Fiji Recommendation Redux

[dolphin adventures]

Hi:

I just got back from a few of the resorts that you are discussing.

Beqa Lagoon Resort - Stayed there is last week.....it was great......accommodations are great, food is really wonderful, diving was great. All the people staying here were loving it!

Matangi Island Resort - We have a special at Matangi of stay 7 nights pay for 5 if you travel by the end of September. So the pricing at Matangi is only $180 more than a week stay at Garden Island Resort and it is so much better! Matangi is a luxury resort, has it's own beautiful beach, Horseshoe Bay, day trips to Village tours and Bouma Waterfalls. One of the best dives I have ever experienced was here at the Golden Wall.

Another Taveuni suggestion would be Maravu Plantation and diving with Swiss divers. This resort is the same cost as Garden Island Resort but has much nicer rooms, meals are included, (menu not buffet).....and they only have 15 bures....so it's small and nice. They also include the Bouma Waterfall tour, a cross island hike and resort activities like horseback riding. Swiss Divers are really great!! Great boats, good equipment.

I also stayed at Pearl Beach Resort this last trip. It is a brand new resort at Pacific Harbour. It is a very nice 4 star hotel but we have prices that make it really affordable. Only breakfast is included with your room.....so you can either choose to eat at the hotel's 2 restaurants or venture out to Pacific Harbour restaurants. Lot's to do. You can dive with Aqua Trek and do their shark dive.....(we saw bulls, lemons and a tiger shark)....or go river rafting on the Upper Navua, or kayaking up the lagoon and river ways. They also have a great golf course.

Part of our group also dove at Wananavu in the Bligh Waters. They loved the diving especially "purple haze".....a wall of soft purple corals. The accommodations are nice and the diving here would make a good compliment to a 2 island stay.

If you want brochures or pricing for these.....just email me.

THanks,
Mary Jane

 

[rickydazla]

You can dive with Aqua Trek and do their shark dive.....(we saw bulls, lemons and a tiger shark)....

No no NO!
There is no comparison between AquaTrek's feed and that of Beqa Adventure Divers. None. It is inferior.

 

[DreamingOfScuba]

I've booked for Matamanoa in September in Fiji. Tried contacting AquaTrek a bunch of times but no response. There seems to be two AquaTreks in Fiji, AquaTrek.com and AquaTrekDiving.com. Anyone know if you do the shark diving and the shark feed with the AquaTrek that depart from Matamanoa Island?

Also anyone know if I could use another dive operator in Fiji that would collect me from Matamanoa incase AquaTrek Matamanoa don't do the shark feeding?

Any help, reef guides etc for Fiji diving would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[rickydazla]

No one in the Mamanucas (incl Matamanoa) does shark feeding any longer. They used to do it at Supermarket, a nice spot just off Mana Island. However, somebody 'got a nibble' last year and they have since stopped doing it. The original feeder Api also passed away and as he was almost as much of a star as the sharks it kind of lost its edge. You can still dive supermarket and there are still lots of whit-tip and grey reef sharks there. Mamanucas diving is good, you will enjoy it. There are other operators in the area but AquaTrek have a base and an exclusive contrat with the island so all other operators politely decline business from guests at the resort.

My opinion of AquaTrek is that they have been here a long time and have expanded and contracted their business so many times that they have lost focus a little. They have several bases at fairly obscure locations and all are fairly low key. They have a shark feed in Beqa Lagoon which is far inferior to BAD's (mentioned in a previous comment), they have just opened a big retail facility in an area where they get no passing trade and are opening a base on Kadavu in the near future. Maybe they're getting their ***** together but at present they are not as big or half as organised as their reputation would suggest.

 

[DreamingOfScuba]

Many Thanks Rickydazla, very useful information.

 

[rickydazla]

No probs, anything to help someone from the rainy city have a nice time in't sun.
The following are my pick of the nearby sites:
Gotham City
Yadua (pronounced yandoowa) Pinnacles
Seven Sisters
Plantation Pinnacles

 

[skynscuba]

Tui Tai do a good trip but the area they go this time of year will be rough as guts!

What would be the smoothest time of year to do a Tui Tai trip?

 

[rickydazla]

January-March