FIJI: Treasure Island Resort / Garden Isle vs. Crystal Divers Wananavu

[peterjmaerz]

Still engaged in Fiji research for a late-April journey from my home in humble Davie, Florida. Plan on hitting two islands over a two-week period. My original plans centered around Crystal Divers and Dive Kadavu. After much feedback and reading, I'm still deciding.
Scuba Boarder JDW raves about the Treasure Island Resort (and thanks for your personal reply!) about which there is precious little info in terms of trip reports/personal experiences. Everything about the resort seems great, but I've hardly seen any comments on the dive op and the dive sites visited apart from JDW's. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's spent time with Treasure Island.
If the diving warrants, Treasure Island may be destination 1 and either Garden Isle/Aqua Trek or Wananavu/Crystal Divers destination 2. Any thoughts?
How did anyone plan a dive trip in the days before Scubaboard and Undercurrent? Thanks for your input!:ears:

[pisces]

Hi!

I spent a solid month researching my big trip to Fiji last year! It seemed so confusing at the time.... I meant to post a trip report but go a bit sidetracked when thrown back into reality....

I spent 3 weeks in Fiji. First week on the Aggressor, second week in Taveuni, third week in Kadavu & Aquatrek. If you are only there for two weeks, you should seriously think about doing a liveaboard, plus a week at a resort. I recommend Garden Island in Taveuni.

Of the places you mentioned, I was only at Garden Island Resort at Taveuni. I had read many rave reviews, so I felt that it was a safe choice. But was a bit skeptical about the "depth" of the raves. Of all the places I stayed, GIR was the best deal of the bunch. Its not a very fancy place, but clean, friendly, & a great value. And the staff is just so amazingly friendly & warm. I stayed in the a dorm room and even had it to myself for a few days. To me the food seemed a bit expensive by Fijian standards, but very reasonable by US standards. I thought that the chef was very good, particularly his curries. Immediately the staff all knew my name and very caring throughout my stay. They seemed genuinely sad when I left. They had an afternoon snack & coffee every afternoon.

The dive staff was great! They tend to be a bit shy a first but were very sweet (& funny) once they get to know you. Fruit, cookies, & juice during the dive interval on the beach. They even cleaned out my gear before I left. I started to rinse it out, and they told me that they would take care of it! (Don't even get that on a liveaboard!). Several days, they changed the dive site based on our requests. The diving ranged from great to ok, which I found to be true for most of Fiji. Some of the dive sites throughout Fiji were a bit beat up. But, I had never seen the beautiful soft corals before, so I loved those. Saw some beautiful, AMAZING, HUGE yellow nudibranchs with purple edging and spots. Quite a few octopus (which I LOVE) as well as other interesting sea life that I hadn't seen before. The dive guides were good at pointing stuff out.

Overall, I found that the diving in Fiji ranged from not so great to very good. As someone else told me, while the diving isn't AMAZING, you should go to experience it. It is very true that, overall, the Fijian people are very friendly, kind & warm.

ENJOY!!!

[peterjmaerz]

Thanks Pisces,

This Aries appreciates your input. It, along with other accounts I've read has lead me to decide on a mix of Wananavu Resort/Crystal Divers and Garden Island Resort/Aqua Trek. Looking forward to a great couple of weeks.

Thanks much,