Post Cyclone Dive Resort Status

[leadweight]

Does anyone know the status of either Wananavu or Garden Isle dive resorts since the cyclone?

 

[OnTheSpot]

Hi There,

Do you mean Garden Island Resort on Taveuni? I had a message that everybody was OK - they did have some water damage but were in full clean up mode. Flights started on the 18th of March.

Here is our blog report Fiji Resorts Escape Cyclone Tomas.

Sorry, I dont know about Wananavu.

 

[MarineResearch]

From an employee at Garden Island Resort:

Amazingly the resort made it through fine. No infrastructure damage. Just minor sheetrock damage to offices which were already in remodel process.
Easy fix already in the works.

The pool was full of coral when the wave came over the wall - but it has been emptied, cleaned, refilled.
It is already being Used by Guests.

Guest rooms are absolutely fine. People slept in their rooms during the storm.
A new dive group came in after the storm.

The gardens -- street side -- of course -- took the beating.

No one was hurt or injured.
The total fatalities for all of Fiji that have been announced - 3. Several due to local people bathing in the ocean.
Locals did have some property damage. But overall they did very well. The resort is doing what we can to help out.

The biggest effect will be a few months out -- many of the farmer's crops and local family kitchen gardens were destroyed.
Australia and New Zealand are already here with aid for people needing it.

And to underscore the amazing events of the storm--
only a few of the ex-pat houses were damaged.
We were personally spared any house damage.
Our property still has bananas and papayas hanging on the trees. Fox bats and parrots sit on the same limb sharing a papaya.
That tells me that there is little fruit out there for them.

 

[leadweight]

The Garden Island web site reports they are open for business, hosting guests and diving. We received an email from Wananavu that they are open and operating normally. It appears that most of the dive industry was spared, so those jobs are protected. As the post above indicates, there are all sorts of challenges to be met.

I live in Houston. There are still blue FEMA tarps on roofs from hurricane Ike, over 18 months ago. These things take a while to fix.

 

[bbarada]

Just got back last night from Wananavu. Cyclone Tomas veered west at the last minute and did no damage at all to Wananavu. We lost 2 days of diving the two days before it was to hit but made it up with 3 tank dives after the cyclone passed. Some visibility issues, especially inside the reef. Outside in the Bligh Waters, visibility was about what is expected in March.