We had a fabulous time in Fiji.
Flying on Sun Air was somewhat of an adventure. We were scheduled for an 8AM flight from Nadi to Taveuni. At 7:45 an agent told us to get on the 7:45 flight to Savusavu/Labasa, get off at Savusavu, and the 8:00 flight would then pick us up and take us to Taveuni. She said the second plane would pick us up about 9:10.
We left Nadi at 8:00 and arrived at Savusavu at 9:15. The Sun Air agent their said "What are you doing here?" He didn't know about us, or the second plane that was coming. That plane (8 seat Islander) arrived about 11:30. Our kids were pretty grumpy by that time...
Matei Pointe was a perfect place to stay. The house was the right size, the grounds are beautiful, and the location is perfect. It was a wonderful place for the kids to play around. Snorkling from the beach was good once you got far enough out. The water was calm enough at the beach for our kids to play around in with no problems. Lo and her helpers were friendly, cheerful, and helpful. Our kids loved them.
Some things were funny, like the salt that would randomly appear and disappear from day to day. And the dog Marmalade who treated us like he was our pet. For our group of 5 adults and 2 kids, Matei Pointe really was exactly what we needed.
We did 3 days of diving with Jewel Bubble Divers. They are a locally run, small operation. Very laid-back and easy to deal with. Rental equipment is OK. Boat is new, single engine with no shade. No provisions for photographers. We (four) were the only divers. For groups of 5-8 they take 2 divemasters. For the first day, Qio took us to Matei Pointe reef for two easy dives. He wanted to check out our ability and comfort level before going to the Rainbow Reef. On the 2nd day it was too windy to go all the way to the best spots, but we had two good dives at Fish Factory and Annie's Bommy. On the third day we dove the Great White Wall and Jerry's Jellies. Qio was ill, so the divemaster was Mike. His intentions are good, but he needs more experience. The White Wall is awesome. In general, the hard coral was healthier than I expected; Qio said it's recovering well from the 99 El Nino. Soft corals were nice, but not "the soft coral capital of the world" other than at the White Wall. Lots of small colorful fish, but no big stuff.
One brief trip to Swiss Fiji Divers to send email corroborated what we heard from some sources: rigid rules, grumpy staff, and none of the relaxed, friendly service of local Fijians.
The Bouma waterfall hike and the Natural waterslide were both great fun. Beautiful scenery, fun hiking, and excellent swimming. Both are must-do activities on Taveuni. We also had many day trips to Prince Charles Beach: a beautiful beach with great snorkling, fun sand for the kids, and no other people. Our taxi driver, Nan, took great care of us for all the activities, shopping, and transportation.
We had one great dinner cooked for us by Chef Dan at Matei Pointe (arranged by Lo). His papaya soup is the best. We also had good food from Lal's Curry House and at Ronna's Coconut Grove. Coconut Grove has much better coffee than Audrey's. Also, Audrey doesn't like kids.
To go from Taveuni to Kadavu, we were scheduled for a 45 minute layover in Nadi. The Sun Air guy at Matei said "Since you have a tight connection, you should take the 2nd plane. It goes non-stop to Nadi; the first one stops in Savusavu, and there might be a delay." We waited an hour for the 2nd plane to arrive. We landed at Nadi just in time to watch the Kadavu flight take off. When I told the check-in agent that we were going to Kadavu, he freaked out at first. Then they radioed the plane and had it return to get us. They rushed us through check-in and we got to the tarmac just as the plane pulled up. The other passengers were bewildered. It didn't go according to plan, but they got us where we needed to go.
Landing on Kadavu and then walking down the beach to the waiting boat is fun. It's amazing how isolated the villages and resorts are on Kadavu. The whole island is really unspoiled. Tiliva resort is a beautiful place. The resort is so well landscaped and arranged that you can never see all the buildings from one place. Our kids had a blast running around on all the little paths between bures and "the big house" where we ate. It was really nice being in a place where the kids could run around and play at the beach unsupervised. It's not like home where we have to worry about cars or kidnappers...
Kemu and Barbara were clearly unused to hosting small children, but they tried very hard to accomodate our requirements. They are both friendly, and try very hard to make everyone happy. The food was good and plentiful, although every breakfast is the same, and most of the other meals included beef and potatoes. Fish dinner one night was excellent.
We dove three days at Tiliva. The divemaster, Siwa, doesn't use a computer, doesn't talk very much, and doesn't point stuff out underwater. He set a max depth and bottom time for each dive. Most of the time he stayed deeper than we were, and spent more time at depth than our computers would have allowed. We mostly set our own profiles. Siwa told us when to start ascending. Many dives we finished with 800 psi. Most of the rental equipment was OK, although one of us had a BCD with a sticky power inflator. Most dives had no current, although one drift dive with Siwa + 8 divers got pretty disorganized.
