First Time to Fiji….

[HannaBanana]

We will be taking a trip to Fiji next year . Planning to do a mix of diving and snorkeling. We will do 8 days LOB snorkeling with Nai’a.
After we wanted to do another 7 days of land based snorkeling…. We are thinking of either VoliVoli in rakiraki…. Nai’i would drop us there direct! Or flying to Taveuni and staying at Paradise, Taveuni Dive Resort, or Garden Island Resort…. Any thoughts on Taveuni vs Rakiraki/Bligh waters…
We will be there during a good time to see the great white wall so we know that…. I am OWA certified, my wife is only OW, and heard Paradise might not let her dive Great White Wall…. . So that is a consideration…. I don’t see many people mention Taveuni Dive Resort…

Thanks for any input!

steve

 

[runsongas]

out of the better known taveuni resorts, paradise taveuni consistently gets better reviews than the others unless if you are willing to double or triple the cost to something more upscale.

iirc, the naia generally does a route hitting the bligh waters down to lamiti, so you would get to add a different area if you went with taveuni over volivoli

getting aow done is fairly straightforward so the white wall shouldn't be an issue, maybe even consider doing it locally if prepping for PNW diving is something that might be in the plans

 

[Joneill]

out of the better known taveuni resorts, paradise taveuni consistently gets better reviews than the others unless if you are willing to double or triple the cost to something more upscale.

iirc, the naia generally does a route hitting the bligh waters down to lamiti, so you would get to add a different area if you went with taveuni over volivoli

getting aow done is fairly straightforward so the white wall shouldn't be an issue, maybe even consider doing it locally if prepping for PNW diving is something that might be in the plans

I stayed at both Paradise and Voli Voli Last year - Both are very good but Paradise (and Taveuni) was a much more beautiful and special place!

 

[bcaderunr]

Been to both Volivoli and Taveuni Island's Rainbow Reef. Week at each. I agree with previous posters. By all means go to Taveuni if you can. At Volivoli, the best diving was where the Naii spent a couple of days anchored in the protected waters - which were a good 45 min boat ride from the resort. After a week aboard the boat, your wife will be just as good a diver as anyone on the White Wall dive in Taveuni. Fiji is awesome. See as much of it underwater as you can.

 

[Trailboss123]

Trip Report - Fiji- May 14-30, 2022

This will be the first installment of what will likely be a multi installment report over the next 10 days or so. I am 5 days into a 16 day trip. I am getting a lot of minutae and logistics stuff out of the way with this first report. You will get more on the diving and hopefully lots of photos...

scubaboard.com

 

[HannaBanana]

Sorry, I said we would be snorkeling in Taveuni or VoliVoli…. Clearly everyone caught my typo…. Great advice. While Nai’a will be snorkeling and not scuba…. That said my wife is as good a diver as me and has similar 50-60 dives under her belt. Just not sure if Paradise would limit her dives if she doesn’t have the formal cert…I had heard they might. We certainly could do it the first 2 days there…. i had also heard Paradise is significantly farther from the reef? Is that a real concern or just a difference…

Steve

 

[Joneill]

Sorry, I said we would be snorkeling in Taveuni or VoliVoli…. Clearly everyone caught my typo…. Great advice. While Nai’a will be snorkeling and not scuba…. That said my wife is as good a diver as me and has similar 50-60 dives under her belt. Just not sure if Paradise would limit her dives if she doesn’t have the formal cert…I had heard they might. We certainly could do it the first 2 days there…. i had also heard Paradise is significantly farther from the reef? Is that a real concern or just a difference…

Steve

Call them and find out on the certs - they didn’t seem that rigid when I was there and Great White Wall is not really a tough dive in conditions they’d actually dive it in (they won’t dive it in really strong currents).

Paradise is a bit further from Rainbow Reef but we still went there when conditions allowed (we had high winds that made Rainbow Reef too rough to dive for a few days). However, it’s a really beautiful location and has quick access to Vuna Reef that others don’t visit. The dives on Vuna Reef were some of my favorites - it’s a super healthy reef!

There is also good snorkeling (and diving) right out front of Paradise as well - not super shallow for snorkeling, but clear water and a healthy reef. I have a video I took snorkeling out front that I’ll try to find and post.

 

[MB NZ]

I don't know if it fits with your plans or ethics, but a couple of shark dives at Beqa (pronounced benga) lagoon would be worthwhile.

 

[rmorgan]

NAI‘A is a terrific experience. There are a number of bommie tops in 10-20’ of water, and they’ll be great for snorkeling. There are also a lot of deeper sites, some of which would be fine for newer divers, and the dive guides are outstanding. If it is possible for you to both be certified and do some diving in addition to snorkeling from NAI’A, I think you’d have a lovely time. you might skip dives in the Bligh Waters, as the currents can be compelling, but even then, there are fast zodiacs in the water at all times to pick you up where you surface. In fact, diving from the ship is easier than a resort—if there’s a boat ride, it’s 3-10 minutes, and your gear is managed by the crew. But snorkel or bottles, you’ll love it.

 

[HannaBanana]

Thanks all. We did book paradise and I signed my wife up for AOW while we are there. They have a good special going! On the Nai’a, it’s an all snorkeling charter, so we will stick to the shallower stuff and diving isn’t going to be supported…. So we should have a nice mix! Thanks all