For Travelnsj
Fiji Report
Matana Bay Resort
Kadavu, Fiji
March 13-March 22
This trip was followed immediately by another week
in Fiji but was limited to 6 of the 13 people who
attended the first week. Stu will have to report
on the second week.
The Group: There were thirteen people on the trip.
They encompassed a wide variation in skill level
and geographic origin. One person was a non diving
spouse. We had two people from Virginia, one from
Florida, one from the state of Washington, four from
Texas, two from New York, two from Utah and one from
Britain. (Actually, three Brits, but two of them are
ex-pats living in the States). Skill levels ranged
from Basic Open Water divers to divers with more
than 500 dives. Youngest diver was 21. Oldest diver
was 62.
The Resort: Matana Bay is a little on the primitive
side, but I found it enjoyable. Electricity is
generated on site. It is on during the day and when
the compressor is required to fill air tanks. The
generator fires up about 7 AM which means coffee
(and tea for the Brits) wasn't available until
shortly after 7. There is a battery driven inverter
that runs night lights and bathroom lights after
dark but for all practical purposes, there is no
current after dark.
There is no pier at the resort so when you arrive
by boat from the airport (no roads), you wade
ashore. When you board the boat at the airport,
you also wade into the water to board.
The resort is run by Aussies with a Fijian staff.
For those with the habit, vegamite (gag) is available.
The food is a mix of Aussie, Fijian and American fare.
Breakfast is usually fresh fruit, fruit juice, coffee,
tea, cereal, milk, and three additional choices that
varied between eggs, pancakes, (lamb) sausage, bacon,
and probably other stuff that I am forgetting.
Lunch varied somewhat depending on whether you were
doing a "far site" dive or standard two tank morning
dive. If you were away from the resort, you might
eat a "box" lunch, or you might stop at a contractor
lunch site (private home on the beach). The day my
group did Astrolabe Reef on the opposite side of the
island, we had parrot fish coated in a grated
coconut and five alarm little red chilies. (Chilies
were optional).
Dinner was usually a choice between two entrees. I
usually chose whatever sounded more exotic. I was
never disappointed. Deserts were usually fairly
decadent.
There was a "traditional Fijian" dinner one evening.
A fire pit was dug about 6 feet X 3 feet X 3 feet. It
was lined with volcanic stone and fire was built in
the hole. The fire burned for several hours and then
the embers were shoveled out and the rocks covered
with palm fronds and banana leaves. Food was wrapped
in leaves and placed in the hole. Everything was
covered with more leaves and then sand was shoveled
on top. Everything baked for several hours. The sand
was shoveled out and the food packets retrieved. Food
was served without utensils and placed on a leaf covered
table. You ate with your fingers from a communal stash.
Dinner was preceded with a kava ceremony. Kava is a
very mild muscle relaxant.
The men were required to wear "sulus", the traditional
wrap around skirt. The girls all agreed that Stu looked
"darling". The other guys felt Stu committed an egregious
foul though when he shaved his legs before the show.
Needless to say, Stu is very competitive.
Housing: The buildings (called bures) were generally
two person rooms with a bathroom and living room. Our
bure was a duplex with a veranda. Since we had the best
porch (and rainy weather), the entire group tended to
congregate there. When it wasn't raining, there was
a beach bar with darts, and the same sort of game they
play at CoCoView where you try to catch nails in the tree
with a hook at the end of a long suspended line.
The tap water is not potable but bottled water is
available at the dining hall.
There is one telephone available, but rates are stiff.
No public computer or internet is available and no wifi.
I think you could use the resort computer for a price
but I was on vacation and didn't care. Cell phone
coverage was very skimpy.
Diving: I was favorabley impressed with both hard and
soft corals. (Note of warning: This was my first tropical
Pacific dive. My basis of comparison is strictly
Caribbean.) There seemed to be a good density and diversity
of colorful reef fish. I wouldn't call it impressive but
I was satisfied. I had never seen sea snakes before. We
saw several yellow jawed kraits (7 to 9 foot, highly venomous
members of the cobra family). They are not aggressive
although they are air breathers so you have to leave them
access to air. Another surprise was the size of the clams.
They were easily a foot or two in diameter. There were a
huge variety of anemone fish and anemones. Since I am
still trying to identify some of the fish we saw, I can't
list them all here. Each boat carried 6 divers. Usually,
both boats visited the same sites. The exception was
Astrolabe Reef on the opposite side of the island. We did
that sequentially over two days. The first day divers saw
a manta. The second day divers got skunked. We did see some
white tip reef sharks, but they were not numerous. We had
one boat night dive cancelled because of sea conditions
and the next morning's two tank dive was also cancelled.
We saw numerous nudis, two octopi (plural sp?) and quite a
few pipe fish (the
little kind). I enjoyed the diving, but I wouldn't classify
it as stellar. Fun but not great. We did do one drift dive
that was high velocity on parts of the dive. DMs accompany
you on the dive but give you a lot of leeway on time and
tightness to the group. Don't expect underwater baby sitting.
We had no emergencies, but anyone who experienced equipment
failure faired for themselves. The group was capable enough
and had the resources available so that we kept everyone
diving in spite of glitches. The dive was over when you ran
out of air.
Because we were there at the tail end of the rainy season,
we had rain on all but two days of the first week. Consequently,
our viz varied around about 40 feet each day. Being used to
the gin clear visibility of the Caribbean, I was a little
disappointed.
Overall, I had fun and would recommend the location. I was a
tad disappointed in the visibility, the rain, and the lack
of mantas, but not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment.
And don't forget the travel part is a bear.
Art
PS- For the second week's trip report, talk to Stu.
To justify unfair advantage in a fashion show, talk to Stu.
