CajunDiva
Contributor
We just returned from a 10 night trip to Garden Island Resort on the island of Taveuni with a 9 member group from Aqua Dive Travel. I always try to write descriptive trip reports to give the reader an idea of what the experience was really like. In this case, I will tell you in advance that any descriptions will not do the story justice. We shared experiences that were unique and amazing, we were cared for by the most loving and accommodating staff ever, and we had the time of our lives.
Taveuni Island suffered a crushing blow from Cagegory 5 Cyclone Winston in early 2016. The island endured the strongest cyclone ever in the south pacific and sustained heavy damage. After falling in love with the place on our first visit 6 years ago, we felt this was the perfect time to visit again (with our friends!) to show our support for this lovely place. The island is up and running again...and MORE than ready to entertain dive tourists!
Our resort of choice on the island is Garden Island Resort. While they sustained heavy damage from the cyclone, repairs have been made - and continue to be made, to make the resort an amazing south pacific haven. Beautiful palm trees abound and they are loaded with both coconuts and fruit bats, who never failed to entertain us. The only sign that there was terrible destruction at the resort is what is left of the once 300 ft. long pier. They had constructed it to facilitate loading of the dive boats and to provide access for snorkeling and diving a beautiful bommie just off the end. While plans are being made to re-construct the pier, those things take lots of time and money. In the mean time, Garden Island Resort's van and driver happily transported us to the public pier down the road to load onto the dive boats and were there waiting for us after completing our dives each day to drop us off at our front door.
Our package consisted of 10 nights accommodations, 3 meals per day (including continental breakfast, but cooked breakfast to order was available for an extra price), 7 days of 2 tank boat dives and 3 days of an additional 3rd tank afternoon dive. Those 3 dive days were long, but we couldn't have enjoyed them more!
Each morning we would depart the resort around 8:30 to meet the boat for our 1st dive. We would undertake our deepest dive first. Our biggest treat was diving the Great White Wall...twice! It was quite impressive. At times the current is too heavy to dive the wall and dives must be timed just right to make it possible. The dive staff at Garden Island Resort are native islanders and know the tides and currents intimately. They always knew EXACTLY the perfect time to take us to each dive site. This really allowed us to maximize our dive experiences.
Following our first dive, our boat crew would take us over to an idyllic south pacific beach where we'd wait out our hour long surface interval. It was no problem spending an hour at this beautiful place! There was a half moon shaped beach to explore and so many incredible shells to check out. If we wanted some fresh fruit to go along with the yummy baked goodies provided by the resort staff, we could walk over to mango or papaya trees and pluck one off for a snack...quite an experience!
After languishing in paradise for our surface interval, we were off to some other exotic location for dive #2. Every diver has their favorite subject to observe underwater. For me, it's soft coral. The amazing Rainbow Reef did not disappoint! Every dive site is just filled with incredible soft corals of every color and description. Garden Island Resort is one of the closest resorts to the Rainbow Reef, so access to these fabulous dive sites was readily available and easy. We visited numerous sites, including:
Fish Factory
Nuku Reef
Blue Ribbon Eel
Pandora
Rainbow's End
Great White Wall (twice)
The Corner
Cabbage Patch
Jerry's Jelly (twice)
Sam's Point
Barracuda Hole
Coral Garden
Annie's Bommie (twice)
Jack's Place
During all of the above dives, we were never asked to limit our dive time or return to the boat at a specific time. We were allowed to dive our computers and were limited only by the amount of air in our tanks. We had two guides and split our group into 5 divers in one group and 4 divers in the other. The guides were knowledgeable took great care of us. They know just where to find that "special" thing you have been waiting to see!
On the days we got to enjoy a 3rd afternoon dive, we enjoyed the opportunity to pre-order our lunch and return to "our" lovely beach for a leisurely lunch instead of returning to the resort and taking more time out of our day. Did I mention how great the food was at the resort??? When lunch time came, the resort sent a boat out to us with fresh sandwiches and chips (french fries) that were still warm. We felt so spoiled! After enjoying a great lunch, relaxing on the beach, and maybe even sneaking in a quick nap, we were off to undertake dive #3. Of course, by the time we had completed all of these activities, everyone was quite worn out, but I would certainly say it was ALWAYS worth the effort
After all, there were ample opportunities to rest around the swimming pool overlooking the gorgeous Somosomo Strait while enjoying a fruity cocktail!
With a 10 night stay and 7 days of diving, we had a couple of days available to plan extracurricular activities around the island. Just up the road from Garden Island Resort within walking distance is the International Date Line. It was a fun place to take pictures with one foot in Sunday and one foot in Monday Also nearby was a really cool natural waterslide. There were large boulders with water rushing over them that formed a natural slide. We had lots of fun playing there. But my favorite non-diving activity was spending the day at Bouma Falls - an impressive waterfall that is close to 100 ft. high and plunges to a watering hole below. There is a ledge behind the falls where you can climb up and shoot photos from behind the falls out into the pool area...a very interesting perspective. I even summoned the courage to jump off of the ledge into the pool below! It seemed like about a 20 ft. drop, but it was probably more like 15 
I can honestly say that from the time the Garden Island Resort staff picked us up at the Matei Airport until the time they brought us back there 11 days later, we had an amazing time and felt extremely pampered and cared for. No request was too much for them to accommodate. From the inspiring views to the comfortable air conditioned rooms, every piece of the puzzle fit perfectly and when departure time rolled around I was in tears, because...as I remembered from our previous visit...I did not want to leave!