The first day we went diving the boat handling was poor. We surfaced after both dives several hundred yards from the boat. Siwa had a safety sausage, but no whistle. I used my Dive Alert air horn to signal the boat. After the second dive, the boat driver drove right through the group of divers, hitting one woman on the head. They were quite careless about having the propeller in gear with divers in the water. After that day, several divers complained to Barbara. On all the following days they had the right person driving the boat, and everything was much safer and better organized. The boat is covered, has a big cabin forward, and one rinse bucket for cameras. They carry a second outboard motor as backup.
Diving inside the reef is OK, but "not like Fiji should be". 90% of the coral is dead. Some fish, and usually something interesting to see, but pretty disappointing compared to our expectations. On the outside of the reef, it's completely different. Tons of hard coral, and it's all alive. Fun and interesting coral formations in many places. Some soft coral, but not very much. Some dives had lots of medium-sized fish. Some dives had very few fish. It seemed like there aren't known and charted dive sites; it's just a matter of driving the boat out to the reef and picking a spot. Compared to the wall dives in Palau (in 2001), this was way better hard coral, fewer and smaller fish, less soft coral, essentially no current, and much less "Ohmigod" excitement.
Whether or not the dive boat can go outside the reef depends on weather and tides. You want to be there when high tide is between noon and 4PM, and when the winds are calm. We had only 1 bummer day inside the reef. The other 4 guests at the resort had about 5 disappointing days. But we were all happy with the outside-the-reef dives.
The local hike to the waterfall was fun, although not quite as good swimming as on Taveuni. The highlight were the two 8 year old local kids who took charge of our kids. One of the 8 year olds carried Wyatt (age 2.5) down all the steep and slippery stuff. It was fun to watch, but it makes Mom nervous...
In all, Tiliva was another great place. They could benefit from a better dive staff, but that's very difficult for them because their only source of labor is the neighboring village. We had a good time diving, but you need to be prepared (with locating equipment, your own computer, and the right attitude) to take care of yourself.
On our departure day, the day-room at Tokatoka was completely perfect. I wouldn't want to spend my whole Fiji vacation at that place, and their food was lousy. For an afternoon before the big plane trip, though, it had everything we needed: showers, a great pool, froofy drinks with umbrellas, a massage spa, and a bed to take a nap. We had a good dinner at Ed's bar with lots of interesting locals to watch.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Flying on Sun Air was somewhat of an adventure. We were scheduled for an 8AM flight from Nadi to Taveuni. At 7:45 an agent told us to get on the 7:45 flight to Savusavu/Labasa, get off at Savusavu, and the 8:00 flight would then pick us up and take us to Taveuni. She said the second plane would pick us up about 9:10.
We left Nadi at 8:00 and arrived at Savusavu at 9:15. The Sun Air agent their said "What are you doing here?" He didn't know about us, or the second plane that was coming. That plane (8 seat Islander) arrived about 11:30. Our kids were pretty grumpy by that time...
Matei Pointe was a perfect place to stay. The house was the right size, the grounds are beautiful, and the location is perfect. It was a wonderful place for the kids to play around. Snorkling from the beach was good once you got far enough out. The water was calm enough at the beach for our kids to play around in with no problems. Lo and her helpers were friendly, cheerful, and helpful. Our kids loved them.
Some things were funny, like the salt that would randomly appear and disappear from day to day. And the dog Marmalade who treated us like he was our pet. For our group of 5 adults and 2 kids, Matei Pointe really was exactly what we needed.
We did 3 days of diving with Jewel Bubble Divers. They are a locally run, small operation. Very laid-back and easy to deal with. Rental equipment is OK. Boat is new, single engine with no shade. No provisions for photographers. We (four) were the only divers. For groups of 5-8 they take 2 divemasters. For the first day, Qio took us to Matei Pointe reef for two easy dives. He wanted to check out our ability and comfort level before going to the Rainbow Reef. On the 2nd day it was too windy to go all the way to the best spots, but we had two good dives at Fish Factory and Annie's Bommy. On the third day we dove the Great White Wall and Jerry's Jellies. Qio was ill, so the divemaster was Mike. His intentions are good, but he needs more experience. The White Wall is awesome. In general, the hard coral was healthier than I expected; Qio said it's recovering well from the 99 El Nino. Soft corals were nice, but not "the soft coral capital of the world" other than at the White Wall. Lots of small colorful fish, but no big stuff.
One brief trip to Swiss Fiji Divers to send email corroborated what we heard from some sources: rigid rules, grumpy staff, and none of the relaxed, friendly service of local Fijians.
