1st Fiji trip - Questions

[Lopez116]

Hello all,

After years of Caribbean trips, my wife and I are finally close to booking a Fiji trip. We are SoCal residents and I dive here relatively frequently. I've been doing some research and we're thinking of going in April and staying at Wananavu Beach Resort.

How is the resort and the diving? We don't need luxury accommodations, but we do like A/C and cleanliness.

How is the local dive op?

Other than diving the Bligh Waters, how are the other dives if the weather or conditions won't allow the trip out to them?

Finally, we would like to bring our 2 year old with us, but we would both like to dive. Is there childcare available at the resort? I'm cautious of who we leave him with since he's only been with us and our parents. But, we do want to dive. Any safety concerns with a babysitter to watch him during dives? (I know a lot of this is personal comfort, but any general advice or input is appreciated.)

Thanks!

 

[mmmbelows]

I would book with them only if you're okay with staying there and never ending up diving any Bligh water dives.

 

[Lopez116]

I would book with them only if you're okay with staying there and never ending up diving any Bligh water dives.

What is the non-Bligh Water diving like in that area?

 

[diverguytasmania]

I dived Dominica and Turks and Caicos islands and Bay Islands in Honduras about 15 - 20 years ago and last dived in Fiji 3 years ago (my 12th visit there) and I can assure you the diving in Fiji is way better than what I saw in the Caribbean. I'm back there this year in August, diving the Bligh area for the first time. The best diving I have had was in the Lau group, off Katafunga Island but there is no way to dive out there unless you have a friend with a plane and take your own compressor! Best area accessible to divers is, IMHO, the Somosomo strait (between Taveuni and Vanua Levu), there are plenty of dive operators and resorts on both islands. The resorts there range from backpacker to 6 star private island luxury, your budget will determine where you stay. Also have a look at Matagi Island and Qamea Island, diving is pretty good out there as well. Good diving is also available off Kadavu Island, especially around Ono Island. The point is there is a lot of good diving in Fiji, especially if the Caribbean is your benchmark.
Culturally, Fiji is a very welcoming place, the Fijians are very friendly people and they love their kids the way we all should. I will have no hesitation in using the babysitting service at the resorts this August when we take our 3 year old with us (her first visit!).
Finally, the Bligh strait is known to be windy and sometimes choppy and it can be a long ride to some of the sites on a rough day (as friends of mine have told me). If the dive operator doesn't take you out there, it's not a plot to ruin your holiday, it's much more likely they are just thinking about your safety and enjoyment.

 

[jbjclj]

We have stayed at Wananavu 4 times and have been out to the Bligh waters 90% of the time. Maybe it was the time of year and we were lucky. Get an Ocean View or Beachfront Bure. I have never seen small children at the resort. The staff is wonderful, food great and nice accomodations. The dive shop was great, just check your gear and it was on the boat in the morning.

 

[Lopez116]

We have stayed at Wananavu 4 times and have been out to the Bligh waters 90% of the time. Maybe it was the time of year and we were lucky. Get an Ocean View or Beachfront Bure. I have never seen small children at the resort. The staff is wonderful, food great and nice accomodations. The dive shop was great, just check your gear and it was on the boat in the morning.

When you didn't make it out to the Bligh Waters, where did you dive? How was that diving?

 

[bqualls]

I stayed at Wananavu about 7 years ago and we never made it to the Bligh in 5 dive days.
Full disclosure: they had a different dive operator at the time .That dive crew was great ,but the operation was on its last leg and didnt have the petrol to make the trip to the Bligh.The dive crew claimed weather at first, but as we became better acquainted they became more candid about the reason for diving the local sites. The local sites are still better than anything that I have seen in the carib.
Voli Voli Resort, which is nearby will bust their ass to get you to the Bligh. We dove with Voli Voli three years ago and I can assure you they will go the extra mile. The Darling family own Voli Voli and I found Nick Darling to be a straight shooter. I contacted him before we booked and was told that if the weather allows he will get us to the bligh. Nick delivered.
I have no interest or connection to either of these resorts and would stay at both again. But, when I was diving in that area only Nick seemed motivated to get me to mellow yellow ,E6, Black magic mountain and the other world class Bligh sites. Hats off to Nick and the rest of the Darlings.

