Advice for Fiji trip - April 2012

[fiji_diver]

Hi
I guess budget is such a relative term. Wananavu is only down market compared to say Mai Dive or Nukubati. ( no offence meant to Wananavu :-) ) If you really want to have great diving and save $$ then go to Taveuni and stay at Dolphin Bay Divers Retreat. Small operation with 6 divers on a boat, but they dive the Somosomo strait. For Kadavu, have a look at Matava resort for a great bargain and quality diving, although I prefer Taveuni.

It's all about choice and expectations. Personally I like the more basic resorts with a personal touch and great diving. That's the lovely thing about Fiji, is the variety of accommodation options at most dive locations.

Have a great trip and let me know if you want any more suggestion up market or down :-)

Greg

[little_turtle]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your reply. I have narrowed it down to Wananavu, Coconut Grove and Mai Dive. Wananavu is the cheapest, with Mai Dive being the most expensive (however not by much, around $500 AUD). Unfortunately Dolphin Bay is not available for the dates I am looking at.

Basically the decision comes down to the diving. Given your extensive knowledge of diving in Fiji, for 6 days of diving at the end of April, would you recommend Wananavu, Taveuni or Kadavu?

Thanks again!

[1dwyatt]

I have stayed at Matava on Kadavu. The staff was outstanding, the food great family style. Smaller operation, never had more than 5 divers on any dive. The reefs were pristine, hard/soft corals everywhere. Went in July whales were calfing. Saw Mantas, sea crates, leaf scorpian fish, sea turtles, etc. Here is a Manta clip.http://"C:\Documents and Settings\Ow...nta Flyby.wmv" The price there is very reasonable.

Dave

[fiji_diver]

Hmmmm
Well best diving would probably have to be Taveuni in my opinion. But you are losing days in getting there and the internal flights are a bit pricey.

Wananavu has new boats is very focused on divers. Reef Safari run the operation for them now and although I haven't dived with them, reports are almost all excellent.

Kadavu is lovely and you really feel you are away from the crowd - because you are. If you only have 6 days, you have to consider the transfer issues and also the risk of bad weather stopping access to the best sites.

So if I had to choose one, I would say Wananavu.. or .. There is another option for doing the same dives, and saving a few $$ which is Safari Lodge. Warren who runs / owns the operation has been there for a long time and has recently put in new boats. Smaller groups than you will get with Wananavu and shorter boat rides as they are based on Nananu-i-ra island where as Wananavu is on the main island, Viti Levu. Safari Lodge transfer you in their own boat - 15 min trip.

Hope that helps
Greg

[rebelrottie]

Hi Greg and little turtle, this thread is also relevant for me because I too am looking for and affordable dive trip to Fiji. There is another place, Volivoli Beach Resort, home of Ra Divers. I understand that this operator services both Volivoli and Wananavu, but Voli is more affordable. It also appears to be less $ than SAfari Lodge, and gets good reviews on Trip Advisor. If anyone has other affordable accomodation options for this part of Fiji, I'd love to hear about it.
FWIW I've been to Beqa Island Resort twice in the past, loved it, but just can't afford it again.

[feitr]

I think ra divers split off to start volivoli (somebody correct me if i am wrong) and no longer services wananuva.

Re: taveuni I dived it in oct 2011 and wasn't even aware there had been a cyclone (well i had heard about it from the resort in terms of what it did to resorts but not in relation to damaging the reef) and saw no evidence of destroyed coral formation or something. Strong currents are completely a non issue for the most part given that every dive is basically a drift dive down current and most dive operations should know the tides/sites well enough that they wouldn't mess it up too often. There were only about 2 times(out of about 20 dives) where I had to swim against a really strong current. One was on the great white wall because they got the tide times a bit wrong (you come out of a swim through at about 30m and normally drift down the wall but the current was very strong and since it comes over a headpoint a little further up it basically hits the wall and separates so there was a point about midway along the wall where the tide suddenly switched from being almost too strong to swim against to "drifting" you across the rest of the wall in about 30 seconds. And it was only me and one of the divemasters that even made it past that point, everybody else just went back up the swim through so it didn't really matter if you coudn't swim against hte current anyways. Overall, the diving at taveuni was about as chill/easy as i've ever done.

[Blighbaby]

yeah, wananavu diving is now run by reef safari - jeremy and kristen doing great. also i got news through that caradonna has a great deal there in april so check out their website. frankly heard nothing good about safari lodge but havent dove with them myself.

[farsidefan1]

Wife and I will be on Taveuni tomorrow We will be at the Paradise resort - we like to poke around the house reef after the boat dives. Unlimited shore diving with boat dive package makes it a bit less pricey. Garden Island resort is nice. Everyone will rave about how nice the folks at their favorite resort are but really, it is just Fiji, nicest people on the planet. Take some candy to give locals. They love to treat their kids.