I've not had any interest so far in a Caribbean liveaboard, especially when I see them parked for a few days off an island we're staying on. Here, though, the boat gives a very different experience. First, the dive sites are a considerable distance from the resort, and so it's well over an hour roundtrip. Jbclj's Volivoli trip report from a few months back underscores the concern--only a few days when the boats could make it out to the best sites. Aboard NAI'A, all sites are a few minutes away. Second, NAI'A, in particular, is a big part of diving history in Fiji; the owner discovered many of the sites on the itinerary, including a lot of those dived from resorts. Third, there are considerable differences in the areas. The Bligh Waters are spectacular, but very different from, e.g., Nigali Pass off Gau Island (reef mantas, sharkier waters, bigger barracuda schools). When we embarked, the cruise director said, "when you're not diving, you're eating. When you're not eating, you're diving." While the combination of resort and boat was fabulous, the boat wins on points here.
I'd say we dealt with significant current on maybe 20% of the dives; however, the floor is pretty routinely 65-90', and of course it's hard to tell what conditions are going to be at depth. We had maybe five dives where the current was of the let-go-and-enjoy-the-ride variety, which were great because when you surfaced, the RIB was no more than a couple of minutes away.
Reef hooks (and DSMBs) are required (or maybe the reef hooks are only recommended). We did not use either, but often used a (steel) muck stick to hold position, by finding a good hole to stick it several inches into. We saw a couple of aluminum pointers which were bent into nice arcs, but the steel ones are strong enough to provide a solid hold.
A lot of the divers didn't do negative entries because they hung around the stern of the RIB to collect their cameras, while some of us rolled in with the cameras and went straight down; but either way, everyone rolled in at the same time, on the RIB skippers' count. I enjoyed not having to circle up on the surface.
Good
In general, everyone met at the bottom and then either followed the guide or went their way. (One guy, an exquisite photographer, went his own way on a number of dives.) The dives were well-briefed, and imagine trying to herd a eight or 10 underwater photographers in one gaggle! But we did hear a number of comments about groups including people with 10-20 dives, or who hadn't dived for years, requiring more supervision.
There was a handful of sites where we were directed to stay behind the guide so she or he could make decisions based on the conditions, and the briefings on these were excellent.
As to the number of guides? Two skiffs, one guide for each. Many sites have multiple attractions, and the skiffs would alternate; where that wasn't in the cards, one skiff would hold back for a few minutes to let the first group get a head start. I think we ran into the other group two or three times.
I agree, it's not completely comfortable. On NAI'A, we talked to the cruise directors and got a general idea of what they hoped we'd do, which was 5-10% (the 10-day itineraries are $6500 per person). Others did less, and some may have done more. At Volivoli and First Landing, I went with what folks here have said over the years; however, I don't remember what we left in the box there, but I think it was about $50 FJD per day; the exchange rate was approximately one FJD to two USD. (By the way--the box is locked, and we were told that after a litter of divers leaves, the box is given to the Captain, who transfers the contents to a shore-based repository until the end of the year, when every member of the crew and staff receives an equal share of what came in.)
We really liked having the resort week to bubble the cobwebs away, get accustomed to the conditions, get the cameras in shape, and support the local economy. As between the two--setting aside cost and human factors, NAI'A is the clear winner diving-wise. If I were traveling with a snorkeler or youngster, as I know you sometimes do, the resort certainly is a more attractive option. Similarly, for less experienced divers, the resort experience includes more dive guides and giant-stride-off-the-transom boats. (I didn't mention in the Volivoli review; while the house reef at Volivoli wasn't appealing, many non-divers or day-off-divers were taken 10-30 minutes from the resort by boat for snorkeling, and everyone we talked to raved about what they saw--we were a little jealous.)
First, the travel. CVG to DFW, to LAX, to NAD. Because Fiji Airways is a codeshare for American, we checked our bags at CVG and picked them up on the belt in Fiji about 19 hours later. It has to be the easiest logistics of any of the major dive destinations. (I'm working right now on logistics to PNG, where we are headed in May (Walindi, followed by M//V Oceania). Much more complicated, and a much longer trip.)
We've yet to dive anywhere else in Oceania except for Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef, in 2012. We did meet several people on this trip who had done liveaboards on the GBR, and they liked the experience. As to preferring Fiji over other Coral Triangle-ish destinations? When we made the plans, I reasoned that while Fiji wasn't R4 or PNG, it was a great place to start because even if the diving wasn't the best, the travel was the easiest. Plus, NAI'I's reputation was very appealing, and the availability of two spots on the boat tipped the balance for us. As it turned out, the diving was outstanding; if PNG or Raja are even better, all to the good. (I should note that my partner saw two pygmy seahorses, which she continues to lord over me).
Ahh, the Covid. An obviously-imperfect procedure, at best. As requested, we did the tests on the morning of embarkation and emailed a picture of the tests, with our First Landing key, to NAI'A's base. Given that people had come in from, at least, Texas, Vancouver, California (north and south), Colorado, and Ohio, that test obviously doesn't mean much. As far as what would've happened if we'd tested positive . . . I don't know, but I suspect my trip report would have reported a longer stay at First Landing.
As always, Dr. Rich, excellent and thoughtful questions. Thanks for taking the time. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
--Rick
NAI’A’s websites has really great trip-by-trip reports from the cruise directors which give fish-by-fish accounts.
