RikRaeder
Contributor
Well, after about a year of talking about it and planning it, we finally headed to Fiji last month. After DRAGGING my woman to Palau last winter (she is so picky) and Puerto Gallera the year before (I'm such an Ogre), I decided to do a trip to someplace for her (ain't I kind?) She's into unlimited viz (who isn't) so following the advice of a couple of our guides in Palau, I thought Fiji might be a place she'd like. I managed nearly two weeks off (liveaboard....liveaboard) but could only finagle seven out of her (that up from four; "we can stay in Nandi..." ha!) Luckily, I found a great agent online (a new member of the board methinks, but obviously with a long history and great contacts in Fiji) who throughout MANY emails back and forth tailored a trip just for me....oh, yeah, and her. Scott Kukral at Sea Fiji Travel, you the man! I told him I wanted to max out my diving, and he had a plan for me to be on a night dive the day I arrived! Guess he's a diver too. I took a more leisurely trip.
From Japan to Fiji, via Korea, took about twelve hours including our two-hour layover (ten hours from LA, I heard). We arrived about 8am. We were booked through on the local airline to Taveuni Island (Nandi my left...foot) with a 2pm departure so we decided to get out of the airport and hit the town. We jumped a cab to Nandi (20FD) which is basically a strip on the main road along the airport (that's the part we saw). We got dropped at the end, and walked through the heavy rain, back the way we'd come, and found two (2) places to sit down and have a coffee. We chose the bigger one and spent a couple hours there rueing our choice of leaving the airport. The silver lining, so to speak, was that I found some saline nose spray that kicked butt on the little bout of sinusitis I was getting over and allowed me to get all my dives in.
Having returned to the airport and hung around for some more hours, we were just about to step up to the counter to check in for our flight when...fifteen Australian backpacker kids and their guides stepped up in front of us (actually it was just the guides who were representing the huge group). They checked in (as we waited) which included weighing checked baggage, carry-on baggage, and passengers as well! I knew I should have laid off the desserts! The overweight baggage charges are reasonable but luckily they were a bit lenient on weight allowance and didn't make us pay. As we moved to security after they called boarding, a groundstaff approached and told me, no, you won't be on this flight. Imagine my chagrine.
<pause for imagination process>
IMAGINE IT!
They had sent the cutest, tiniest, most unassuming little girl over to inform us of the change in plans. It seems that what with all the backpackers on the plane, there wasn't enough weight allowance for us. She told us we'd be on the next plane. As far as I knew, that was in the early evening and frankly, I'd already had more than enough of the international airport. After I tore her a new one...
just kidding. Upon my polite and even-tempered inquiry (I swear, I was so proud of myself) she told me they'd be launching another plane "In about 15 minutes." Taking that with a grain of salt, I resumed my seat in the waiting lounge and explained to my better half. About thirty minutes later, a fellow passenger who'd been on her cell for the last half hour asked if we were heading to Taveuni. "We're trying."
It turns out she was a hotel agent for some places there and was on our flight. She had been on the phone with the airline and they told her that there was a problem with the plane we were to take and it might be canceled. We saw through the window that it had taxied up and seemed to be going through the pre-flight check, but what do I know. Anyway, the counter agent came along soon after and told us that the something-something was giving them problems AGAIN, but that the flight was good to go. My wife's eyes were as big as saucers when she saw what we were flying in. I grew up around small planes (both my parents had their civil licenses) but she was blanching when she saw the twenty-seat turbo prop we were supposed to have flown. She was not pleased to be on the Islander (a source of great amusement to me). The three of us boarded the little six-seater and we were off. After sixty chilly minutes at eight thousand feet (the weather seal on the door just in front of me was, shall we say, leaking like a sieve) we landed safely at a pleasantly sunny Taveuni Island airstrip. Who did we see at the exit area, but the Aussie backpackers sitting around waiting for their luggage. We were on their baggage flight. Ha ha.
We were picked up and driven the five minutes to our hotel, Taveuni Island Resort. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the means. If, like me, you don't; figure something out. It is well worth the money. We had foodstamped in on a pay for five and stay for seven special. All meals are included there, and they are very nice indeed. The resort is beautiful and it's impossible not to have a great view. The owner, Do, was also nice enough to upgrade us to an oceanview room (a 600USD value). Bestowing mango smoothies upon us, she gave us a quick orientation, then showed us to our room where chilled champagne was waiting for us (and me taking anitbiotics at the time...grrrr) and nothing but view view view. The meds didn't stop me from tapping into the daily, fresh cookies that were left for us though. The rooms are gorgeous, well-designed, and quite spacious. The entire wall in both the sitting room and bedroom is made of glass and accordians open onto a shaded, tiled, outdoor seating area complete with lounge chairs, a table to take your coffee at, etc. I usually try to get out of the room when I travel. At Teveuni I made it a point to stay in and enjoy the sumptuously appointed space.
Ok, ok. If you've stuck with me this far, you want to know about the diving. Yeah, yeah...it was great.
