A group of 10 of us came together for a 10-day dive trip to the island of Taveuni in Fiji to dive the Rainbow Reef.
From the mainland USA, Fiji is reached by direct flights from either San Francisco, Los Angeles or Dallas. Initial arrival is into the international airport in NADI (pronounced Nandee). From there, we caught a domestic puddle jumper to Matei airport on the island of Taveuni. This is my 2nd trip here in the last 3 years and my previous trip report can be found here: Trip Report - Fiji- May 14-30, 2022
I am not going to post pictures on this trip report, as I mostly shot video. You can go to my May 2022 report and see some of the typical reef life.
The commuter domestic plane is quite small and is operated by Fiji Link, which is the domestic arm of Fiji Airways. A maximum of 12 passengers. Luggage and everyone is weighed pretty meticulously. You are allowed 2 checked bags weighing no more than 33lbs each and a carry on weighing no more than 15 lbs.
Our resort staff was at the small airport in Matei, Taveuni to meet and greet and collect us for the 30-40 minute ride down the leeward side of the island to our all-inclusive home for the next 11 days: www.taveunidiveresort.com
Upon arrival to the resort, we were greeted with smiles, a mango smoothie and some fruit, and had an excellent orientation to the resort and what life was going to look like, filled out necessary paperwork, followed by a very nice lunch. There is a 2-page menu of food items, as well as posted specials of the day on a chalkboard. There are 2-3 lunch specials, and 2-3 dinner specials each day apart from the normal menu.
The resort has a maximum capacity of 16 guests in 8 villas (Bures). The bures are well appointed and spacious with plenty of room for everything and outlets everywhere. Excellent rain shower with lots of pressure and warm water. The resort is very eco-friendly and is operated 100% by solar energy. The only WIFI is at the common dining/bar/pool area. Unless your villa is adjacent, you will not have it and there are only 2 that are close enough to get the signal- out on their patio, but not inside the room itself, as the concrete walls block the signal. There is no air conditioning, but plenty of screened windows and 2 large ceiling fans.
My last trip here was in the month of May, which was a bit rainier and more humid. August and September seem to be the ideal months for visiting and diving. Days are dry and the water is quite clear. Daytime temps in the 70’s and overnight lows in the 60’s. Water temp was a consistent 77-79 degrees.
The grounds are lush, tropical and immaculate- exactly what you’d think of when dreaming of a south pacific paradise.
We are set up on a full 3 meals a day and beverage plan, (alcohol) is extra. This is standard for staying here. There are no nearby restaurants or shopping. The resort is tucked into the hillside overlooking the ocean and the island of Vanua Levu across the channel.
Typical day:
Diving
From the mainland USA, Fiji is reached by direct flights from either San Francisco, Los Angeles or Dallas. Initial arrival is into the international airport in NADI (pronounced Nandee). From there, we caught a domestic puddle jumper to Matei airport on the island of Taveuni. This is my 2nd trip here in the last 3 years and my previous trip report can be found here: Trip Report - Fiji- May 14-30, 2022
I am not going to post pictures on this trip report, as I mostly shot video. You can go to my May 2022 report and see some of the typical reef life.
The commuter domestic plane is quite small and is operated by Fiji Link, which is the domestic arm of Fiji Airways. A maximum of 12 passengers. Luggage and everyone is weighed pretty meticulously. You are allowed 2 checked bags weighing no more than 33lbs each and a carry on weighing no more than 15 lbs.
Our resort staff was at the small airport in Matei, Taveuni to meet and greet and collect us for the 30-40 minute ride down the leeward side of the island to our all-inclusive home for the next 11 days: www.taveunidiveresort.com
Upon arrival to the resort, we were greeted with smiles, a mango smoothie and some fruit, and had an excellent orientation to the resort and what life was going to look like, filled out necessary paperwork, followed by a very nice lunch. There is a 2-page menu of food items, as well as posted specials of the day on a chalkboard. There are 2-3 lunch specials, and 2-3 dinner specials each day apart from the normal menu.
