The excitement builds for our Fiji trip but still have questions.

mcace007 · Feb 25, 2012

Hello fellow divers and thank you in advance for any and allhelp you can offer to my wife and I about an upcoming trip to Fiji in May ofthis year.

My wife and I are traveling to Fiji May 5^th toMay 20^th and are staying at Naigani Resort for the first 12 days andthen we are relocating to the Uprising Resort for the last 4 days to allow usto do the Shark Dive with Beqa Adventure Divers. Any thoughts about these dive operators?

While we are seasoned travelers and have traveledextensively to the Caribbean for dive trips though there is something a littleintimidating about traveling that long and that far for a dive vacation,although from what I understand it will be well worth the trouble. So on tosome questions:

We are arriving at Nadi Airport and need to make our way tothe Nassouri Jetty to meet the boat to take us to Naigani. We have read aboutthe several ways to make this journey but wanted to hear it from divers as weare taking all of our own gear it seems to me that hauling two 50-pound duffelsacross the island on a 5-hour bus trip could be a bit dicey. Is it better tohire a private taxi (about how much would you expect to pay) or to rent a carfor the one way trip and return it near Suva (which is still an hour from thejetty we need to get to) We also wondered about stopping at a market for food,snacks and maybe some spirits to take with us to Naigani Island as I understandthat there are no markets there. Is it more reasonable to buy spirits at theDuty Free in LAX or in-country? Also what are the types of things that we absolutelymust bring with us on this trip?

Has anyone been to either of these resorts recently? Whatare your impressions? How has the diving been down there and are there sitesthat we should not miss? Seasoned Fiji travelers and/or people living there we wouldlove to hear from you.

Thank you again!

Kilili · Feb 25, 2012

Let the resort handle the transport for you.

As for what you absolutely must bring, that list includes anything you absolutely must have with you. You'll not find many useful things to buy once you arrive.

You can find snacks & such in Nadi & Suva. Don't recall liquor prices, but local spirits are cheap. You can each bring in 2.25 liters of spirits or 4.5 liters of wine or beer.

Ladies are to dress moderately when not in the resort.

Oh, native Fijians are very outgoing & friendly, a real delight.

donhealy · Feb 25, 2012

I am headed to Fiji next Saturday. Flying into Nadi and then getting on the Captain Cook Cruises Reef Endevour for a week of cruising and diving (100 people on the ship). Heading to the Northern islands and Bligh Waters. Apparently the ship has its own dive shop on board and the skiffs on board also.

Have a good time in May!

jbjclj · Feb 25, 2012

There is duty free in Nadi right after you get off the plane. Much easier than lugging it with you.

feitr · Feb 26, 2012

I assume you mean Nausori (ie. out of Suva)? The coral sun bus runs from nadi to suva twice a day. You have to book it in advance and I felt safe taking my gear on it (but didn't feel safe taking it on public transport). Was 20FJD from Nadi to Pacific Harbour. Taxi from Nadi to Suva would run you 200FJD (you might pay a bit more but I'd aim for about this). Hire cars are best if you want to take your time and see some other things - wouldn't be worth the hassle if you are just trying to get from point a to b imo. I've stayed at uprising twice and dived with Beqa adventure divers - uprising is nice. Have mixed feelings about B.A.D - personally I would try to go with Aquatrek but I actually haven't dived with them (and my guess is you have the BAD + uprising package so can't change anyways) so I can't offer any advice on that. BAD was fine but they had a fatality in Dec 2010 (i think) on a reef dive where I believe a new diver was basically lost in a strong current where it certainly seemed like their safety procedure response didn't help matters but part of that probably had to do with the location (decent medical services/ambulances are few and far between). Only other comment is that I went into deco on the shark dive following the dive master profiles and I was pretty much the only guest diving with a computer (least conservative setting on mares nemo air) - just seemed a bit sus that everybody else was blissfully unaware of the fact that maybe they shouldn't be shooting up and just doing a 3min safety stop. Was a while ago can't remember the exact profile but I'm pretty sure that the profile is based off of tables and is within limits so we might have just stayed down a bit longer.

Nadi duty free has a bunch of alcohol so i'd just get it when you arrive

jake11 · Feb 26, 2012

We recently dove with Lalati Resort in Bequa. Their boat hooked up with the Aqua Trek people who ran the shark dive. The Aqua Trek people were FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!! They run that dive perfectly! We were very fortunate and saw a tiger shark on the second dive! It was the highlight of our trip! Even without the tiger shark it is a fabulous dive! You will love it!! Have fun!

The excitement builds for our Fiji trip but still have questions.

Please register or login

mcace007

Registered

Kilili

Contributor

donhealy

Contributor

jbjclj

Contributor

feitr

Registered

jake11

Contributor

Similar threads