We dove with a locally-owned, nearby shop; ten dives over five days. All the diving took place in the something-something strait (Somo-somo, maybe?) between Taveuni (the third largest island in Fiji) and Something Levu (the second largest). Diving was mostly at coral heads, that's bommys to you mate, and the typical profile consisted of drifting over the top of the head, then dropping down on the sheltered side to explore to and fro. Different sights have more or less of different elements but there was a pleathora of soft and hard corals as well as fish and critters through the five days. Maximum depths ranged from 18-20 meters, depending on the site. While it was possible to drop down a bit further as the coral heads bottomed out, there wasn't much point since there wasn't much to see on the barren bottom off of the coral heads. We did two wall dives; at Supermarket where we saw quite a few larger critters such as striped baracuda, white tip and bronze whaler sharks, napoleon wraisse, etc. We also did Somo-Somo's signature site, Great White Wall but as we were in a mixed group the deeper drift portion was a bit short (two divers without computers...what were they doing way DOWN THERE?! Soft coral as far as the eye could see; you guessed it...white coral. We hit about 29.5m but of course one COULD have gone deeper (like the non-computer divers).
Visibility during the trip ranged from about 15-30m. Saipan still RULES for viz (20-unlimited) but there is a lot more to see in Fiji. Water temperature was a consistent 25C. I tried the first dive in my 3/2mm full O'Neil, but with average bottom times of about an hour found myself much more comfortable after the second dive when I added my 1500JPY (15USD) 3mm hood. My wife took her 5mm full and she also opted for her hood (which she didn't need at the store and I MADE her buy; told you I was an Ogre...but I digress). I understand that the water temperatures should be up past 27C now...no hood required. There are some photos in my gallery if you're a visual type (although after reading all this...). All of our dives after our first check out dive were drift dives. The current runs through the approximately ten kilometer wide channel at moderate to ripping speeds but a bit of buoyancy control should see one safely into the lee of the bommys as per the plan. I guess I'd best describe the diving as VIVID. I think my wife liked it, because she was already talking about coming back on the second day; back to Taveuni and back to Taveuni Island Resort. Maybe if I can knock over a few rich old ladies, I can join her. We were graced with fine weather on all but our third day when it rained until we got in for our first dive from which point it was sunny. Of course, that was the morning that we waited on the beach for an hour because the dive boat was late picking us up. We didn't mind the day before when they were 30 minutes late as it was sunny and we could enjoy the view. Sitting for an hour in the rain waiting, well.
My wife got a nice souvenir of Taveuni on the third day as well. The captain was getting a little too gung-ho on the throttle and took a wave wrong. I was thrown across the boat to the opposite gunwale where I got a lovely close-up view of the water racing by. After I recovered, I noticed my wife on the deck. She had been slammed into the opposite seat edge when the boat pitched and the orange-sized bruise (black, green, and yellow in color) on her shoulder has finally disappeared. She hit her head as well, but luckily she did so against a rather well-padded fellow dive woman's bust. Why couldn't it have been me. I'd have taken that bruise! We had the boat all to ourselves for two days so I guess I can't complain (not having been slammed).
Ok, so what are you still doing here? Go to Fiji already!
From Japan to Fiji, via Korea, took about twelve hours including our two-hour layover (ten hours from LA, I heard). We arrived about 8am. We were booked through on the local airline to Taveuni Island (Nandi my left...foot) with a 2pm departure so we decided to get out of the airport and hit the town. We jumped a cab to Nandi (20FD) which is basically a strip on the main road along the airport (that's the part we saw). We got dropped at the end, and walked through the heavy rain, back the way we'd come, and found two (2) places to sit down and have a coffee. We chose the bigger one and spent a couple hours there rueing our choice of leaving the airport. The silver lining, so to speak, was that I found some saline nose spray that kicked butt on the little bout of sinusitis I was getting over and allowed me to get all my dives in.
Having returned to the airport and hung around for some more hours, we were just about to step up to the counter to check in for our flight when...fifteen Australian backpacker kids and their guides stepped up in front of us (actually it was just the guides who were representing the huge group). They checked in (as we waited) which included weighing checked baggage, carry-on baggage, and passengers as well! I knew I should have laid off the desserts! The overweight baggage charges are reasonable but luckily they were a bit lenient on weight allowance and didn't make us pay. As we moved to security after they called boarding, a groundstaff approached and told me, no, you won't be on this flight. Imagine my chagrine.
<pause for imagination process>
IMAGINE IT!
They had sent the cutest, tiniest, most unassuming little girl over to inform us of the change in plans. It seems that what with all the backpackers on the plane, there wasn't enough weight allowance for us. She told us we'd be on the next plane. As far as I knew, that was in the early evening and frankly, I'd already had more than enough of the international airport. After I tore her a new one...
just kidding. Upon my polite and even-tempered inquiry (I swear, I was so proud of myself) she told me they'd be launching another plane "In about 15 minutes." Taking that with a grain of salt, I resumed my seat in the waiting lounge and explained to my better half. About thirty minutes later, a fellow passenger who'd been on her cell for the last half hour asked if we were heading to Taveuni. "We're trying."
