Fiji - Aug 2006?

[rhyme]

I am considering having my honeymoon in Fiji in August of 2006.

I am lost as to where to go to stay... so many options, so little information.... so many choices... and as soon as I open up a map of the area I go... oh yea, wait, what about .... [insert name of some other nearby dive destination here]? The soft coral photos keep drawing me back to fiji though.

I need help picking a place to go...

* It's a honeymoon, so it has to be a reasonably romantic place, nice beaches, good food, etc.
* Somewhere inbetween the totally undeveloped "if my car breaks down no one will find me for days and I will die here alone" (i.e. Cat Island, Bahamas) and the "Where's my wallet gone?" overdeveloped (i.e. Cancunification).... I lean far towards preferring seclusion than developed. I considered Roatan a really nice mix (at least a few years ago) - good beaches, not crowded, beautiful waters but enough of an infrastructure to actually go have a bite to eat in a family owned restaurant somewhere.
* We both dive, but we both like to explore and go out and meet locals, go into towns, etc - soak up something other than saltwater periodically so I'm looking for a place that will have some kind of other activities... A little shopping (not something like cozumel) and a little culture.
* Obviously, I want good diving. I dont mind a little current, but I'm not really looking for heart pounding currents every day I'm there. One or two side trips to something a little wild, sure, but taking it easy sounds nice too.
* Price - im flexible, for the right place, I dont mind dropping some cash. Ideally, I'd like to keep it under $12k if possible.

I have 2 to 3 weeks to enjoy myself out there, so I'm open to other ideas (i.e. fiji + solomon islands? Easy to do?) or maybe fiji + new zealand for a few days, or whatever or maybe someone will tell me that August is feed the tourists to the sharks month out there or something and I'll have to go back to the drawing board.

 

[britkiwi]

Fiji is a beautiful place for a honeymoon. Consider Taveuni for a mix of good resorts and opportunities to mix with the friendly locals. I did a cruise in the Yasawa island in 94 and it was really beautiful. It was pre-diving days for me but I am sire you can get a small diveing cruise on the West Coast.

Solomon Isalnds and New Zealand are about three hours from Fiji. I live in NZ and have visited The Solomons recently.

The Solomons makes Fiji look like the First World. It is really underdeveloped and has had quite alot of inter-tribal problems a few years ago (though felt safe to me). As far as I am aware there is only Uepi Island which offers a 'resort type' holiday experience. Diving is very good I believe. I dived at Tulaghi Island which is pretty rustic and not a honeymoon venue unless your betroved is a hardcore wreck diver. The local diving is really outstanding but you would need to be comfortable in the 40 metre range with a an aim to dive the USS Aaron Ward at 65 metres.

I would consider New Zealand, only if it for a week (just a taster as really needs a month). Fly into Auckland, hire a car and drive up to Tutakaka 2 hours north. Dive the Poor Knights and possibly the shallow(ish) wrecks. Possibly then an hour North to the Bay of Islands to dive the Rainbow Warrior. Then go down to Whakatane (about 5 hours) and dive White Island, an active volcano. Not far from Rotorua for the lava and volcanoes experience. Also the Coromandel Peninsula has good diving in the Aldermens. New Zealand will be cheaper than The Solomons, food and people fantastic, and great scenery.
Roger

 

[_Bella_]

I love the Solomons and would move there if....if...if....
It's also easy to get to from Nadi, Fiji. There are two flights a week direct, which incidentally stop in Port Vila vanuatu, another destination to consider. However what kiwi writes is correct, the Solomons are remote and undeveloped. There is one liveaboard company and a couple of rustic resorts. One is the already mentioned Uepi and a small diving/fishing resort on Gizo in the north. No matter where you stay there isn't a great deal more to do than dive.
Fiji, on the other hand is far more suited to honemooning, though I've only been once.

 

[chuck e]

I am considering having my honeymoon in Fiji in August of 2006.

I am lost as to where to go to stay... so many options, so little information.... so many choices... and as soon as I open up a map of the area I go... oh yea, wait, what about .... [insert name of some other nearby dive destination here]? The soft coral photos keep drawing me back to fiji though.

I need help picking a place to go...

* It's a honeymoon, so it has to be a reasonably romantic place, nice beaches, good food, etc.
* Somewhere inbetween the totally undeveloped "if my car breaks down no one will find me for days and I will die here alone" (i.e. Cat Island, Bahamas) and the "Where's my wallet gone?" overdeveloped (i.e. Cancunification).... I lean far towards preferring seclusion than developed. I considered Roatan a really nice mix (at least a few years ago) - good beaches, not crowded, beautiful waters but enough of an infrastructure to actually go have a bite to eat in a family owned restaurant somewhere.
* We both dive, but we both like to explore and go out and meet locals, go into towns, etc - soak up something other than saltwater periodically so I'm looking for a place that will have some kind of other activities... A little shopping (not something like cozumel) and a little culture.
* Obviously, I want good diving. I dont mind a little current, but I'm not really looking for heart pounding currents every day I'm there. One or two side trips to something a little wild, sure, but taking it easy sounds nice too.
* Price - im flexible, for the right place, I dont mind dropping some cash. Ideally, I'd like to keep it under $12k if possible.

I have 2 to 3 weeks to enjoy myself out there, so I'm open to other ideas (i.e. fiji + solomon islands? Easy to do?) or maybe fiji + new zealand for a few days, or whatever or maybe someone will tell me that August is feed the tourists to the sharks month out there or something and I'll have to go back to the drawing board.

