I was diving Pacific Harbour about a month ago and the rain was a real problem. We were in Pacific Harbour for a month and only had a handful of days that were decent weather. The Pearl is a very nice hotel and has a nice restaurant. Bega Adventure divers will pick you up at the dock right at The Pearl if you like or they will provide a free taxi to their shop. I dove with Bega Adventure divers and had not problems with them at all. Aqua Trek is the other option and it is right across the road from The Pearl....a very easy walk (when it isnt raining). Aqua Trek has a solid reputation but takes larger groups of divers. Another option in Pacific Harbour is Fiji Palms. Fiji Palms is right next door to The Pearl and so the same dive options are available.....you can even walk over to the dock at The Pearl and have Bega Adventure Divers pick you up there on their way out to the dive site. Fiji Palms has a nice restaurant and you can also walk next door and eat at The Pearl. There is a small mall type facility at the Cultural Center that is very near and there are several restaurants there as well. But, if you stay at Fiji Palms you will have a full kitchen of your own and there is a small grocery store at the Culteral Center. Just a bit down the beach from The Pearl and Fiji Palms is The Uprising Resort. Uprising is another good option and has some budget accommodations and a restaurant onsite. Bega Adventure Divers will provide free taxi to their shop from Uprising as well. With all of that said, I had one week left at the end our our trip that I dhad not pre-book anyplace. By the end of our rain soaked month at Pacific Harbour I considered moving to VoliVoli (an expat in Fiji tells me they have nice budget accommodations and very good diving) or going back to Naigani Resort where we spent our first two weeks in Fiji (very laid back and excellent diving) or even Teveuni. However, in the end the weather forecast prompted me to look for the least rainy place in Fiji. We ended up heading to Blue Lagoon Beach Resort on Nacula Island in the Yasawas and it was a GREAT decision. I loved Naigani, Matava Resort (on Kadavu) was great and I am sure Pacific Harbour would be nice at a different time of year. But during the rainy season I would probably head for the Yasawas again unless the forecast for those other places was extremely favorable. The diving in the Mamanucas and Yasawas is not supposed to be all that great, but I enjoyed the diving at Blue Lagoon Beach Resort. The Maze is a really nice dive with caverns and long swim throughs as well as lobster and christmas tree worms. One dive there I saw a shark and a baracuda as well. Toms Thumb is a pinnacle with lots of yellow soft coral and an abundance of critters. Cabbage patch, Cookies Reef, somosomo, fat mans reeef, and Blue lagoon, and many other sites were all very nice dives. Lobsters, blue spotted rays, clown fish, porcupine fish, stone fish, puffer fish, and on and on. Plus, Blue Lagoon along with resorts from two other islands meet at The Cathedral twice a week to do a shark dive. The shark dive here was a great experience. We liked Blue Lagoon Beach resort so much that we ended up extending our stay there an extra ten days. The atmosphere at the resort was wonderful and there were several outings to choose from when not diving. The vibe was great and every evening they had something going on (crab races, survivor competition, the choir from the church at the village singing on Sunday evening, bonfires and on and on). Of the places we went, only Matava on Kadavu required an additional flight in a small plane. Pacific Harbour would be either a flight to Suva on a medium size plane and a 45 minute taxi ride or a 3 hour taxi ride from Nadi. Naigani is about the same as Pacific Harbour plus about a 30 or 40 minute boat ride. Blue Lagoon Beach Resort is reached from Nadi by taking a large ferry for about a 5 hour ride but it is a beautiful trip with tons of islands and resorts to see along the way (we opted to spend an extra $38 Fijian each (exchange rate is about $1.80 Fijian for each US dollar) to be in the captain lounge where you have air conditioning, free snacks, free drinks, and extremely comfortable seating. If you have any other questions feel free to contact me via private message. Mike