I will post replies with additional pictures...
Taveuni Island suffered a crushing blow from Cagegory 5 Cyclone Winston in early 2016. The island endured the strongest cyclone ever in the south pacific and sustained heavy damage. After falling in love with the place on our first visit 6 years ago, we felt this was the perfect time to visit again (with our friends!) to show our support for this lovely place. The island is up and running again...and MORE than ready to entertain dive tourists!
Our resort of choice on the island is Garden Island Resort. While they sustained heavy damage from the cyclone, repairs have been made - and continue to be made, to make the resort an amazing south pacific haven. Beautiful palm trees abound and they are loaded with both coconuts and fruit bats, who never failed to entertain us. The only sign that there was terrible destruction at the resort is what is left of the once 300 ft. long pier. They had constructed it to facilitate loading of the dive boats and to provide access for snorkeling and diving a beautiful bommie just off the end. While plans are being made to re-construct the pier, those things take lots of time and money. In the mean time, Garden Island Resort's van and driver happily transported us to the public pier down the road to load onto the dive boats and were there waiting for us after completing our dives each day to drop us off at our front door.
Our package consisted of 10 nights accommodations, 3 meals per day (including continental breakfast, but cooked breakfast to order was available for an extra price), 7 days of 2 tank boat dives and 3 days of an additional 3rd tank afternoon dive. Those 3 dive days were long, but we couldn't have enjoyed them more!
Each morning we would depart the resort around 8:30 to meet the boat for our 1st dive. We would undertake our deepest dive first. Our biggest treat was diving the Great White Wall...twice! It was quite impressive. At times the current is too heavy to dive the wall and dives must be timed just right to make it possible. The dive staff at Garden Island Resort are native islanders and know the tides and currents intimately. They always knew EXACTLY the perfect time to take us to each dive site. This really allowed us to maximize our dive experiences.
Following our first dive, our boat crew would take us over to an idyllic south pacific beach where we'd wait out our hour long surface interval. It was no problem spending an hour at this beautiful place! There was a half moon shaped beach to explore and so many incredible shells to check out. If we wanted some fresh fruit to go along with the yummy baked goodies provided by the resort staff, we could walk over to mango or papaya trees and pluck one off for a snack...quite an experience!
After languishing in paradise for our surface interval, we were off to some other exotic location for dive #2. Every diver has their favorite subject to observe underwater. For me, it's soft coral. The amazing Rainbow Reef did not disappoint! Every dive site is just filled with incredible soft corals of every color and description. Garden Island Resort is one of the closest resorts to the Rainbow Reef, so access to these fabulous dive sites was readily available and easy. We visited numerous sites, including:
Fish Factory
Nuku Reef
Blue Ribbon Eel
Pandora
Rainbow's End
Great White Wall (twice)
The Corner
Cabbage Patch
Jerry's Jelly (twice)
Sam's Point
Barracuda Hole
Coral Garden
Annie's Bommie (twice)
Jack's Place
During all of the above dives, we were never asked to limit our dive time or return to the boat at a specific time. We were allowed to dive our computers and were limited only by the amount of air in our tanks. We had two guides and split our group into 5 divers in one group and 4 divers in the other. The guides were knowledgeable took great care of us. They know just where to find that "special" thing you have been waiting to see!
On the days we got to enjoy a 3rd afternoon dive, we enjoyed the opportunity to pre-order our lunch and return to "our" lovely beach for a leisurely lunch instead of returning to the resort and taking more time out of our day. Did I mention how great the food was at the resort??? When lunch time came, the resort sent a boat out to us with fresh sandwiches and chips (french fries) that were still warm. We felt so spoiled! After enjoying a great lunch, relaxing on the beach, and maybe even sneaking in a quick nap, we were off to undertake dive #3. Of course, by the time we had completed all of these activities, everyone was quite worn out, but I would certainly say it was ALWAYS worth the effort
After all, there were ample opportunities to rest around the swimming pool overlooking the gorgeous Somosomo Strait while enjoying a fruity cocktail!With a 10 night stay and 7 days of diving, we had a couple of days available to plan extracurricular activities around the island. Just up the road from Garden Island Resort within walking distance is the International Date Line. It was a fun place to take pictures with one foot in Sunday and one foot in Monday
Also nearby was a really cool natural waterslide. There were large boulders with water rushing over them that formed a natural slide. We had lots of fun playing there. But my favorite non-diving activity was spending the day at Bouma Falls - an impressive waterfall that is close to 100 ft. high and plunges to a watering hole below. There is a ledge behind the falls where you can climb up and shoot photos from behind the falls out into the pool area...a very interesting perspective. I even summoned the courage to jump off of the ledge into the pool below! It seemed like about a 20 ft. drop, but it was probably more like 15 I can honestly say that from the time the Garden Island Resort staff picked us up at the Matei Airport until the time they brought us back there 11 days later, we had an amazing time and felt extremely pampered and cared for. No request was too much for them to accommodate. From the inspiring views to the comfortable air conditioned rooms, every piece of the puzzle fit perfectly and when departure time rolled around I was in tears, because...as I remembered from our previous visit...I did not want to leave!
I will post replies with additional pictures...
