kneptoon
Contributor
We have just returned from 2 weeks in Fiji. ScubaBoard was such a great and reliable source for Fiji travel information, I thought I would return the favor. Fiji has some of the best diving I have experienced. It was difficult planning a trip as there are so many good options. Our first week was spent at The Garden Island Resort on Taveuni. All of our diving was with Aqua Trek. The resort and the dive operation are both managed by Gary and Marcie, 2 Aussies that just started the job around 3 weeks before we arrived. They do a really fantastic, tireless job, overseeing the dive operation each morning and the social scene in the dining room each evening. All of the dive sites are only around 20 minutes away on the Rainbow Reef. The variety was dazzling. Mantas, sharks, eels, sea snakes, lion fish, turtles abound on a very healthy hard coral reef. The Great White Wall was dazzling and worth the hype. All of the sites in Fiji are current dependent. Usually the stronger the current the better the dive. Without the current there is no plankton, without the plankton the soft coral and schooling fish do not eat. so there is much less to see. I didn't find the current to be a problem. There are are some down surges, particularly at the GWW, so pay attention to your gauges. The dive boats were sometimes crowded but were always managed very well. The local dive guides, faultless. All of the rooms at the resort are ocean view. The Garden Island Resort does not have that ethnic Fijian style, so may be a disappointment to those travelling for other reasons than diving. The staff were the most cordial of any place I have been. The food was quite good, and the overall "at home" ambience never left us disappointed. The fact that Aqua Trek is on site makes this combination hard to beat
