Fiji: Paradise resort and Garden Island

[cricfanSD]

I am kind of torn between these two choices. Both these resorts offered great packages for six nights stay. I wanted to know the pros and cons of these two resorts.
Such as
a) Dive operation
b) House reef accessibility
c) Non-diving activities for spouse
d) General comfort in terms of food and accomodation

 

[Where2Next]

a) Dive operation
b) House reef accessibility
c) Non-diving activities for spouse
d) General comfort in terms of food and accommodation

Dive Operation: Professional, small fast boats - comfortably fit 8 people - usually less the week I was there. The owner Carl was nice; I enjoyed John - the manager/head DM. Fun, down to earth guy. They are the only dive op on Taveuni who offer Nitrox.

House Reef:, walk 30 ft from Bure to pier, put gear on, go in. Yes, that easy. Excellent house reef, yes there was a little damage from the Hurricane a couple months back, but plenty to see. Within 5 minutes of my first house reef dive I saw clown fish, leaf fish, two blue ribbon eels, trumpet fish, lots of Christmas tree worms, tons of other good stuff too. Lots of healthy corals under the, mmmm maybe 30 ft mark. First dive must be done with a DM and after that you can go on your own. (never did this myself, but that is what I was told.) They have a strict 'first drink last dive' rule - hence me never making it to an afternoon house reef dive. To Vuna reef it was a 5-10 minute boat ride. To rainbow Reef there are extra fees, but it is a 20 minute boat ride.

Non-diving Activites: oh my... Mykellie - he is too much. Actually he is warm and friendly and very energizing. He has activities planned all day, every day - some are free and others cost money. A visit to the village, school, tour of the area, coconut show, Fijian language lessons, all free. Tours of the cannibal cave, visit to the natural rock waterslide, waterfalls, blow hole, etc all fee based. Their website outlines all activities fee and free.

General comfort/accommodations: The bures are top notch - four star bures. Super spacious, absolutely lovely, huge bathrooms that open out to another shower outside and another jetted tub - under the stars bathing! Living rooms with space and king size comfortable beds in the bedroom. Each bure patio has a table and chairs as well as a bed lounger. The bures are all free standing so no loud neighbors! I stayed in an oceanview bure, I thought the bure 'Papaya' had the best location. The bedroom had french doors that open up so you can lay in bed and look out. I would not stay in a garden as I liked the ocean views and IMO the heat/bugs might get stagnant. There is a fully stocked mini-fridge of where I discovered Vuna beer - the BEST beer on Fiji IMO (like a good microbrew IPA). There are only 10 bures, so no crowds. Food was very good, maybe too much per portion. Start with the smaller meal plan and upgrade after the first day if you need to. I do not know if they allow children - there were none there when I went.

The gardens were gorgeous and tended to all day every day.

It is a 1 hr ride from the airport - about half way we passed Garden Island. It had a nice outside wall, it was located in the heart of the town (forgot town name). This can be looked on as a positive or negative. I like the isolation of Paradise - felt safer and was really quiet.

I am happy to answer any other questions you have - I took pictures of the room and resort - however I don't have them here at work. I'll try to upload a few in the next day or so.

www.ParadiseInFiji.com
www.TaveuniDive.com

 

[cricfanSD]

That was really informative. Thanks !
How is the Rainbow reef and Vuna reef compared to other places in Fiji (Bligh waters) ? Did you see any pelagics during your dive there ? Do they need minimum number of divers to go to Great White Wall or is that standard diving location ?
On the other hand any substance to this report ? Though CDNN is not the most objective place.
CDNN :: Paradise Lost at Paradise Taveuni: Bad Resort Ruins Fiji Dive Trip

 

[Where2Next]

I have not dove in the Bligh Waters :depressed: However I did dive over by Yellow Wall off of Matangi as well as Beqa Lagoon. Honestly the vis overall was disappointing - but I blame the mass amounts of rain and recent hurricane for our unfortunate vis. Overall the SomoSomo Strait/Matangi part of Fiji had better vis than Beqa.

I think the dive shop did need four divers for rainbow reef (small fee too), but they went there several times the week we were there - we went twice. Here is the thing about the Great White Wall... it needs to have good currents otherwise the wall looks brown with tiny white nubs - with good currents everything is out and feeding and it is truly amazing. It was available for us to dive one day of our stay - the dive shop said it would be good that day - it was, so they knew the currents well. I suggest sending an email to the dive shop and discussing this with them. I do not know if it is a once a month occurrence or once a week occurrence or what. They prided themselves on being honest about the dive, and said many local shops take people in less than ideal conditions and those folks sadly miss out on an amazing sight.

