Fiji for 20 anniversary

[beth_castroll]

my husband and I are AOw with about 120 dives each. We have nmostky dived in Cozumel and Roatan in the Carribean and want to go try some other place. I'm interested in Fiji this trip.

What I want:
Small boutique resort
2 tank boat dive
Unlimited shore diving in a house reef
Decent fresh food.
Village close by to explore.
No shark dives
Not longer than 2 hours from international airport
A place I can take a nitrox report

Also is December a good time to dive there?

Budget is about 5-7k including airfare

Thanks in advance

 

[JulieM]

I highly recommend Nakia Eco Resort with their dive operation Taveuni Ocean Sports. We have been there several times and they are simply the best. Read the reviews in TripAdvisor. They are very accurate. We have over 1000 dives each and have experienced a lot of dive operations and resorts. You cannot go wrong with Nakia.

 

[Shasta_man]

You likely cannot satisfy all of those requirements in Fiji, as regards distances but deviation from the list will be very much worth it. It depends on how you count your "no longer than 2 hours from the international airport" when it comes to taking a domestic flight in Fiji. It also depends on what you mean by "no shark dives". If you mean no shark feeding dives, then much easier but as for no sharks at all, you're likely to see at least reef sharks on every dive in Fiji. Which should be a good thing because they are great to see and generally want nothing to do with you. We've seen other types of sharks too, but those aren't common.

There are ~5 places to go to dive in Fiji: closest to the airport are the Mamanucca/Yasawa Islands, then resorts in the Bligh Water area in Northeast Viti Levu. Across Viti Levu to the South is the Coral Coast area which generally not so good diving, except the opportunity to dive with a BIG tiger shark in Beqa Lagoon, but that's not your interest. South of Viti Levu is Kavadu Island which has some awesome diving but is known for being more remote and not so developed. Farthest away on the other side of Vanua Levu is Taveuni and Somosomo Strait. Pretty awesome diving and some things to do on the island. Bligh Water and Taveuni and Kavadu are best diving in Fiji. We chartered a sailboat and went sailing in the Mamanuccas and it was a memorable experience and enjoyed it a lot. Sailing is a fantastic lifestyle. You take a domestic flight to get to Taveuni from the airport in Nandi. It's always Fiji time in Fiji so don't worry about things or getting there because they'll take care of you. Due to a big group, we got bumped off our flight and airline to another airline but they still took care of us and it was a great flight because we flew at a lower level to see everything along the way. Note that Taveuni is one of the wettest parts of Fiji with a mountainous spine down the island. The area around the airport (a grass strip where you land with twin engine domestic prop planes) gets up to 8 FEET, yes feet, of rain a year, while the highlands can get up to 14 feet. I can personally attest to it as it rained 6 out of 9 days of our trip with horizontal rain (wind driven) and rain so dense that it whited out the little beach below our rented beach house so we could not see the beach due to the rain. When not raining, it's magnificently beautiful but rain is possible.

It will likely take most/all of the budget you mention unless a resort has a deal that includes airfare. A quick look at Fiji Airways in Dec shows ~$700-$1000 a way per person for coach. That seems to include the flight down to LAX.

Fiji will likely blow away the diving you have done in the Caribbean. The amount and variety of fish and the different critters. Fiji has the most friendliest people in the world. Please give them a big bula! for me and tell them vinaka for their wonderful country.

 

[fiji_diver]

Bula! Shasta_man has it about right. Depending on which criteria you want to bend, you can get what you want.
Travel. Viti Levu doesn't boast a Boutique resort. If you amend that to very comfortable you have a few choices such as Wananavu or Volivoli. They both offer packages that would fit your budget, offers Nitrox, but lacks shore diving.
Extend travel to internal flights and look at Places on Taveuni as mentioned above, Qamea island and MaiDive on Ono island off Kadavu. you can get you boutique resort, shore diving but might not get Nitrox at MaiDive - need to check.
3 hour road and 30mins boat gets you to Lalati on Beqa island. Fits most of hte bill but also need to check on Nitrox.
Beqa Lagoon Resort is great, not exactly boutique but not too far off. Fits all the other criteria if you stretch the travel a bit.
I hope that helps.
Have a great trip.
Greg

 

[Hoag]

This is "a little" outside of the box based on what you stated in your original post, but have you considered a Live Aboard? In 2007, I spent a week in Fiji on the Nai'a. From a logistics point of view, it was a nonstop flight from LAX to Nadi Fiji. (I happened to fly on Air New Zealand and they were amazing. They treated their PAX as if we were actually real people.) Once in Nadi, the crew picked us up at a hotel just outside of the airport and 1/2 and hour later, we were at the boat.

To be honest, the weather when I went was not good, but you roll those dice anytime that you book a trip months in advance. The boat however was very nice. Great food, amazing diving (given the limitations that the weather imposed), and the crew was amazing. One afternoon, we went ashore to visit with the people of a Fijian village.

You specifically mentioned no shark dive. During the week that I was on, we did not see any sharks at all except on one dive that was a shark dive. On that dive, it was mostly Grey Reef Sharks and big groupers.

I know that you mentioned a small Boutique Resort, but I think that the Nai'a might meet all, or most of your needs. The resort just happens to float and move from place to place to get you the best possible diving that the conditions can offer.

 

[browntrout]

We spent our 20th at Wananavu. It's about a 2.5 hour drive from Nadi. There is shore diving, but the house reef isn't anything spectacular. If you interested in pics or details it's all here Fiji

 

[Deinonych]

There are several boutique resorts on Vanua Levu in the Savusavu area: Namale, Savasi Island Resort and Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort are three that come to mind (there are others). Staying on Vanua Levu gives you access to both the Somosomo Straits (near Taveuni) as well as the exceptional Namena Marine Preserve. My wife and I stayed at Namale last autumn (for our 25th Anniversary) and absolutely loved it. Their boat was being repaired at the time, so we dove with Koro Sun Dive, which operates out of Savasi Island Resort next to Namale. Highly recommended. Only downside to Savusavu area is that there is limited to no shore diving given the reef topography (fringing reef).

Savusavu is about a 1-hour flight from Nadi on a small turboprop.

 

[garycrano]

Keep in mind December is in the cyclone season.
You are not that likely to get to Somsomo from Savusavu as it is about 35 miles away but Namena is amazing.

 

[Deinonych]

Getting to Somosomo from Savusavu area depends on the dive operator. I know KoroSun Dive does trips to Somosomo when conditions are right.