I'm following up on my earlier comments regarding my stay at the Havaiki Pearl Lodge in Fakarava. Again, while not inexpensive, my impressions are generally positive. The place is well run, has a nice beach, the staff is very friendly, and there are enough amenities within the resort to provide diversions above and beyond the scuba diving that most people come to Fakarava for.
There is a gym with free weights, a pulley-type weight machine (similar to Universals) and a couple of cardio machines (treadmill and an elliptical). There is an onsite pearl farm that provides tours if requested. The pier overlooks a fish pen - a bit like looking into a small aquarium. Bikes are available for free - we found them very handy for taking a ride to the village to get lunch.
There is an in-house restaurant that serves a buffet breakfast and a sit-down dinner. The buffet breakfast was very good altho everything except coffee and tea is cold; ie, don't expect a hot breakfast as part of the half-board. Dinners are restaurant quality entrees, as opposed to homestyle meals that are typically served at the Pensions. There is a snack bar on the beach that serves lunch.
There is no need to buy bottled water - the resort provides filtered water: all you need is a bottle to pour it into. If you get a garden bungalow like I did, there is no fridge in the room, so you will have to make do with drinking water that is not cold.
There were only two things that were, in my view, less than satisfactory: the shower water temperature has no adjustment and because it is solar-heated, it seemed to always come out a bit too hot. Granted I was told to let it run for a while, but I felt that to be wasteful. The second was that - as with any tropical locale that uses wood for construction - there were termite droppings in the room.
A word of advice for those planning to go soon: during the time we were there, mosquitoes were pretty active, and altho we were told that it was on the decline, we were warned about the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus. If you are planning to go anytime soon, be sure to bring mosquito repellent and long sleeves and pants.