The Bouma waterfall hike and the Natural waterslide were both great fun. Beautiful scenery, fun hiking, and excellent swimming. Both are must-do activities on Taveuni. We also had many day trips to Prince Charles Beach: a beautiful beach with great snorkling, fun sand for the kids, and no other people. Our taxi driver, Nan, took great care of us for all the activities, shopping, and transportation.
We had one great dinner cooked for us by Chef Dan at Matei Pointe (arranged by Lo). His papaya soup is the best. We also had good food from Lal's Curry House and at Ronna's Coconut Grove. Coconut Grove has much better coffee than Audrey's. Also, Audrey doesn't like kids.
To go from Taveuni to Kadavu, we were scheduled for a 45 minute layover in Nadi. The Sun Air guy at Matei said "Since you have a tight connection, you should take the 2nd plane. It goes non-stop to Nadi; the first one stops in Savusavu, and there might be a delay." We waited an hour for the 2nd plane to arrive. We landed at Nadi just in time to watch the Kadavu flight take off. When I told the check-in agent that we were going to Kadavu, he freaked out at first. Then they radioed the plane and had it return to get us. They rushed us through check-in and we got to the tarmac just as the plane pulled up. The other passengers were bewildered. It didn't go according to plan, but they got us where we needed to go.
Landing on Kadavu and then walking down the beach to the waiting boat is fun. It's amazing how isolated the villages and resorts are on Kadavu. The whole island is really unspoiled. Tiliva resort is a beautiful place. The resort is so well landscaped and arranged that you can never see all the buildings from one place. Our kids had a blast running around on all the little paths between bures and "the big house" where we ate. It was really nice being in a place where the kids could run around and play at the beach unsupervised. It's not like home where we have to worry about cars or kidnappers...
Kemu and Barbara were clearly unused to hosting small children, but they tried very hard to accomodate our requirements. They are both friendly, and try very hard to make everyone happy. The food was good and plentiful, although every breakfast is the same, and most of the other meals included beef and potatoes. Fish dinner one night was excellent.
We dove three days at Tiliva. The divemaster, Siwa, doesn't use a computer, doesn't talk very much, and doesn't point stuff out underwater. He set a max depth and bottom time for each dive. Most of the time he stayed deeper than we were, and spent more time at depth than our computers would have allowed. We mostly set our own profiles. Siwa told us when to start ascending. Many dives we finished with 800 psi. Most of the rental equipment was OK, although one of us had a BCD with a sticky power inflator. Most dives had no current, although one drift dive with Siwa + 8 divers got pretty disorganized.
The first day we went diving the boat handling was poor. We surfaced after both dives several hundred yards from the boat. Siwa had a safety sausage, but no whistle. I used my Dive Alert air horn to signal the boat. After the second dive, the boat driver drove right through the group of divers, hitting one woman on the head. They were quite careless about having the propeller in gear with divers in the water. After that day, several divers complained to Barbara. On all the following days they had the right person driving the boat, and everything was much safer and better organized. The boat is covered, has a big cabin forward, and one rinse bucket for cameras. They carry a second outboard motor as backup.
Diving inside the reef is OK, but "not like Fiji should be". 90% of the coral is dead. Some fish, and usually something interesting to see, but pretty disappointing compared to our expectations. On the outside of the reef, it's completely different. Tons of hard coral, and it's all alive. Fun and interesting coral formations in many places. Some soft coral, but not very much. Some dives had lots of medium-sized fish. Some dives had very few fish. It seemed like there aren't known and charted dive sites; it's just a matter of driving the boat out to the reef and picking a spot. Compared to the wall dives in Palau (in 2001), this was way better hard coral, fewer and smaller fish, less soft coral, essentially no current, and much less "Ohmigod" excitement.
Whether or not the dive boat can go outside the reef depends on weather and tides. You want to be there when high tide is between noon and 4PM, and when the winds are calm. We had only 1 bummer day inside the reef. The other 4 guests at the resort had about 5 disappointing days. But we were all happy with the outside-the-reef dives.
The local hike to the waterfall was fun, although not quite as good swimming as on Taveuni. The highlight were the two 8 year old local kids who took charge of our kids. One of the 8 year olds carried Wyatt (age 2.5) down all the steep and slippery stuff. It was fun to watch, but it makes Mom nervous...
In all, Tiliva was another great place. They could benefit from a better dive staff, but that's very difficult for them because their only source of labor is the neighboring village. We had a good time diving, but you need to be prepared (with locating equipment, your own computer, and the right attitude) to take care of yourself.
On our departure day, the day-room at Tokatoka was completely perfect. I wouldn't want to spend my whole Fiji vacation at that place, and their food was lousy. For an afternoon before the big plane trip, though, it had everything we needed: showers, a great pool, froofy drinks with umbrellas, a massage spa, and a bed to take a nap. We had a good dinner at Ed's bar with lots of interesting locals to watch.
Let me know if you have any questions.