We stayed here last year and really loved it. I believe it satisfies all your criteria. Stay in one of the front bures that have their own hammock by the water.

http://www.beqalagoonresort.com

 

[Dive California]

I am considering having my honeymoon in Fiji in August of 2006.

I am lost as to where to go to stay... so many options, so little information.... .

Read this link... http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=114105


and other VERY informative thraeds on Fiji...I think they have lots of information

:06:

 

[rhyme]

Thanks for all the advice...

Due to some frequent flyer issues I may have to do LAX->Sydney and then go to Fiji rather than LAX->NAN direct on Air NZ or Air Pacific. I have FF miles on United, but apparently I cannot use them to upgrade on Air NZ (even though they are star alliance), or at least thats one of the 4,000 different answers I get when I call to find out. Air NZ says UA is on crack, UA says AZ is on crack.

Right now, I'm thinking possibly....

Option A:

1 week at Taveuni, probably garden island resort as its pretty cheap and seems like a reasonable set of accomodations (maybe a bit on the rustic side) but there seems to be quite a lot non-diving stuff to do as well...

1 week at Beqa - looks awesome though this place definetly looks like it falls under the probably has a lot less to do when not diving. Stupid question, anyone know if those rates listed are per person? $600 a night seems a bit high, even for Fiji.

Option B:

1 week at Tav, 1 week at Bega, 3-4 days in NZ just tooling about.

Option C:

Fly to Syndey (FF mile issues), do 3 or 4 days there, then 1 week at either Taveuni or Beqa (its so hard to pick) followed by 1 week at Other desintation (cannot for the life of me decide where else to consider... so many options Papeete, Solomon, Rarotonga, Yap (long), etc etc etc!)

Right now, I'm leaning towards C. I can't imagine the diving at Taveuni is going to be that drastically different from Beqa, might be more fun to head to a slightly different area, problem is, both have their own draw.

I guess what I really need is Option D: Quit my job and just go for a year.

Any other advice on other islands near Fiji to consider, I'd love to hear about it. Also, any general advice on Fiji...
Also, anyone have any experience w/ Air New Zealand vs Air Pacific... ?

Thanks.

 

[rhyme]

Another idea.... Vanuatu + Fiji?

Dont have a map with me, so im not sure how far this really is from Fiji....

edit: nearby apparently.

 

[reubencahn]

Thanks for all the advice...

Due to some frequent flyer issues I may have to do LAX->Sydney and then go to Fiji rather than LAX->NAN direct on Air NZ or Air Pacific. I have FF miles on United, but apparently I cannot use them to upgrade on Air NZ (even though they are star alliance), or at least thats one of the 4,000 different answers I get when I call to find out. Air NZ says UA is on crack, UA says AZ is on crack.

Right now, I'm thinking possibly....

Option A:

1 week at Taveuni, probably garden island resort as its pretty cheap and seems like a reasonable set of accomodations (maybe a bit on the rustic side) but there seems to be quite a lot non-diving stuff to do as well...

1 week at Beqa - looks awesome though this place definetly looks like it falls under the probably has a lot less to do when not diving. Stupid question, anyone know if those rates listed are per person? $600 a night seems a bit high, even for Fiji.

Option B:

1 week at Tav, 1 week at Bega, 3-4 days in NZ just tooling about.

Option C:

Fly to Syndey (FF mile issues), do 3 or 4 days there, then 1 week at either Taveuni or Beqa (its so hard to pick) followed by 1 week at Other desintation (cannot for the life of me decide where else to consider... so many options Papeete, Solomon, Rarotonga, Yap (long), etc etc etc!)

Right now, I'm leaning towards C. I can't imagine the diving at Taveuni is going to be that drastically different from Beqa, might be more fun to head to a slightly different area, problem is, both have their own draw.

I guess what I really need is Option D: Quit my job and just go for a year.

Any other advice on other islands near Fiji to consider, I'd love to hear about it. Also, any general advice on Fiji...
Also, anyone have any experience w/ Air New Zealand vs Air Pacific... ?

Thanks.

Personally, I think the diving in Taveuni is not worth the effort. On the other hand, Taveuni Island Resort is beautiful and romantic. Sydney is a fantastic place. I would definitely spend some time there. Also, if you're all the way in Sydney, you might want to consider PNG.

 

[rhyme]

Personally, I think the diving in Taveuni is not worth the effort. On the other hand, Taveuni Island Resort is beautiful and romantic. Sydney is a fantastic place. I would definitely spend some time there. Also, if you're all the way in Sydney, you might want to consider PNG.

Papua New Guinea ?

Havent heard much about PNG....

Just to throw another bit of confusion into the whole mix eh?

 

[reubencahn]

Papua New Guinea ?

Havent heard much about PNG....

There are many posts on the board about PNG. A quick search will turn up many of them. But to get you started, PNG is easily accessed from Sydney. You could probably arrange to use your UA miles to fly Quantas to Brisbane with Sydney as a stopover. (The flights to PNG depart from Brisbane.) Many will tell you the best PNG diving is liveaboard. (We dove from the Golden Dawn which I highly recommend.) That is probably true but many people rave about Walindi Resort and Tufi resort. There are also amazing land trips there. Take a look at www.diversionoz.com for more info.