G'day Bill,
Nice to hear from another Beqa fan - obviously its not for absolutelyeverybody...but from my 4 trips there, I can't find fault with the place. On our first trip, some of my group were unimpressed upon arrival that some of the Bures lacked bar fridges (Australians tend to have a b.y.o. mentality and love to mix their own cocktails at sunset!)....It just seemed odd that such a high quality resort lacked bar fridges....As soon as we mentioned it, Mark sent a boat off to Suva to get some fridges for those that requested them....This was the start of him doing everything possible to keep everyone happy. And after a trip to Matana Resort Kadavu (where people were hungry and the management showed litle interest in us..) Mark impressed us with his concern and warm hospitality. We are going to North Sulawesi this year (Siladen Island Resort) just to experience a different type of diving, but I fully expect to return to Beqa in 2009.
"Purcellj" is right to an extent about some of the dive guides - their communication skills are not well developed and they don't tend to go overboard on pointing out critters. But if you dive with "Delana" then you can expect to see everything there is to see - he does a great job and hsi briefs are passionate and detailed. And we were never hurried on dives (far from it...) Everything was totally leisurely - if we wanted to snorkel on the way back then...no worries! I never experienced any hurry to get back to base whatsoever...The dive guides would take my children snorkelling and played cards with them on the way back to shore - idyllic! These are the happiest people in the world. Why wouldn't they be? The live in paradise.
And the shark dive really wraps up the whole package for me - I will never forget that 15 foot Tiger looking me right in the eye. Can't wait to get back there.