My wife and I returned two days ago from the Beqa Lagoon Resort (formerly the Marlin Bay Resort) in the Fiji islands, and I thought I would post a brief report, as I've seen numerous questions about this dive destination.
We travelled with 20 other divers from our LDS here in Tucson, many of whom had dived this location under the old management, and to a person they ended up somewhat disappointed.
Accomodations were adaquate, however our bure, or room, while nicely situated on the water, had an old window type air conditioner that didn't cool the room at all. After sleeping fitfully for a couple of days with an anemic ceiling fan as our only cooling method I found an oscillating fan in an empty bure and brought it to our room, which made the nights quite a bit more comfortable.
The food was good, and the procedure was to order one of two entrees offered each day for lunch and dinner. A small card was placed at each place setting at breakfast and filled out by the divers before leaving for the morning. We tended to order the seafood entrees and some were excellent while others were not quite so good. I expected the seafood would be fresh but after eating it for seven days we're not sure it was. The other meats for lunch and dinner were lamb, chicken and beef, all of which got great reviews from the other divers.
Our package included two tank boat dives for 5 days, and the diving of course was excellent. Even as brand new divers we recognized that fact, even though viz throughout the week was around 50 feet. There had been a lot of rain the week before our arrival, which filled the lagoon with a lot of runoff from the islands. Nobody can control that of course, and with water temps consistently around 84 degrees we were happy with the diving. The divemasters were extremely friendly, always gave a detailed briefing before each dive, and seemed to keep good control of their groups under water. The boat crews were good about switching gear to new tanks, however be prepared to get yourself out of the water without much help. They would usually take your fins if handed up from the ladder, and if you removed your BC they would usually take that, but they weren't always at the back of the boat when divers surfaced. Also, if you elect to climb the ladder while wearing your BC don't expect any help at all.
There were always cookies and juice for surface intervals, and the crew was more than happy to take us close in to one of the deserted islands for some snorkeling or beachcombing during the surface intervals. Also, they were more than happy to put a few extra tanks on board and drop off a few of us so we could dive the reef just off shore on the way in from the morning dives. I took advantage of this dive four days, and there was no extra charge for the tanks.
Shore diving is unlimited, and we made a few of those, however one must negotiate a channel through the coral for about 50 meters before getting to the reef, and the channel isn't marked at all. God alone knows how much coral we killed walking out from shore before finding the channel on the second day!
We also booked the shark dive, which is made in conjunction with a dive operation from the main island. We met their boat on Thursday morning for a two tank dive, and during the briefing we were told of a "strong current" at the dive site. As we entered the water each diver clung for dear life onto a line which ran next to the boat, and the current caused many of the regulators to free flow. One diver had her snorkel ripped from her mouth, leaving only the mouthpiece clenched in her teeth. My octopus was torn from it's holder and swung behind me for the entire dive, pulled too far back for me to reach with one hand. We clawed our way down the anchor line, and several divers used half a tank of air just getting to the bottom, forcing them to turn back to the surface, missing the dive. Our dive shop owner, who logged dive number 2800 on this trip, said he had never been in a current like that. It seemed that the dive was going to take place no matter what, and if a diver decided to skip the dive no refund would be forthcoming. As so often happens, the second dive two hours later had almost no current at all. A few silvertips and bull sharks showed up, but honestly I won't do that type of dive again.
All in all, we rate the resort itself about 6.5 on a scale of 10. Several of our group had leaky roofs and had to be moved a couple of times, due to several days of rain during our stay. The food was good, the staff friendly, and the local cultural events scheduled each day were interesting. The dive operation itself we rate as 9 out of 10. Our boat was roomy enough, and the crews for the most part worked hard to make us happy. Shore diving rates 6.5 again, primarily because it isn't convenient, as the tanks must be carried by each diver and are stored about 50 meters from shore, plus the channel isn't well marked at all.
We'll post some pictures as soon as the dive gear and laundry are all stowed away. On a final note, if you go, by all means book a massage while you're there. They are to die for, and our one regret is we didn't discover that until our fifth day on the island.
Would we return to this resort? Probably if our LDS books another tour, but then we'd follow that group of maniacs anywhere.