I read that article you posted a link to just now. Oh my, not sure what to say. She has taken the place and twisted it - if I read that article I do not think I would go there. I consider myself an upscale diver - I like a little luxury, but I like to dive too (this is why Beqa is not the place for me - but that is another thread). This was no five star place and on a scale of stars - the ritz being a 5 star then yes this might be a 3 star. However the article is really off base - or perhaps they have improved since this article was written.

There are chickens and pets pretty much anywhere in Fiji - how sad she thought this was bad. The Rooster that did not have a good internal clock ticked me off - but there was one everywhere we stayed, so it become a running joke with our friends, no matter which resort we were at, 'I hope there is rooster on the menu tonight!'

The bures are top notch - she (the author) sounds like a frightened little girl with the bird/bat in the ceiling. A disappointing experience with the email and the day tour offer. I say things happen, that sounds bad, Paradise should have offered the tour free, but she missed out on a great opportunity to see a lovely part of Taveuni, her loss. Who knows, I would not doubt she was showing up earlier than originally planned and they threw out an idea since the bure would not be ready.

The pool is small - there are photos on the website - there are three umbrellas, and with 20 guests, how many loungers and tables are needed? The owner's two children were out of town when we were there; however they did come back the last day and I heard a couple kids wine, scream and giggle like kids do. Hey kids are kids - if you can not handle kids around then go to a truly adults only resort. They did have a nanny watching over them. They appeared well behaved.

The wedding bure the author discusses sat 8 people for dining is a weird comment, since they have a huge dining room and the table for eight is available for private parties and guests who wish to eat away from everyone. The dining area was lovely. The coffee was delicious and plunger coffee was available for 10FJ if you wanted it - we tried it, but went back to regular. There is instant available in the rooms with a tea kettle for boiling water (tea too). As far as food I certainly enjoyed some meals more than others, but overall I was quite satisfied.

Honestly it feels really important now to show you my pics so you can see that this author had a chip - a bit nit picky if you ask me. Even comments about the leaky O-rings (had a leaky O-ring many times - it happens, bring some with you, we ran out of all our O-rings while diving in Fiji - we became the O-ring kings).

I think the author would be a better travel writer for sissy spots like Key West or Bondi Beach as she is obviously not the adventurous type. LOL If you truly want 4-5 star check out Matangi Private Island, but then again they had dogs and chickens too! (Even Flying Fox bats!!!):shocked2:

As far as poverty along the drive, put it in perspective. Yes they make much less than me but do you think if Bill Gates drove but my house he would say oh those poor people look at the poverty. NO! The fijians are a happy people, they live different than us. Nothing I saw disturbed me - people laying in their doorways and enjoying the day, napping in the heat, gardening, drying Kava, cooking, playing with kids, etc. I brought tons of gifts - as I would hope Bill would do if he stopped by my home, LOL!

I think the resort is so small it will be hard to find more opinions on Paradise - however you could look at some other forums who have hotel reviews such as tripadvisor. I will end this post with the comment that all the guests who were there that week, as well as us and our friends, made comments many times 'it was a lovely place and the price we paid was unbeatable!'

EDIT: I am home so I am going to add some photos. After reviewing them, they are not the best; I wish I took some of the dive shop, pier area and the room. I must have been to excited to hang out and relax, sorry!
Wedding bure/private party dining area, overlooks SomoSomo Strait.

Looking back from the wedding bure at the dining area and a few ocean view bures.

Wedding bure from ocean view bure patio. The lawn was still recovering from the Hurricane.

Closeup of ocean view bure Papaya .

Sunset from the bure patio.

 

[farsidefan1]

My wife and I got married at the Garden Island resort 2 yrs ago. About like an average U.S. motel. Nice, clean with very nice grounds but the best part is that the rainbow reef is about 10 minutes away. Currents are often quite strong in the Strait but that is why the diving is so beautiful. Taveuni is the only place where the international dateline crosses land (or so they told us). We walked out of the resort, up the street, across a soccer field and took pic each of us on each side of the dateline. One of the employees was a birdwatcher so we went with him one day up in the hills and saw some flame doves and other birds. The flame dove only lives on that island. Then we caught a ride over to some waterfalls. Great stuff. They had a nice pool and a tree full of flying foxes you could watch every night and morning as they took off or returned. As to poverty...they do not suffer from poverty at all. Most have all they want. What little they can't raise on a tiny plot of land they catch from the sea. These are some of the most satisfied folks on the planet.

