takes about 4 ½ hours and 220 Fijian bucks return trip, for an enjoyable voyage aboard the electric yellow Awesome adventures ferry.
The beach there is ABSOLUTELY stunning, one of the best I have ever seen in more than 30 years of beachcombing (my favourite being Beach #7 on Havelock, Andaman islands, India).
Although I didn’t expect much about diving, I met Niko from the quite recent Yasawa islands divers at nearby Coral View resort, who tailored me a couple of dives.
Niko is starting a shark feeding dive on a gorgeous site he calls Cathedral, because of the crevices an swim throughs : even though I am not a shark feeding aficionado the dive was so good, I asked him to do it again the day after, in the purpose of getting available light shark shots… which turned out to be photographically feasible, as the visibility in the Yasawas is good to very good (25m or more).
Apart from beach activities like snorkelling off the beach, big islands like Nacula provide interesting cultural activities like visiting traditional villages. The advantage of such small resorts managed by the village community is that you still feel you’re dipped into the Fijian village culture : as the night falls, someone pulls a guitar out and you’re in for some singing, a couple of bowls of kava, their narcotic drink, and eventually a good night sleep.
The departure was another heartbreak, how can you not be moved with the whole staff singing the moving Isa Lei farewell song. Sunglasses are helpful in this moment, even when the sun is totally concealed.
3-RakiRaki – north of Viti Levu .
I then booked two nights at Wananavu beach resort to dive the Bligh Waters, it’s a 2h30 drive from Nadi that we arranged very conveniently with Wananavu : their comfortable transfer coach waited for our arrival from the Yasawas, late afternoon at Denarau Marina.
Wananavu is a bit on the expensive side but it’s a lovely resort, located on a hillside overlooking Nananu I Ra island and the Vatu I Ra waters. Their bungalows are spotless with a Fijian taste, the pool is great, the staff greet you like you were friends the downside is that it lacks a bit of the Fijian culture we were dipped into, on our previous accom choices… apart from the waiters warmth, something too westerny for my personal taste oozes from the place. I’ll probably try to stay on Nananu I Ra island backpacker place next time.
I arranged my dives with Julie Trussell at Kaiviti Divers, which is located on the marina next to Wananavu. Unfortunately, I only had time for one day diving and asked for a three tanks dives day. Diver’s comfort is one of the strength if Kaiviti : they take all your gear from your room, rinse it and you find it back hanging on your bungalow terrace the day you’re leaving.
Along with 5 other divers, it took us more than a one hour boatride to get to the spot called “G6”, then to a close site called “Garden of Eden” and finally on our way back after a lunch break on Bird island, on “Vatu-I-Ra Express”.
On all of these dives you realize why Fiji is called the soft coral capital of the world. Being familiar with Red Sea and South Eastern Asia dives, I had never witnessed such density and color variations for coral. Typically the dives occur around the walls of large patches coming up from the depths, crowned with glittery golden, blood red or lavender purple soft corals and swarms of anthias. On each dives we spotted grey reef or whitetip sharks, large spanish mackerels.. we sometimes had to choose whether we’d try to follow the large schools of trevallies and barracudas or the ubiquitous shark.
4- conclusion
On a diving point of view, the Bligh waters up north of Viti Levu provide superior diving and deserves more than just a couple of days, I’ve been told locally that Somosomo straits and Namena are even better areas. On the other side, I reckon it’s a diving only kind of place, non divers would get easily bored.
I loved Kadavu for a combination of remoteness and cultural experience.
I wouldn’t recommend the place for people looking for western comfort, but Fijian warmth balances the shortcomings anytime. Hard coral variety is excellent, unfortunately it wasn’t the period for big fish like mantas, and coral fish wasn’t as impressive as in the Bligh waters.
Also Kadavu provides many different kind of dives, Manta reef on the western tip is said to be completely different than Naiqoro Passage 30km east… with more time, it would have been intesting coupling the different areas.
Now, if you want to talk about beaches, Yasawas are the islands you’re looking for. Add some fun diving and you call it paradise.
As a conclusion, I would go back anytime to the Fiji islands but for a longer stay… (which is already planned). I might go back to some of the places and I will certainly add the famous Beqa lagoon tiger shark dives and either Namena or Somosomo straits areas.
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