The resort has a maximum capacity of 16 guests in 8 villas (Bures). The bures are well appointed and spacious with plenty of room for everything and outlets everywhere. Excellent rain shower with lots of pressure and warm water. The resort is very eco-friendly and is operated 100% by solar energy. The only WIFI is at the common dining/bar/pool area. Unless your villa is adjacent, you will not have it and there are only 2 that are close enough to get the signal- out on their patio, but not inside the room itself, as the concrete walls block the signal. There is no air conditioning, but plenty of screened windows and 2 large ceiling fans.
My last trip here was in the month of May, which was a bit rainier and more humid. August and September seem to be the ideal months for visiting and diving. Days are dry and the water is quite clear. Daytime temps in the 70’s and overnight lows in the 60’s. Water temp was a consistent 77-79 degrees.
The grounds are lush, tropical and immaculate- exactly what you’d think of when dreaming of a south pacific paradise.
We are set up on a full 3 meals a day and beverage plan, (alcohol) is extra. This is standard for staying here. There are no nearby restaurants or shopping. The resort is tucked into the hillside overlooking the ocean and the island of Vanua Levu across the channel.
Typical day:
- Breakfast is at 7am (pre-order lunch from the set menu or one of the specials after breakfast)
- Boat boarding is sharp at 8am. It is a 4-minute walk down to the boats. All gear is handled entirely by the staff. No need to deal with anything other than what you want to (computer and camera). Reefs are 10 to 20 minutes. After dive 1, it is a surface interval on the boat or a nearby beach, followed by dive 2.
- After dive 2, return to the resort for lunch and a quick rinse, maybe change dive light batteries and chill for a bit and then walk back to the boat to go out for dive 3. Boat loads and departs at 2pm for the afternoon dive. After lunch, place your order for dinner.
- After dive 3, it is back to the resort to clean up and have dinner around 6:30pm. After dinner—you guessed it: (Order your breakfast for the following morning).
- Food is excellent and varied and most dietary restrictions can be accommodated.
Diving
- Diving is done with aluminum 80’s (a few 100’s available).
- Excellent dive boats that you can backroll or giant stride from.
- Nitrox is an extra $15 per tank, if desired.
- At this time, Fiji has an operational hyperbaric chamber. It is located in Suva (Capital)- which is about a 45-minute flight away.
- Beautiful combination of hard and soft corals and all of the typical critters you’d find in the South Pacific and much of SE Asia.
- We were fortunate to have a couple of days of very close fly by’s with large manta rays (it is the season). Small white tip reef sharks out and about and lots of schooling fish in abundance on many dive sites and plenty of nudibranchs.
- I would not characterize the diving as particularly challenging. There are incoming and outgoing tidal currents, but the dive staff time the dives with the ebb flow in mind and there is usually some light current and drifting before rolling over a reef top to a sheltered side for the remainder of the dive. Dive depths are typically 20-80 feet, with most of the time spent between 20-60 feet, where all of the action is.
- Dive times are generally 50-55 minutes. They are very accommodating of those who use more air than others. There are 2 dive guides in the water with each group and one dive guide allocated to take up anyone low on air, while everyone else continues their dive.
- They have 3 boats and typically keep the dive group limited to no more than 6-7 divers + the dive guides. Many people sit out the 3rd afternoon dive and it is not uncommon to have 2-4 divers in the boat in the afternoon.
- The resort will not allow non-guests to pay and join in on the diving. It is exclusive to residing and paying guests only.
- Resort, meal, ground transportation and dive package for our group: $2800 per person for 10 nights and 9 days of diving.
- Flights: $800 to $1K round trip most of the time. If Los Angeles, Dallas or San Francisco are your home airports, then air travel is much simpler and quicker). The domestic flight to Taveuni can run anywhere from $250 RT to $450 RT depending on the season.
- Incidentals: Tipping is not a common practice in Fiji. Owners prefer that if anyone wants to tip, that they do so with management and all tips are held throughout the year and distributed equally during a Christmas party. Tip can be added to your bar tab and paid with credit card at the end of the stay.
