nikyyo
Contributor
Went to Fiji 6/24-7/9 and experienced mostly terrific diving, pretty bad food, and a most unwelcome development at Matava.
The first week was spent diving with Kai Viti Divers. They are a very well run dive op and picked us up promptly at 8:10 every morning. The rides out to the dive sites were around one hour each way. I have to say that I dived some of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. Prolific tropicals of all species swimming around some of the most pristine hard and soft coral I have ever seen. At one time I was trying to shoot a pair of clownfish and was looking for an area of dead coral or rock where I could place a finger to gain some stability: there was none. Everything was alive and vibrant. The only day when the diving was subpar was when they decided not to venture out too far one day for some reason. There was a big drop in quality that day. The reef was pretty ragged and visibilty dropped. I have to say that frequently we encounted some pretty tricky currents, and perhaps some dives could have been managed better. All in all I would recommend Kai Viti and would use them again if I went back to Fiji.
We stayed at Bethams beach cottages and they were fine as well. Very reasonably priced rooms with cooking facilities and a fridge, but be ready for cold showers as there was no hot water. The food served there was rather bland and eventually I just went to Raki Raki and bought some food and cooked for myself (tuna, spaghetti etc.) Unfortunately, that stuff was very different from what I was used to as well so I just endured the food. At least I had my own coffee and french press ( I learned to bring that with me everywhere a long time ago).
The second week was spent at Matava on Kadavu. I thought that Kadavu was more lush and beautiful than Vita Levu, and one really gets a more authentic Fijian experience there IMO. The resort was very nice and the grounds were lush and the bures were very nice. Best of all, they had hot water. All the staff were very friendly. The food, however, went from bad (at Bethams) to worse. Breakfast consisted mostly of powdered milk with corn flakes and some toast. Lunch could be a bowl of a ramon noodle type soup with cut up veggies on top. Dinners were all very repetitive. One day I got food poisoned (along with 10 other guests). I was relegated to my bed for 24 hours throwing up with a fevor. Staff referred to the incident as "a stomach virus left behind by a child at the resort." After that incident i pretty much just ate what I had to to get by until the flight home out of fear of a reoccurrence.
Weather was not on our side that week as we had heavy cloud cover and strong winds. The first two day we were not able to get outside the reef and the diving inside was ok but not great. When we were able to get outside the diving improved greatly. The Astrolab reef is nice, but generally doesn't have the soft corals I saw with Kai viti. All the usual tropicals were there though.
All in all I would rate the diving better in the Bligh Waters than Kadavu and probably wouldn't go back. I would, however, return to the Bligh Waters. ANother thing of note was that there were strong currents and surge at Kadavu as well. Most of the reports I had read indicated that there wasn't much current there. Maybe it was a result of the weather pattern, but I experinced the stongest surge of my life in Kadavu (my mask was pressing into my head!). If anyone has any questions feel free to PM.
The first week was spent diving with Kai Viti Divers. They are a very well run dive op and picked us up promptly at 8:10 every morning. The rides out to the dive sites were around one hour each way. I have to say that I dived some of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. Prolific tropicals of all species swimming around some of the most pristine hard and soft coral I have ever seen. At one time I was trying to shoot a pair of clownfish and was looking for an area of dead coral or rock where I could place a finger to gain some stability: there was none. Everything was alive and vibrant. The only day when the diving was subpar was when they decided not to venture out too far one day for some reason. There was a big drop in quality that day. The reef was pretty ragged and visibilty dropped. I have to say that frequently we encounted some pretty tricky currents, and perhaps some dives could have been managed better. All in all I would recommend Kai Viti and would use them again if I went back to Fiji.
We stayed at Bethams beach cottages and they were fine as well. Very reasonably priced rooms with cooking facilities and a fridge, but be ready for cold showers as there was no hot water. The food served there was rather bland and eventually I just went to Raki Raki and bought some food and cooked for myself (tuna, spaghetti etc.) Unfortunately, that stuff was very different from what I was used to as well so I just endured the food. At least I had my own coffee and french press ( I learned to bring that with me everywhere a long time ago).
The second week was spent at Matava on Kadavu. I thought that Kadavu was more lush and beautiful than Vita Levu, and one really gets a more authentic Fijian experience there IMO. The resort was very nice and the grounds were lush and the bures were very nice. Best of all, they had hot water. All the staff were very friendly. The food, however, went from bad (at Bethams) to worse. Breakfast consisted mostly of powdered milk with corn flakes and some toast. Lunch could be a bowl of a ramon noodle type soup with cut up veggies on top. Dinners were all very repetitive. One day I got food poisoned (along with 10 other guests). I was relegated to my bed for 24 hours throwing up with a fevor. Staff referred to the incident as "a stomach virus left behind by a child at the resort." After that incident i pretty much just ate what I had to to get by until the flight home out of fear of a reoccurrence.
Weather was not on our side that week as we had heavy cloud cover and strong winds. The first two day we were not able to get outside the reef and the diving inside was ok but not great. When we were able to get outside the diving improved greatly. The Astrolab reef is nice, but generally doesn't have the soft corals I saw with Kai viti. All the usual tropicals were there though.
All in all I would rate the diving better in the Bligh Waters than Kadavu and probably wouldn't go back. I would, however, return to the Bligh Waters. ANother thing of note was that there were strong currents and surge at Kadavu as well. Most of the reports I had read indicated that there wasn't much current there. Maybe it was a result of the weather pattern, but I experinced the stongest surge of my life in Kadavu (my mask was pressing into my head!). If anyone has any questions feel free to PM.