It turns out she was a hotel agent for some places there and was on our flight. She had been on the phone with the airline and they told her that there was a problem with the plane we were to take and it might be canceled. We saw through the window that it had taxied up and seemed to be going through the pre-flight check, but what do I know. Anyway, the counter agent came along soon after and told us that the something-something was giving them problems AGAIN, but that the flight was good to go. My wife's eyes were as big as saucers when she saw what we were flying in. I grew up around small planes (both my parents had their civil licenses) but she was blanching when she saw the twenty-seat turbo prop we were supposed to have flown. She was not pleased to be on the Islander (a source of great amusement to me). The three of us boarded the little six-seater and we were off. After sixty chilly minutes at eight thousand feet (the weather seal on the door just in front of me was, shall we say, leaking like a sieve) we landed safely at a pleasantly sunny Taveuni Island airstrip. Who did we see at the exit area, but the Aussie backpackers sitting around waiting for their luggage. We were on their baggage flight. Ha ha.
We were picked up and driven the five minutes to our hotel, Taveuni Island Resort. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the means. If, like me, you don't; figure something out. It is well worth the money. We had foodstamped in on a pay for five and stay for seven special. All meals are included there, and they are very nice indeed. The resort is beautiful and it's impossible not to have a great view. The owner, Do, was also nice enough to upgrade us to an oceanview room (a 600USD value). Bestowing mango smoothies upon us, she gave us a quick orientation, then showed us to our room where chilled champagne was waiting for us (and me taking anitbiotics at the time...grrrr) and nothing but view view view. The meds didn't stop me from tapping into the daily, fresh cookies that were left for us though. The rooms are gorgeous, well-designed, and quite spacious. The entire wall in both the sitting room and bedroom is made of glass and accordians open onto a shaded, tiled, outdoor seating area complete with lounge chairs, a table to take your coffee at, etc. I usually try to get out of the room when I travel. At Teveuni I made it a point to stay in and enjoy the sumptuously appointed space.
Ok, ok. If you've stuck with me this far, you want to know about the diving. Yeah, yeah...it was great.
We dove with a locally-owned, nearby shop; ten dives over five days. All the diving took place in the something-something strait (Somo-somo, maybe?) between Taveuni (the third largest island in Fiji) and Something Levu (the second largest). Diving was mostly at coral heads, that's bommys to you mate, and the typical profile consisted of drifting over the top of the head, then dropping down on the sheltered side to explore to and fro. Different sights have more or less of different elements but there was a pleathora of soft and hard corals as well as fish and critters through the five days. Maximum depths ranged from 18-20 meters, depending on the site. While it was possible to drop down a bit further as the coral heads bottomed out, there wasn't much point since there wasn't much to see on the barren bottom off of the coral heads. We did two wall dives; at Supermarket where we saw quite a few larger critters such as striped baracuda, white tip and bronze whaler sharks, napoleon wraisse, etc. We also did Somo-Somo's signature site, Great White Wall but as we were in a mixed group the deeper drift portion was a bit short (two divers without computers...what were they doing way DOWN THERE?! Soft coral as far as the eye could see; you guessed it...white coral. We hit about 29.5m but of course one COULD have gone deeper (like the non-computer divers).
Visibility during the trip ranged from about 15-30m. Saipan still RULES for viz (20-unlimited) but there is a lot more to see in Fiji. Water temperature was a consistent 25C. I tried the first dive in my 3/2mm full O'Neil, but with average bottom times of about an hour found myself much more comfortable after the second dive when I added my 1500JPY (15USD) 3mm hood. My wife took her 5mm full and she also opted for her hood (which she didn't need at the store and I MADE her buy; told you I was an Ogre...but I digress). I understand that the water temperatures should be up past 27C now...no hood required. There are some photos in my gallery if you're a visual type (although after reading all this...). All of our dives after our first check out dive were drift dives. The current runs through the approximately ten kilometer wide channel at moderate to ripping speeds but a bit of buoyancy control should see one safely into the lee of the bommys as per the plan. I guess I'd best describe the diving as VIVID. I think my wife liked it, because she was already talking about coming back on the second day; back to Taveuni and back to Taveuni Island Resort. Maybe if I can knock over a few rich old ladies, I can join her. We were graced with fine weather on all but our third day when it rained until we got in for our first dive from which point it was sunny. Of course, that was the morning that we waited on the beach for an hour because the dive boat was late picking us up. We didn't mind the day before when they were 30 minutes late as it was sunny and we could enjoy the view. Sitting for an hour in the rain waiting, well.
My wife got a nice souvenir of Taveuni on the third day as well. The captain was getting a little too gung-ho on the throttle and took a wave wrong. I was thrown across the boat to the opposite gunwale where I got a lovely close-up view of the water racing by. After I recovered, I noticed my wife on the deck. She had been slammed into the opposite seat edge when the boat pitched and the orange-sized bruise (black, green, and yellow in color) on her shoulder has finally disappeared. She hit her head as well, but luckily she did so against a rather well-padded fellow dive woman's bust. Why couldn't it have been me. I'd have taken that bruise! We had the boat all to ourselves for two days so I guess I can't complain (not having been slammed).
Ok, so what are you still doing here? Go to Fiji already!