Fiji Report
Matana Bay Resort
Kadavu, Fiji
March 13-March 22
This trip was followed immediately by another week
in Fiji but was limited to 6 of the 13 people who
attended the first week. Stu will have to report
on the second week.
The Group: There were thirteen people on the trip.
They encompassed a wide variation in skill level
and geographic origin. One person was a non diving
spouse. We had two people from Virginia, one from
Florida, one from the state of Washington, four from
Texas, two from New York, two from Utah and one from
Britain. (Actually, three Brits, but two of them are
ex-pats living in the States). Skill levels ranged
from Basic Open Water divers to divers with more
than 500 dives. Youngest diver was 21. Oldest diver
was 62.
The Resort: Matana Bay is a little on the primitive
side, but I found it enjoyable. Electricity is
generated on site. It is on during the day and when
the compressor is required to fill air tanks. The
generator fires up about 7 AM which means coffee
(and tea for the Brits) wasn't available until
shortly after 7. There is a battery driven inverter
that runs night lights and bathroom lights after
dark but for all practical purposes, there is no
current after dark.
There is no pier at the resort so when you arrive
by boat from the airport (no roads), you wade
ashore. When you board the boat at the airport,
you also wade into the water to board.
The resort is run by Aussies with a Fijian staff.
For those with the habit, vegamite (gag) is available.
The food is a mix of Aussie, Fijian and American fare.
Breakfast is usually fresh fruit, fruit juice, coffee,
tea, cereal, milk, and three additional choices that
varied between eggs, pancakes, (lamb) sausage, bacon,
and probably other stuff that I am forgetting.
Lunch varied somewhat depending on whether you were
doing a "far site" dive or standard two tank morning
dive. If you were away from the resort, you might
eat a "box" lunch, or you might stop at a contractor
lunch site (private home on the beach). The day my
group did Astrolabe Reef on the opposite side of the
island, we had parrot fish coated in a grated
coconut and five alarm little red chilies. (Chilies
were optional).
Dinner was usually a choice between two entrees. I
usually chose whatever sounded more exotic. I was
never disappointed. Deserts were usually fairly
decadent.
There was a "traditional Fijian" dinner one evening.
A fire pit was dug about 6 feet X 3 feet X 3 feet. It
was lined with volcanic stone and fire was built in
the hole. The fire burned for several hours and then
the embers were shoveled out and the rocks covered
with palm fronds and banana leaves. Food was wrapped
in leaves and placed in the hole. Everything was
covered with more leaves and then sand was shoveled
on top. Everything baked for several hours. The sand
was shoveled out and the food packets retrieved. Food
was served without utensils and placed on a leaf covered
table. You ate with your fingers from a communal stash.
Dinner was preceded with a kava ceremony. Kava is a
very mild muscle relaxant.
The men were required to wear "sulus", the traditional
wrap around skirt. The girls all agreed that Stu looked
"darling". The other guys felt Stu committed an egregious
foul though when he shaved his legs before the show.
Needless to say, Stu is very competitive.
Housing: The buildings (called bures) were generally
two person rooms with a bathroom and living room. Our
bure was a duplex with a veranda. Since we had the best
porch (and rainy weather), the entire group tended to
congregate there. When it wasn't raining, there was
a beach bar with darts, and the same sort of game they
play at CoCoView where you try to catch nails in the tree
with a hook at the end of a long suspended line.
The tap water is not potable but bottled water is
available at the dining hall.
There is one telephone available, but rates are stiff.
No public computer or internet is available and no wifi.
I think you could use the resort computer for a price
but I was on vacation and didn't care. Cell phone
coverage was very skimpy.
Diving: I was favorabley impressed with both hard and
soft corals. (Note of warning: This was my first tropical
Pacific dive. My basis of comparison is strictly
Caribbean.) There seemed to be a good density and diversity
of colorful reef fish. I wouldn't call it impressive but
I was satisfied. I had never seen sea snakes before. We
saw several yellow jawed kraits (7 to 9 foot, highly venomous
members of the cobra family). They are not aggressive
although they are air breathers so you have to leave them
access to air. Another surprise was the size of the clams.
They were easily a foot or two in diameter. There were a
huge variety of anemone fish and anemones. Since I am
still trying to identify some of the fish we saw, I can't
list them all here. Each boat carried 6 divers. Usually,
both boats visited the same sites. The exception was
Astrolabe Reef on the opposite side of the island. We did
that sequentially over two days. The first day divers saw
a manta. The second day divers got skunked. We did see some
white tip reef sharks, but they were not numerous. We had
one boat night dive cancelled because of sea conditions
and the next morning's two tank dive was also cancelled.
We saw numerous nudis, two octopi (plural sp?) and quite a
few pipe fish (the
little kind). I enjoyed the diving, but I wouldn't classify
it as stellar. Fun but not great. We did do one drift dive
that was high velocity on parts of the dive. DMs accompany
you on the dive but give you a lot of leeway on time and
tightness to the group. Don't expect underwater baby sitting.
We had no emergencies, but anyone who experienced equipment
failure faired for themselves. The group was capable enough
and had the resources available so that we kept everyone
diving in spite of glitches. The dive was over when you ran
out of air.
Because we were there at the tail end of the rainy season,
we had rain on all but two days of the first week. Consequently,
our viz varied around about 40 feet each day. Being used to
the gin clear visibility of the Caribbean, I was a little
disappointed.
Overall, I had fun and would recommend the location. I was a
tad disappointed in the visibility, the rain, and the lack
of mantas, but not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment.
And don't forget the travel part is a bear.
Art
PS- For the second week's trip report, talk to Stu.
To justify unfair advantage in a fashion show, talk to Stu.
