edpdiver
Contributor
I was just about to post my trip report, when I noticed that Hypersonic had recently posted a very thorough report. I will add a few details, and some pictures.
My wife and I left the U.S. on January 4, and arrived at Nadi on January 6. We decided to take the afternoon flight to Taveuni, and booked at day room at the Toka Toka hotel by the airport. It was nice to take a 3 hour nap, but I would probably take the morning flight like Hypersonic did, if I were to do it again.
Our experience with weather was not as good as Hypersonic; it was overcast the whole time we were there, and it rained -- usually very light -- on and off for the whole ten days we were there. With that said, it was not a major detraction as the diving was good, and the seas were not too rough. Be warned that if you go during the northern hemisphere summer, say in July, the Fiji water temperatures can get to be a bit chilly (i.e., ~75 F). I also wanted to mention that I thought that the food at the resort was excellent. The reviews on TripAdvisor include a few guests who were very critical of the quality of the food, but that was not our experience at all. Perhaps they have changed cooks, or the previous guests standards were MUCH higher than ours, but most of the meals were excellent, and some were even memorable (and we live near New Orleans, and eat there frequently). We dove eight consecutive days, and did not dive on our last full day there. Some of our favorite dive sites included Coconut Swirl (great soft corals, some pretty challenging currents), Veranda (excellent variety and very healthy hard coral gardens, some nice swimthroughs), the Wreck (similar to Veranda, but without the swimthroughs). All of the sites were very good, though. The health of the coral was fantastic, and the variety and density of fish were great. My wife and I were the only divers the whole time we were there. The dive guides we had were Bale and Sam. Both were excellent, knowledgeable, helpful, and fun.
Here are some pictures from the trip.
First, there were lots of longnose filefish, which was a real thrill for me.
Most of the dives ended in shallow hard coral gardens that were spectacular. Here is an example.
There were also tons of anemonefish, which are always fun. Mostly skunk anemonefish, but other types, too.
There were lots of wall dives, and a nice variety of things to see.
Here is another wall dive example with lots of soft coral.
This is another soft coral shot from one of the best soft coral gardens I have seen, Coconut Swirl. Be forewarned that the currents can be strong. I sucked through air pretty quickly, but it was a memorable 42 minute dive.
The whole set of underwater pictures can be found here: 2011 fiji - a set on Flickr
and the pictures of the resort and one village tour that we took are found here: 2011 Matangi Resort Fiji - a set on Flickr
My wife and I left the U.S. on January 4, and arrived at Nadi on January 6. We decided to take the afternoon flight to Taveuni, and booked at day room at the Toka Toka hotel by the airport. It was nice to take a 3 hour nap, but I would probably take the morning flight like Hypersonic did, if I were to do it again.
Our experience with weather was not as good as Hypersonic; it was overcast the whole time we were there, and it rained -- usually very light -- on and off for the whole ten days we were there. With that said, it was not a major detraction as the diving was good, and the seas were not too rough. Be warned that if you go during the northern hemisphere summer, say in July, the Fiji water temperatures can get to be a bit chilly (i.e., ~75 F). I also wanted to mention that I thought that the food at the resort was excellent. The reviews on TripAdvisor include a few guests who were very critical of the quality of the food, but that was not our experience at all. Perhaps they have changed cooks, or the previous guests standards were MUCH higher than ours, but most of the meals were excellent, and some were even memorable (and we live near New Orleans, and eat there frequently). We dove eight consecutive days, and did not dive on our last full day there. Some of our favorite dive sites included Coconut Swirl (great soft corals, some pretty challenging currents), Veranda (excellent variety and very healthy hard coral gardens, some nice swimthroughs), the Wreck (similar to Veranda, but without the swimthroughs). All of the sites were very good, though. The health of the coral was fantastic, and the variety and density of fish were great. My wife and I were the only divers the whole time we were there. The dive guides we had were Bale and Sam. Both were excellent, knowledgeable, helpful, and fun.
Here are some pictures from the trip.
First, there were lots of longnose filefish, which was a real thrill for me.
Most of the dives ended in shallow hard coral gardens that were spectacular. Here is an example.
There were also tons of anemonefish, which are always fun. Mostly skunk anemonefish, but other types, too.
There were lots of wall dives, and a nice variety of things to see.
Here is another wall dive example with lots of soft coral.
This is another soft coral shot from one of the best soft coral gardens I have seen, Coconut Swirl. Be forewarned that the currents can be strong. I sucked through air pretty quickly, but it was a memorable 42 minute dive.
The whole set of underwater pictures can be found here: 2011 fiji - a set on Flickr
and the pictures of the resort and one village tour that we took are found here: 2011 Matangi Resort Fiji - a set on Flickr