Sorry if this is long winded, but these are the kinds of details I would like to know before booking a trip.
We travelled with 20 other divers from our LDS here in Tucson, many of whom had dived this location under the old management, and to a person they ended up somewhat disappointed.
Accomodations were adaquate, however our bure, or room, while nicely situated on the water, had an old window type air conditioner that didn't cool the room at all. After sleeping fitfully for a couple of days with an anemic ceiling fan as our only cooling method I found an oscillating fan in an empty bure and brought it to our room, which made the nights quite a bit more comfortable.
The food was good, and the procedure was to order one of two entrees offered each day for lunch and dinner. A small card was placed at each place setting at breakfast and filled out by the divers before leaving for the morning. We tended to order the seafood entrees and some were excellent while others were not quite so good. I expected the seafood would be fresh but after eating it for seven days we're not sure it was. The other meats for lunch and dinner were lamb, chicken and beef, all of which got great reviews from the other divers.
Our package included two tank boat dives for 5 days, and the diving of course was excellent. Even as brand new divers we recognized that fact, even though viz throughout the week was around 50 feet. There had been a lot of rain the week before our arrival, which filled the lagoon with a lot of runoff from the islands. Nobody can control that of course, and with water temps consistently around 84 degrees we were happy with the diving. The divemasters were extremely friendly, always gave a detailed briefing before each dive, and seemed to keep good control of their groups under water. The boat crews were good about switching gear to new tanks, however be prepared to get yourself out of the water without much help. They would usually take your fins if handed up from the ladder, and if you removed your BC they would usually take that, but they weren't always at the back of the boat when divers surfaced. Also, if you elect to climb the ladder while wearing your BC don't expect any help at all.
There were always cookies and juice for surface intervals, and the crew was more than happy to take us close in to one of the deserted islands for some snorkeling or beachcombing during the surface intervals. Also, they were more than happy to put a few extra tanks on board and drop off a few of us so we could dive the reef just off shore on the way in from the morning dives. I took advantage of this dive four days, and there was no extra charge for the tanks.
Shore diving is unlimited, and we made a few of those, however one must negotiate a channel through the coral for about 50 meters before getting to the reef, and the channel isn't marked at all. God alone knows how much coral we killed walking out from shore before finding the channel on the second day!
We also booked the shark dive, which is made in conjunction with a dive operation from the main island. We met their boat on Thursday morning for a two tank dive, and during the briefing we were told of a "strong current" at the dive site. As we entered the water each diver clung for dear life onto a line which ran next to the boat, and the current caused many of the regulators to free flow. One diver had her snorkel ripped from her mouth, leaving only the mouthpiece clenched in her teeth. My octopus was torn from it's holder and swung behind me for the entire dive, pulled too far back for me to reach with one hand. We clawed our way down the anchor line, and several divers used half a tank of air just getting to the bottom, forcing them to turn back to the surface, missing the dive. Our dive shop owner, who logged dive number 2800 on this trip, said he had never been in a current like that. It seemed that the dive was going to take place no matter what, and if a diver decided to skip the dive no refund would be forthcoming. As so often happens, the second dive two hours later had almost no current at all. A few silvertips and bull sharks showed up, but honestly I won't do that type of dive again.
All in all, we rate the resort itself about 6.5 on a scale of 10. Several of our group had leaky roofs and had to be moved a couple of times, due to several days of rain during our stay. The food was good, the staff friendly, and the local cultural events scheduled each day were interesting. The dive operation itself we rate as 9 out of 10. Our boat was roomy enough, and the crews for the most part worked hard to make us happy. Shore diving rates 6.5 again, primarily because it isn't convenient, as the tanks must be carried by each diver and are stored about 50 meters from shore, plus the channel isn't well marked at all.
We'll post some pictures as soon as the dive gear and laundry are all stowed away. On a final note, if you go, by all means book a massage while you're there. They are to die for, and our one regret is we didn't discover that until our fifth day on the island.
Would we return to this resort? Probably if our LDS books another tour, but then we'd follow that group of maniacs anywhere.
Sorry if this is long winded, but these are the kinds of details I would like to know before booking a trip.
