Fantasy Island

[JillGadget]

We are booked to spend a week in April at Fantasy Island with our LDS. At first I was psyched but after reading about bugs and accomadations I'm a bit nervous. I don't need the sheraton (as I would rather spend my $$ on diving); however, I do need it clean. I'll bring lots of deet and start taking vit. B as recommended. I do question the diving.... What kind of sea creatures will we see? I like milling around, by hubby gets bored easily and doesn't like to be patient. Also likes wrecks.
Thanks,

 

[CODMAN]

Hi Jill, I spent a week there in october 2006 and loved it.
Not all the rooms are as nice. I had a room in the new section (2nd floor) near the dinning room, and it was very OK! Clean and decent, no frills! But apparently, some of the other rooms are not as nice. I heard the ones closest the dive shop are not as good. If you can get one in the new part (as I described), the walk to the dive shop is a big 2 minutes!! Not very long. So being in the rooms near the dive shop is not worth it...

The diving is great. There is a Wreck right next to the resort as a shore dive. It's really cool, although the vis is not as good as it's in the main boating channel. But very cool nonetheless. If you have the unlimited diving package, you can get yourself dropped off on top of it anytime from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. If you want to dive it later, you need to swim out to it yourself (no big deal since there is a cable going almost directly to it). It's great for night diving.

The rest of the diving is great and relatively shallow (that means long dive times). All our dives were 60 minutes and up. There is lots of cool stuff like Morays, angelfish, seahorses (the DM will point these out). Black coral. But not that much big fish. For some this is a disapointment. But if you take your time and search the reefs for the tiny little stuff, you'll see it is teaming with amazing variety! I think if your husband is going to really enjoy it, he is going to need to learn a bit of observation skills and look for the tiny stuff! The cleaner shrimp, the gobies, the flamingo tongues, the seahorses, etc... It's really cool!
If you want to please him (or you don't think he'll get a kick out of observing the smaller macro life), maybe planning to do the organised shark dive would be a good idea... It costs extra...

I hope this helps a bit!

 

[CODMAN]

Oh I forgot about the sand flies. When I was there, sand flies (and mosquitos) were not a problem. Only when lying or walking on the beach did I ever put any repellent on. And then it was only from the knee down for the sand flies. bring some anyways and you'll be fine...

 

[JillGadget]

Thanks Codman, I have a feeling we will be doing the shark dive! Did one in Nassau, Bahamas and absolutely loved it. Maybe I'll get my hubby a little book on little creaturesof the reef. I guess this trip is more for me and next year we are going to truk lagoon for him! Thanks again
Jill

 

[Travler108]

I was at FI in November and had a wonderful vacation. Ask for a room in the main building or ask for a remodeled room. They have ongoing construction going on and will probably be complete by the time you get there. While the accomodations aren't luxurious, they are far from spartan. Think Best Western....with a beach view!

Food is pretty good with wonderful fresh fish almost every meal. Breakfast is fresh cooked eggs or omelets, plenty of fresh fruit, and almsot anything you could ask for.
Service is buffett, with waiters for coffee, drinks, etc.

Diving.....very good! Good, attentive, and resourceful DM's will show you lots of marine life, if you let them. The reef is in good shape with lots of coral and marine life. You can get 20 dives easily within the week. While some might complain about the dive operation not being like their personal favorite, this operation is well run and safe. The dive boats, depending on load on the resort, may have between 10-20 divers but are comfortable and designed for easy diving.

All said, this is a great bargain for a dive week! I'd compare it very favorably to weeks in Cozumel, or even a week on an Agressor liveaboard. I wouldn't sweat this decision!

Travler

 

[Sherald]

My son and I spent Christmas week there. The room was large and clean. We stayed in 426 or D26. The building is to the right of the main building. Be careful if the wooden stairs and walkways are wet because they are very slippery. I used the cactus juice repellant and deep woods off. I had no problems with sand fleas but got bit by mosquitoes at night in bed. Next time I will crank up the air and sleep in my winter pajamas. I sat on the beach in the evenings and at night reading and did not get bit. The food was good. We had lobster twice while we were there. There is always a variety. The diving was fabulous. The dive operation is wonderful. We dove on Little Kem and the dive master was Daren. He was great. The reef is beautiful. We did the shark dive and the dolphin dive. Both were well worth the expense. The wreck off the Gazebo was neat as was Mr. Bud. There are also 2 reefs that you can shore dive. I snorkled the last day and watched squid changing colors and camoflouging themselves. We also did the extreame zip line tour with Pirates of the Carribbean Canopy Tours. I will definetly return.

 

[JillGadget]

I was at FI in November and had a wonderful vacation. Ask for a room in the main building or ask for a remodeled room. Think Best Western....with a beach view!

Food is pretty good with wonderful fresh fish almost every meal.

Diving.....very good! Good, attentive, and resourceful DM's will show you lots of marine life, if you let them. The reef is in good shape with lots of coral and marine life.

All said, this is a great bargain for a dive week! I'd compare it very favorably to weeks in Cozumel, or even a week on an Agressor liveaboard. I wouldn't sweat this decision!

Travler

Thank you so much! I know you can't please everyone all the time..blah, blah, blah, but there seemed to be so much negative I was getting cold feet. Whilst I would love to stay in a 5 star hotel and be pampered.. I would rather be at a best western (ok.. Hampton INN) and spend my $$ on diving. We will prob. do the shark dive as both of us absolutely love sharks and the larger fish. Got a new camera and hopefully learn to take halfway decent pics.. at least by the end of the trip.

Thanks again,
Jill

 

[JillGadget]

My son and I spent Christmas week there. The room was large and clean. We stayed in 426 or D26. We did the shark dive and the dolphin dive. Both were well worth the expense. The wreck off the Gazebo was neat as was Mr. Bud. There are also 2 reefs that you can shore dive. I snorkled the last day and watched squid changing colors and camoflouging themselves. We also did the extreame zip line tour with Pirates of the Carribbean Canopy Tours. I will definetly return.

I'm going with our LDS and am going to ask for your room! Always good to have a recommendation! I so hope to see a squid! Who did you do the shark dive with? Was the dolphin a swim or dive? Already talked to hubby about zip line tour as well. THAT LOOKS EXCITING!
Thanks, Jill

 

[Sherald]

We did it with Waihuka Adventure Diving according to the cover of the CD you can reach them at waihukadiving@hotmail.com. We scheduled it at the tour desk at fantasy island. Yes, the dive was with the dolphins. We went in one boat and the dolphins followed the other smaller boat out. One of them put her mouth on my sons arm several times, he said it did not hurt. They are from Anthony's Key Resort but we dove at reef called Front Porch.

 

[Bubble Head]

Hi Jill, my non-diver wife and I were planning to go in April. Might change that if your LDS can get a better deal. I am quite close to you. What DS are you with?