The family and I visited Fiji in July/August of this past year. We spent roughly half the time at Waidroka Bay and the latter half at Wananavu. Both resorts have their quirks: Waidroka is on the Coral Coast and is smaller, very family oriented, and heavily surf focused with a more minor focus on diving. You eat family style with other guests. Wananavu was bigger--guests didn't really freely mingle with each other--and much more upscale--perhaps 3 stars. The food was better at Waidroka, hit or miss at Wananavu. For some reason beverages are not included in the meal plans at either resturant...at Wananavu I spent $212 on iced tea at dinner and lunch over 4 days. There is more to do around Pacific Harbour--which is where Waidroka is--zip lining, river boat things, etc. Wananavu is pretty far from everything other than Wananavu. That side of the island was also beaten up by Winston-- the shop we stopped at prior to getting to Wananavu had just gotten electricity back the day prior and there was plenty of housing damage. I would suggest renting a car and having the freedom to drive around, visit shops, etc. Both resorts had local interaction that I highly recommend--in Waidroka we visited a school and at Wananavu we went to a local village.
Bottom line up front--IMHO the diving was not worth the flight from the US. At waidroka the highlight was the Beqa shark dive--which had a large assortment of sharks including some very large Bulls--but I didn't get to see a Tiger. (The next day while I was out ziplining, however, there was a Tiger that was hovering above the group for 30 mins--and they had to push him away...) We dove Pipe (2x)--which is right on a surf break so it way like diving in a quicksilver video--that was cool, 7 sisters off Yanuca island that was a set of ok pinnacles-nothing spectacular, Turtle Head (2x) pinnacle which was nice but not spectacular, The Pond--which was inside the local reef and was a nice little training type area, a shore dive off Yanuca in about 6 ft of water when we were just fooling around (which was honestly very pretty and had the most colorful coral)(worth noting that there is no beach at Waidroka--there is an hour boat ride to Yancua), and Fantasea --where we swam around a small pinnacle, into heavy current on one side, drifting back on the other, for 60 mins. The dive guides here were a couple named Warren and Shelly--they were fairly nice--and the boat drivers and sometimes guides Ponti and Vili were also pleasant.
From Wananavu I done Purple Haze, Wheatfields 2x, Heartbreak Ridge Pinnacle and Black Magic Mountain. Wheatfields was by far the best of the dive areas with some resident sharks and schools of spanish mackerel. The boat rides were somewhat long (and the boats are aluminum in both places--so they don't flex all that much). I could see storm damage at most of the sites, visibility was good (but not Yap or Palau crystal clear), and most people were cold (although I am fat so I was comfortable). The local staff--Jese and Josh (and a lady whose name I didn't get) were great--very friendly, accomodating, helpful, etc. There is an American couple that runs the op-forgot their names--he was nice and did most of the shore based work & she came out on the boat but seemed a touch cold and I wasn't sure what her purpose was other than to take up a seat. I asked a few times about a 3 tank or afternoon dive and there was 0 effort taken to set it up (I would have chartered the boat for just me).
If I were going to Fiji strictly to dive, I think I would have been disappointed that I spent the time an money. Fiji is also not the prettiest island--Hawaii is much prettier and places like Yap are much more "native." Palau or Yap, for the time investment, are much prettier and have much better diving. I would rate the dives I did in Fiji as being a few notches above the diving in Nassau, Bahamas. The people of Fiji, however, are the friendliest we have encountered on any island, anywhere. We went as a family vacation and traveled with our 18yo daughter and 6 yo son. The little guy like Waidroka better--it is much more family oriented--even to the point of having an evening volleyball game where guests and staff (and local kids that seem to come out of the jungle) throw down.
If I were to go again, on Viti Levu: I would spend more time doing the shark dive. I would rent a car and take myself around--especially in the Pacific Harbour area. I would plan some activities e.g. the river cruise far ahead as some of them were booked solid. I would stock up on drinks and snacks. I would not allow (beg) the spouse to not buy handicrafts because the airport has the same store with the same stuff for the same price. I would not eat the curry roti from the guy selling it on the side of the road who pulled it out of an igloo cooler (although that just impacted the Disney leg of the trip in California a few days later).
More importantly I would go to one of the other islands that offer much better diving. I heard wonderful stories about the Namena reserve from people in the Fiji Air lounge coming home and it made me jealous a bit.
I'll try to find more pictures at some point.
Edit--one of the pics say Yanuca.jpg--I think that that is actually on the the main island of Viti Levu
