Questions about Wananavu and Ra Divers

[diverrex]

We are thinking about a quick week trip to Fiji in the beginning of December. Does anyone have any recent reviews of Wananavu and Ra Divers? I've heard mixed things about Ra, some people really liked them, others didn't. How is the diving if you don't get out to the Bligh waters? And how much currrent is there out in the Bligh? We've been to Cozumel twice and while we enjoyed all the fishes by the end of the week my wife was getting tired of the constant drift diving.

Any other suggestions for Fiji? Since it's just a quick week trip I figured we'd keep the travel to a minimum and stay on Viti Levu. We've consideedr Beqa Lagoon but for some reason I just can't seem to get turned on by it, though I would like to do the shark dive.

 

[fiji_diver]

Hi
Steve and the gang at Ra divers are generally very professional but they can get busy and maybe let some things slip a little. But on the whole, they have been very good every time I dived with them.
The local dive sites as opposed to the Vatu-i-Ra passage (Bligh Waters) are generally soft coral sites with lots of canyons and swim throughs. If you are there for a week, you might easily repeat some of the dives, but heh, that's not such a bad thing.

There is often a current in the Vatu-i-Ra but not a real rip. I really like the dives there, drift or not.
They have a new. larger boat now so getting to the further sites is less weather dependent and more comfortable.
With Ra divers taking over the dive business from Wananavu, they get very busy at times.

All in all I recommend the diving there.

As for Beqa, it is definitely worth a couple of days diving. The shark dive and at least 4 of the soft coral sites are really worth the visit. e.g. Side Street 1, Fantasea, Golden Arches and 7 sisters.

Getting from Beqa (Pacific Harbour) to Wananavu can be a bit of a trek, but combining the two locations is the best way to see most of Viti Levu's sites. If you wanted to get it all, you can see the other corner, North East in the Lomaiviti islands by staying at Naigani, Levuka or Cagali. 3,2 and 1 star respectively but all great fun and value for money.

I live and dive in Fiji but am not associated with any resort, although I know them all, well almost all, very well, so perhaps I am a bit biased, but please feel free to mail if you want more details.

I hope you enjoy your trip
Cheers

Greg

 

[bbarada]

We were there in March and had good experience with Ra Divers. They have a new larger boat now and can get out to the Bligh Waters on most days. The dive masters know the currents and won't take you if it is strong, or will do a drift dive. The diving inside the reef is good, but not as good as outside.

I have done Beqa, a liveaboard and Wananavu. The liveaboard is the best way to do Fiji, but Wananavu is much better diving than Beqa and cheaper too.

 

[diverrex]

We were there in March and had good experience with Ra Divers. They have a new larger boat now and can get out to the Bligh Waters on most days. The dive masters know the currents and won't take you if it is strong, or will do a drift dive. The diving inside the reef is good, but not as good as outside.

I have done Beqa, a liveaboard and Wananavu. The liveaboard is the best way to do Fiji, but Wananavu is much better diving than Beqa and cheaper too.

Thanks for the comparison.

 

[Codyjp]

My wife and I went there for our honeymoon 9/2009. Wananavu was wonderful. The staff there is worth a million dollars and they are so much fun. I miss the friends we made there! The resort is dialed in and nice even though the owner/manager is a bit smarmy. I didn't care for him but oh well.

Ra divers are ok but the are lazy. They don't like to do 3 dive trips and seem just generally bored with the whole thing. I would not even consider renting anything from them as there rental gear was just trash. I'd also bring spare gear in case anything takes a dump. Their boat was brand new one year ago so that was nice.

The diving is amazing. I'd say 30-40 percent of it was drift diving, the rest was kicking. They were all open water dives on sea mounts or pinnacles. The bligh waters is by far the best I've seen.

If they try to send you on a trip into town for the last day before your flight I wouldn't bother with that crap. The city sucks and the resort is much nicer. The tours were nice and one day we just went into the local town with one of the employees and his family. Do plan to take time to chat with everybody who works there. If you haven't picked up on it yet we really enjoyed them and they are genuinely warm, wonderful people. Drink the Kava, it is just something that you must do! The waterful tour was also worthwhile, again, because we just got to spend some time with them in their world.

We booked through Will at World of Diving and they did a great job and got us a package we couldn't have beat on our own (saved us several hundred dollars if not more). They are also local (Hermosa Beach) which I like. Our trip report was here and I just realized I typed most of this before...

A quick kudos post for Will to!