Fiji - Wananavu Resort

[dtreid]

I am booked on a trip to Wananavu in late August. I have seen some questionable reports regarding RA Divers who run the diving for the resort. Anyone have any recent experience with them?

Appreciate all you can tell me.

Thanks, TErry

 

[er1n99]

Hey Dtreid:

My husband I and just got back from Wananavu in April where we did some diving and got married (notice diving first, married second).

We had a pretty good experience with them. Diving was good every day, they were considerate and were available for everything that we needed. One thing of note is that we were a group of 5 total divers. While we were there, there was also a few groups of 2 as well as a large party of 8+. Many of the divers will take their belongings back to their bure/room, while others leave things on the boat and leave things in the dunk tank/at the shop to hang dry. One of our party had her wetsuit at the shop to hang dry on the last day and it wound up missing. RA divers was very quick to pay her full cost of her wetsuit that went missing (in US dollars). There was no "maybe you put it here..." or anything like that. They were good and responsive.

RA divers is not affiliated with Wananavu. They just operate out of the resort. So, the communication isn't 100% perfect. As long as you remember that you are on vacation, that you'll be diving, and you are relaxed, it will all be fine. We had one instance that RA told us that we'd be diving in the AM, and it turns out that we were going to dive in the PM. Not that big of a deal, but it was a minor hiccup.

BTW, Wananavu is GREAT. All of the staff there is excellent, food is terrific, rooms are beautiful and clean. No complaints and we'd go back in an instant!

 

[bbarada]

We were there in March and found RA Divers to be pretty good. The big boat (Bligh Explorer) ladders really suck. There are no handholds while you are climbing up. They said they were going to get new boats soon.

The dive masters are pretty good at finding things, but misread the currents a couple times.

You have to be with a group who insists they go out to the Bligh Waters to get the best diving.

That said, we found Wananavu to be delightful and much better than Beqa.

 

[Travelnsj]

I was there in April and have a trip report posted. One problem I had was getting out to the Bligh waters which is the only reason I went and doing a 3rd tank dive. Being a single diver and groups had the other boats they did not go to the Bligh unless they had 6 divers on the boat and the same for the 3rd tank dive. I could understand the expense running a boat out there for a couple of divers but I was not told that up front. They really tried to accommodate me the best they could and I did get 4 great dives out at the Bligh...the rest of the diving was just OK. One very strong suggestion is make sure you dive with recently inspected tanks....My trip report touches on the problem I encountered. Overall Scott and Nick who run/own the operation are great.

 

[Rickg]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/members/er1n99.htmler1n99,

I'm glad to here that you had a great trip to Wananavu. We had a great time when we went there for our 25th wedding anniversary and renewed our wedding vows while we were there.

Rickg

 

[dtreid]

Thanks to all who answered.
Terry

 

[Rickg]

Thanks to all who answered.
Terry

Here's a link to my 2009 trip report to Wananavu. You can ignore the comments about Kai Viti Divers because they went out of business.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pacific-islands/274991-fiji-trip-report.html

You can see both above and underwater pictures at the Picasa link in my signature line.


Pre-2007 photos - MotorMarine I camera
Currently - Canon A720 IS w/Canon WP-DC16 housing (w/o external strobe)
Pictures by rickgreatting - Photobucket
Picasa Web Albums - Rick

 

[dtreid]

We just got back today and the resort and the diving was superb. I highly recommend the resort and RA divers. They are a great dive operator. We had some fabulous dives. They went out of their way to give us a good time.

Terry