Still looking at Nemena island resort but diving sticker shock!

[mmmbelows]

We are still considering staying at the Namena island resort to experience the diving there, but wow, talk about diving sticker shock... about $90 a tank! Almost $3000 just in additional diving charges for 6 days of diving for two people! That's in addition to the costs of staying there.

Is the diving there really worth that?

 

[JulieM]

We have been to Namena several years ago. The diving was very good, but as you say, it is not cheap. Another option you might want to consider with equally as good diving in roughly the same part of Fiji is Nakia Resort and Taveuni Ocean Sports on the island of Taveuni. We have been there three times. Most recently January of 2015. If you read the reviews on Tripadvisor, they are spot on accurate based on our experience in 2011, 2012, and 2015. If you any questions, please feel free to email me. We have around 1000 dives each with 7 trips to Fiji, and Taveuni is still our favorite.

 

[WetPup]

Yes. It'll cost upwards of $200 for a 2 tank boat dive pretty much anywhere in the SW Pacific in my experience.

Is it worth it? How long is a piece of string? Some people dive a site and love it, others don't. Too subjective.

However you're probably not going to find an alternative that's a whole lot cheaper than that anywhere else in the region either. That's simply what it costs to dive around here.

 

[Seths Dad]

We booked at Koro Sun Resort and are using Namena Divers, which is the house dive op now, and paid $948 for 5 days 2 dives a day for 2 people. So 20 tanks for $948. This trip was booked before they changed dive ops (used to be KoroSun Divers) so I don't know if pricing has changed. They dive the Namena area weather permiting. I don't think the resort is as nice as Namena Island but we didn't want to be quite so secluded, also less expensive.

 

[cbm32]

Diving in Fiji can be done for a very reasonable price if you know the country. Namena and Jean Micheal Cousteau's resorts are two of the most expensive. You can find other ops that will dive the Namena preserve much more affordable, but you will probably have longer boat rides to get there. That doesnt bother me at all, but maybe it would you.

I have a bit over 500 dives now and probably 350 of them have been done in Fiji. I have never paid anywhere close to those prices.

 

[Heg]

Would you consider liveaboard? Probably cheaper per dive in the grand scheme of things and you would see that whole area, rather than being in one place. The Fiji Siren, Naia, and I believe one of the Aggressor fleet all do this area. The Siren seems to be very cost effective too. We will book this for our next trip to Fiji

 

[mmmbelows]

Wifey isn't ready to commit to a live-a-board just yet. Looked at Jean Michael Cousteau also, because I saw they do trips to Namena , but looked there were possibilities of not getting there due to weather and demand. Other place was Raki Raki, but again seems sketchy on the chances of diving bligh waters. Was thinking of maybe splitting the trip between Namena and Raki Raki.

 

[garycrano]

The original Koro sun dive operation are still running but are now based at the Savasi Island resort which is 4 miles closer to Namena than Korosun resort.
They are a great operation that have been operating for a long time.I actually stayed at Savasi and it was fantastic but it may come with a bit of sticker shock.