 

[CajunDiva]

They are the only dive op on Taveuni who offer Nitrox.

I don't know where you got this information, but it is certainly not true. I dove Nitrox every day at Garden Island Resort.

After looking at the pictures, I can say without a doubt that I would much prefer Garden Island Resort. I wrote three extensive reviews about our recent trip if you'd like to look back to the April postings...

 

[robint]

The guy who runs our LDS was just there at both places last week and gave me the run down.

He loved Paradise resort for all the reasons listed above... his biggest thing was the shore diving which he said was as good as the boat diving (this was is 4th or 5th trip to Fiji, including one to Wananavu last year). He did note that those wonderful bures didn't have a/c but they didn't mind at all. He loved everything about that place.

They were scheduled to leave and go back to main island but the plane had problems so they had to stay on Taveuni an extra night. No rooms were available at PI so everyone moved over to Garden Island resort for the night.... they hated it. The bats in trees made noise all night long so no one slept, he says, and also the food was awful. Granted, they arrived at resort after the regular dinner service but the resort told them they would make everyone food. After the wonderful food and experience at Paradise Resort for a week, they found their one night stay at Garden Island didn't compare. The room decor was very modern, not tropical Fijiian in style and rooms were crammed with furniture in upstairs rooms, downstairs rooms were okay but still stark decor of black and white. They did not dive with the dive op, just overnighted there, so his issues were solely with the hotel itself. When the whole group got to hotel in morning, they all discussed it and agreed that they like Paradise soooo much better for all those reasons.

I didn't go on trip - just relaying what he said to me 3 days ago! I knew he was going back to Fiji and wanted to hear all about the trip as we are planning a trip to Fiji for next year. He is a very picky guy, very demanding, so I always take his opinions with a grain of salt... but the noisy bats thing would have killed me. I prefer hotels that are more rustic and native, not so much chrome and modern furnishings. We also love shore diving.... so Paradise does sound like a place we would enjoy.

(BTW - he stayed at Wananavu resort last year and loved the resort and diving, especially the boat dives out to Bligh Waters. He said the shore diving there was just okay, nothing like Paradise on Taveuni. But - he rates the two places about even in every other respect.)

robin

 

[robint]

That was really informative. Thanks !
How is the Rainbow reef and Vuna reef compared to other places in Fiji (Bligh waters) ? Did you see any pelagics during your dive there ? Do they need minimum number of divers to go to Great White Wall or is that standard diving location ?
On the other hand any substance to this report ? Though CDNN is not the most objective place.
CDNN :: Paradise Lost at Paradise Taveuni: Bad Resort Ruins Fiji Dive Trip

CDNN is the National Inquirer of the diving world.


I just watched the video on the Paradise Resort's website and there is our LDS shop guy with his wife (guy with dark hair and beard, wife with long blondish hair). Maybe the fabulous experience he had there was due to fact they were filming this!
Discover Taveuni Holidays : Scuba Diving in Fiji | Taveuni Accommodation | Taveuni Resort


robin

 

[Where2Next]

I don't know where you got this information, but it is certainly not true. I dove Nitrox every day at Garden Island Resort.

After looking at the pictures, I can say without a doubt that I would much prefer Garden Island Resort. I wrote three extensive reviews about our recent trip if you'd like to look back to the April postings...

The Taveuni dive op told us they are the only ones to supply Nitrox (plus it says so on their website) - maybe Garden Island gets it from them.

Sorry my photos don't do any justice for the resort. It was only a couple weeks after the hurricane; the seawater washed up on to their grounds destroying the grasses and gardens. I was impressed in how much they had recovered in such a short time. Plus it was an overcast day. There is no way I would stay at the Garden Island after seeing the motel look it has - different strokes for different folks.

 

[OnTheSpot]

Each to his own... I guess it depends on what you are looking for.

Garden Island Resort is a two story brick building with 30 rooms - all rooms have ocean views, air-conditioning, TV and internet. The rooms on the lower floor have outdoor Jacuzzi. The resort was completely renovated last year.

Paradise Resort is on the waters edge with ten bures - Oceanview with outdoor Jacuzzi or Tropical. The bures have ceiling fans and modern and stylish interiors with high quality en-suite bathrooms.

Both resorts offer Nitrox at an extra charge.