Random Miscellaneous stuff:
You will somehow, against all odds, have cell service on Beqa and throughout most of the lagoon. Don’t ask me how. It’s some sort of Polynesian black magic voodoo. I have AT&T here in NJ, and I **** you not, I had better service on Beqa than to do in my living room at home.
The hotel offers Wi-Fi for a cost. I think it was $70 for a week, and that is good for 2 devices. Not 2 at any one time. 2. Period. Full stop. So if you and your partner have 2 phones and 2 tablets, figure out which ones you want to be on the Wi-Fi first. All of the Beachfront villas and koi pond villas had no problem with the Wi-Fi, however the guys up in the Frat House said that it wasn’t working for half the week. The hotels IT guy was up there the next morning after they complained at dinner, but I think it took them a couple of days or so to get that sorted out.
Bring any old dive gear you have and don’t really use. The guys at the shop will be super appreciative of any and all donations. Literally anything. My cousin gave a 50’ spool of new 550 cord to the guys and they smiled ear to ear because they could use it to hunt. We all left dive lights, masks, wetsuits, booties, etc.
Tipping is done communally. They discourage tipping individuals since it isn’t fair to those working behind the scenes. They have 2 boxes. One just for the dive guys, and one box for the remainder of the hotel staff. We ask for and received a full staff list. Looks like about 60 people comprise the hotel & dive staff. Almost all of which live in the neighboring villages on Beqa.
We never locked our rooms or used our safe. Mainly because there are no keys (tourists have flown back home with them all), and the punishment for theft is SEVERE in Fiji.
There are 4 tribes on Beqa, and about 1200 total residents scattered throughout the 9 villages. There are no roads. Just footpaths linking them all.
There is only power via generators & solar. The power outlets in the rooms are Aussie style. I used Aussie plugs that has USB out puts on them to charge my camera batteries, phone, iPad, etc, and never had any issues. My cousin plugged his USA power strip into an Aussie converter and it instantly went up in smoke. My cousin learned his first lesson in voltage that day. Some members of the group were able to use a transformer to step down the voltage and use their travel C-Pap machines or charge laptops without issue.
Luggage Weight Limits:
We flew Fiji Airways from LAX - NADI. Fiji Airways is possibly the most confused and disorganized entity that we have used for a dive trip. Their App would always show information different from their website; communication via email is virtually impossible. Getting answers to fairly simple questions would require multiple phone calls over the span of 7-10 days, and no member of our group ever was given the same answer to a question. Ultimately, Each checked bag can be 66lbs. Regardless of whatever nonsense is on Fiji Airways website - YOU WILL BE ALLOWED 66lbs PER CHECKED BAG. Flying out of LAX my wife & I also had our carry on luggage weighed. The randomness of this was in line with all of the previous trip reports I have read, where it seems like every 3rd post would have a different experience. This is possibly the dumbest and more infuriating aspect of traveling that I have ever experienced. I’m not sure why me shifting 5lbs of items from my 20lb backpack into my 10lb camera case to make sure that both items weighed 15lbs matters….but for some reason, it was a very big deal that required holding up the check in for other passengers. I saw this repeated, seemingly randomly, for others behind us. Other members of my group, literally checking in right next to me with massive rolling carry ons didn’t have them weighed at all. Some people getting on the plane had bright orange “Carry on approved” stickers on their bags. Others did not. Some people had these stickers on tiny little Fanny packs. Others with what can only be described as a duffel bag with a grand piano inside, also had these stickers. Makes zero sense. Our seats were in row 32 outbound and row 33 inbound. These are the extra legroom seats. I was told that “my seats are economy plus, but my luggage and boarding status are economy”. So as a result I had to pay the extra $300 round trip for the 3rd checked bag, and we boarded in Group J (boarding starts with Group A). Other members of the group we given Two 66lb bags of checked luggage per person, and it turns out that Fiji Airways made a policy change on March 1, so anyone purchasing after than received the 2nd bag included in their airfare. Everyone prior to March 1 only was allotted the single 66lb bag. Boarding at LAX went smoothly, and even though Group L is the final group, everyone in group J was able to fit their carry ons in the overhead bins. FYI- row 32 & 33 don’t have the typical window seats. They are that weird spacing where you’ll get the wall pressing onto your shoulder, and not the window cutout on the A350 we flew over the pacific.
I think that touches on everything. If anyone has any questions feel free to fire em off and I’ll answer as best I can.
