Just back from two incredible weeks at Beqa Lagoon Resort and Volivoli Beach Resort. We took the non stop from LAX to Nadi and then the almost 4 hour bus ride plus 45 minute boat to Beqa and arrived to a beach front serenade by the staff. We were there primarily for the shark dive but had a large group arrive at the same time who did the shark dive on Monday which had us wait until Wed for our shot. As it turned out, no tigers showed up on Monday but on Wednesday we had two tigers come in for both dives. We asked if we could do a 2nd shark dive on Thursday and since we had enough divers interested they arranged it for us no problem. Had one large tiger show up for both dives on that day as well. The shark dive was an incredible experience and I'm so glad we got to do it!! Felt very safe and controlled even though we had several occasions where a keystone predator that was 12' or more in length was mere inches from my face. Overall as expected the rest of the diving in Beqa was fair to good but not a place I'd go just for the reefs. Dive boats were set up excellently and our gear was always clean and organized on the boat each day. We had rainy weather with wind most days and the crew suggested that if we were to come back, July is the premium month for calm water, good vis and lots of tigers. The resort was beautiful and an awesome blend of rustic charm with super clean and really well executed accomodations. Our ocean front bure was perfection and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend staying here to anyone. The food was excellent and beer prices were pretty cheap ($7.50FJD for bitter or fiji gold) and we found the service to be top notch. The cultural activities were entertaining but the real treat was getting to know some of the staff and making some really good friends with our fellow divers. Dive masters and boat crews were awesome and our new friend Gunnz was our DM most of the week. We had some really nice reef dives on one day with a deeper wreck and then a couple of awesome bombies but a lot of the sties were pretty much rubble below 25 feet. Tops of the reefs were full of life and where we tended to spend most of our time. The house reef had pretty bad viz and lots of the reef was covered in silt, however it has a lot of great structure and aside from the viz and the 'dirt' it wasn't that terrible of a dive. Much better experience on the shore dive at Beqa than Volivoli.
After a week we transferred to Volivoli which was about 4 hours by taxi(paid for by the hotels). Volivoli feels a lot more like a polished resort where Beqa feels like Gilligan's Island. The food at Volivoli was INCREDIBLE and we really enjoyed every meal we ate. Drinks were VERY expensive ($30FJD for a pina coloday and $15FJD for a local beer). They have happy hour specials which we took advantage of but were a bit sticker shocked when we went to pay the tab at the end! The staff at the restaurant and hotel were amazing, rooms were very clean and our view from the deluxe ocean view room was panoramic bliss. Diving out in the bligh waters lived up to the hype and we were able to get out to the marine park 5 out of our 7 diving days. The boat rides were rough and took over an hour to the best sties, but once you splash in, any discomfort is soon forgotten in the bliss of what is on display. We did Mellow Yellow, Mount Mutiny, E6, Chile, Pot Luck, Dua Tale, Purple Haze, Heartbreak Ridge as well as several other reefs closer to the resort. Viz ranged from 20-30 feet at the worst, to 100+ depending on the site. The sheer number of fish around the pinnacles was mind blowing and the colors and variety of soft corals were out of this world. I could spend an eternity floating at 20' among the antheas just watching the clouds of them come and go. We saw school of barracuda, banded sea snake, reef shark, and more types of fish and nudis than I've seen anywhere else I've been diving. Lots of interesting structure was available on several of the dives, even though the dives tended to be on coral mountains that rise up out of the deep to within a few feet of the surface. There was some surge/current so the diving was def not for beginners, but the crews did their best to find calm conditions whenever possible. The shore dive was a no viz whatever but the guide did find us two seahorses! They advised us that best shore dive conditions were early in the am but we never got the chance to try on then. Dive boats were awesome and the team at Ra divers did an incredible job of keeping everyone happy and safe. We were able to stay in our room until 1pm on departure day so leaving at 3pm was no big deal and had us arriving at Nadi about 3 hours before our flight back to LAX. I would return to Volivoli in a heartbeat but would def bring some of my own beer and make use of happy hour next time.
We did 31 dives in 13 days of diving and had an absolute blast! The fijian people 100% deserve their reputation as the friendliest people on earth and we made some excellent friends both from the staff as well as some of our fellow divers. After a few days everyone feels like family and there were a few tears shed on departure days both at Beqa and Voli as we had to say goodbye to some awesome humans. Fiji air was great and didn't have any trouble with our bags (but we did comply with the weight limits which were checked in LA and in Nadi).
Next time we will go during the US summer and probably skip Beqa and get up to Taveuni, but for anyone wanting an adventure, you can't really go wrong! BULA!
After a week we transferred to Volivoli which was about 4 hours by taxi(paid for by the hotels). Volivoli feels a lot more like a polished resort where Beqa feels like Gilligan's Island. The food at Volivoli was INCREDIBLE and we really enjoyed every meal we ate. Drinks were VERY expensive ($30FJD for a pina coloday and $15FJD for a local beer). They have happy hour specials which we took advantage of but were a bit sticker shocked when we went to pay the tab at the end! The staff at the restaurant and hotel were amazing, rooms were very clean and our view from the deluxe ocean view room was panoramic bliss. Diving out in the bligh waters lived up to the hype and we were able to get out to the marine park 5 out of our 7 diving days. The boat rides were rough and took over an hour to the best sties, but once you splash in, any discomfort is soon forgotten in the bliss of what is on display. We did Mellow Yellow, Mount Mutiny, E6, Chile, Pot Luck, Dua Tale, Purple Haze, Heartbreak Ridge as well as several other reefs closer to the resort. Viz ranged from 20-30 feet at the worst, to 100+ depending on the site. The sheer number of fish around the pinnacles was mind blowing and the colors and variety of soft corals were out of this world. I could spend an eternity floating at 20' among the antheas just watching the clouds of them come and go. We saw school of barracuda, banded sea snake, reef shark, and more types of fish and nudis than I've seen anywhere else I've been diving. Lots of interesting structure was available on several of the dives, even though the dives tended to be on coral mountains that rise up out of the deep to within a few feet of the surface. There was some surge/current so the diving was def not for beginners, but the crews did their best to find calm conditions whenever possible. The shore dive was a no viz whatever but the guide did find us two seahorses! They advised us that best shore dive conditions were early in the am but we never got the chance to try on then. Dive boats were awesome and the team at Ra divers did an incredible job of keeping everyone happy and safe. We were able to stay in our room until 1pm on departure day so leaving at 3pm was no big deal and had us arriving at Nadi about 3 hours before our flight back to LAX. I would return to Volivoli in a heartbeat but would def bring some of my own beer and make use of happy hour next time.
We did 31 dives in 13 days of diving and had an absolute blast! The fijian people 100% deserve their reputation as the friendliest people on earth and we made some excellent friends both from the staff as well as some of our fellow divers. After a few days everyone feels like family and there were a few tears shed on departure days both at Beqa and Voli as we had to say goodbye to some awesome humans. Fiji air was great and didn't have any trouble with our bags (but we did comply with the weight limits which were checked in LA and in Nadi).
Next time we will go during the US summer and probably skip Beqa and get up to Taveuni, but for anyone wanting an adventure, you can't really go wrong! BULA!