 

[jbjclj]

I don't recall the names of the sites other than the Bligh dive sites. The "close in" sites were good, but the Bligh was great. The dive shop is new (last 3-4 years) and has a young American couple who are very on top of things. We were there for 2 weeks last April and got to the Bligh every day

 

[Deinonych]

I dived Dominica and Turks and Caicos islands and Bay Islands in Honduras about 15 - 20 years ago and last dived in Fiji 3 years ago (my 12th visit there) and I can assure you the diving in Fiji is way better than what I saw in the Caribbean. I'm back there this year in August, diving the Bligh area for the first time. The best diving I have had was in the Lau group, off Katafunga Island but there is no way to dive out there unless you have a friend with a plane and take your own compressor! Best area accessible to divers is, IMHO, the Somosomo strait (between Taveuni and Vanua Levu), there are plenty of dive operators and resorts on both islands. The resorts there range from backpacker to 6 star private island luxury, your budget will determine where you stay. Also have a look at Matagi Island and Qamea Island, diving is pretty good out there as well. Good diving is also available off Kadavu Island, especially around Ono Island. The point is there is a lot of good diving in Fiji, especially if the Caribbean is your benchmark.
Culturally, Fiji is a very welcoming place, the Fijians are very friendly people and they love their kids the way we all should. I will have no hesitation in using the babysitting service at the resorts this August when we take our 3 year old with us (her first visit!).
Finally, the Bligh strait is known to be windy and sometimes choppy and it can be a long ride to some of the sites on a rough day (as friends of mine have told me). If the dive operator doesn't take you out there, it's not a plot to ruin your holiday, it's much more likely they are just thinking about your safety and enjoyment.

+1

We stayed on Vanua Levu last October and the diving was fantastic. The reefs are still recovering in this area from Cyclone Winston, but the dives were amazing. We didn't make it to Somosomo Straits, but we spend a day out at Namena Marine Preserve and it was simply mind-blowing. We're saving our pennies for a return to Fiji, hopefully to visit Kadavu and the Great Astrolabe Reef.

 

[judypots]

Hello all,

After years of Caribbean trips, my wife and I are finally close to booking a Fiji trip. We are SoCal residents and I dive here relatively frequently. I've been doing some research and we're thinking of going in April and staying at Wananavu Beach Resort.

How is the resort and the diving? We don't need luxury accommodations, but we do like A/C and cleanliness.

How is the local dive op?

Other than diving the Bligh Waters, how are the other dives if the weather or conditions won't allow the trip out to them?

Finally, we would like to bring our 2 year old with us, but we would both like to dive. Is there childcare available at the resort? I'm cautious of who we leave him with since he's only been with us and our parents. But, we do want to dive. Any safety concerns with a babysitter to watch him during dives? (I know a lot of this is personal comfort, but any general advice or input is appreciated.)

Thanks!

My husband and I went to Fiji last Sept./ Oct. We stayed at Wananavu and dove the Bligh waters. Since we're on the east coast of the US, we've dived mainly in the Caribbean and were very excited to go to Fiji. I have to tell you that both of us were disappointed with the diving in the Bligh waters. First of all, you need to know that the boat trip to get there from the resort is about an hour. Our reaction after the first few dives was if we had known it would be like that, we wouldn't have bothered to make the looong trip to Fiji. Don't get me wrong, it was nice, but we honestly didn't find it more interesting than Little Cayman or Saba. But our second week was at the Sau Bay Resort off Taveuni, which is tiny but delightful. There we dove on the Rainbow Reef, which was fantastic.Couldn't recommend it more. See my Fiji trip report for more details. Good luck.