Fiji Resort recommendations anyone?

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CAPTAIN SINBAD

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Guys and gals: Fiji seems to have a whole ton of islands with a load of resorts. I am looking for recommendations for a budget resort that would put you in the best spot for diving (reefs / sharks etc). If anyone has had bad experience with any of the places then I would like to know about that too.

Thanks -

CS
 
We stayed at FIJI RESORTS, FIJI HOLIDAYS, THE PEARL FIJI RESORT. I am not sure it would be considered a budget resort, but it was ok. The dive boat would pick us up on the dock each morning for diving and it did not take long to get to the dive sites. The shark diving was in the same area and the white water rafting trip we took was pretty close. But the people who stayed on the other side of the island had to take a 2 hour or so bus trip each way for the shark dives and rafting trip.
 
Sandra and I had a great time at the Beqa Lagoon Resort.....I can't say enough good things about them and the diving there.
We may have had an extra good time, because we were with 15 other very advanced Florida divers, and got to do all the dives the boat crew loved the most, themselves.

Additionally, we were even blown away by the house reef.

The bar was not bad either :)
 
Good to hear Dan. We are doing the NAI'A liveaboard next spring and then staying at Beqa after.
 
i did a week at beqa lagoon. i dived with beqa adventure divers (BAD) and stayed at the pearl.

the shark diving was an amazing experience, BAD run a highly organised shark dive. i did a couple of inshore reef dives with them and it was probably the worst experience i've had with a dive centre.

the pearl was billed as a top end hotel. it was nice and the communal areas were grand, but the rooms were very basic.
 
. i did a couple of inshore reef dives with them and it was probably the worst experience i've had with a dive centre.
.

How come? Bad choice of dive sites?
 
copied from a trip report i wrote on another diving forum.

I booked a couple of reef dives to get in to the swing of things before the famous shark dives. A complimentary taxi picked us up from our hotel. When we arrived, things seemed quite hurried and disorganised. At the jetty, the dive guide insisted on re-packing my neatly packed dive bag in to crate, dropping my computer on to concrete. Fortunately, it was in a plastic box and no harm was done. They also insisted on setting up our kit which they didn't do very well. I'm sure all of this works for the average backpacker with hire gear, but it really doesn't work for me.

To cut a long story short, the dives were at an inshore site with largely broken, dead coral and poor visibility. Fijians don't do anything fast, but it was clear that the guide wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible. He raced around the site and barely gave us a 20 minute surface interval between dives. Water temperature was 29 degrees C.

I had three spare days to do more reef diving. Apparently, the offshore sites are much nicer, but I didn't want to do any more reef dives with BAD. This was a shame because I got a very good impression of BAD through the communication I had with their office. They could not have been more helpful.
 
copied from a trip report i wrote on another diving forum.

I booked a couple of reef dives to get in to the swing of things before the famous shark dives. A complimentary taxi picked us up from our hotel. When we arrived, things seemed quite hurried and disorganised. At the jetty, the dive guide insisted on re-packing my neatly packed dive bag in to crate, dropping my computer on to concrete. Fortunately, it was in a plastic box and no harm was done. They also insisted on setting up our kit which they didn't do very well. I'm sure all of this works for the average backpacker with hire gear, but it really doesn't work for me.

To cut a long story short, the dives were at an inshore site with largely broken, dead coral and poor visibility. Fijians don't do anything fast, but it was clear that the guide wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible. He raced around the site and barely gave us a 20 minute surface interval between dives. Water temperature was 29 degrees C.

I had three spare days to do more reef diving. Apparently, the offshore sites are much nicer, but I didn't want to do any more reef dives with BAD. This was a shame because I got a very good impression of BAD through the communication I had with their office. They could not have been more helpful.

One thing we got from the boat crew which we became friends with...there is a very large asian and NZ novice diver market that floods Fiji dive charters...that really makes up the largest part of it....I don't think most of the operators have any idea of what do do with divers that are really good....we got lucky, because 100% of the boat were as good or better divers than the guides, and the guides could see this.
And at least with Beqa Lagoon Resort, I have first hand experience that they will adapt to the divers, given the time to see them in the water, and for them to evaluate the proper course of action....

The norm in Fiji, seems to be divers so pathetic, that they expect their gear to come off in the water, to be handed up to the dive guides, and for all the tank setups and everything to be done by the boat.....We would not allow any of this....and got off the boat like penquins...a full boat hot-dropping and disappearing in under 20 seconds, was something the crew had never seen before :)
 
Wananavu! It's cheaper than Beqa resort and better diving.

I was just searching it on google. Have you been to both Beqa and Wananavu?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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