Trip Report: Beqa Lagoon, Fiji, March 2013

[mheaster]

We just got back from Bega Lagoon. I had read this trip report before going and was a wee bit apprehensive about the travel to/from Nadi Airport/Beqa Lagoon. Only thing to keep in mind is we traveled 5 hours from Dulles to LAX, had a 8 hour layover (in Airport) and then a 10 hour flight from LAX to Nadi. We then made said road/boat trip to the Resort. We did however make a checkout shore dive the afternoon of arriving. It was a LONG two day trip though! Our enjoyable stay made it worthwhile!

I just reread this to refresh my memory. Everything in this detailed trip report seems pretty accurate. Wireless Internet is now available in Bures but cost is now about $59 (US) per Bure per week. Limited to two devices. some reported that there was no signal in their Bure but we were in #2 and there was a wireless router visible in the overhead and signal was great. We had a MINOR issue with a boat engine one morning but the promptly transferred us to another dive boat and the show went on and we were back on repaired boat the next day. I would not hesitate to go back!

 

[cbm32]

By all means go back to Fiji!!! But try another area. Bega is, in my opinion, clearly on the lower end of things when it comes to the kind of quality diving available in Fiji. Easily the worst of the areas I have dove there.

 

[ScubaLykinsDad]

was this one of the Wilderness medicine seminars?? we are looking at the Jan meeting but now i am alittle apprehensive ....sounds like dive quality is marginal given the expense and travel for that pacific location

 

[danvolker]

By all means go back to Fiji!!! But try another area. Bega is, in my opinion, clearly on the lower end of things when it comes to the kind of quality diving available in Fiji. Easily the worst of the areas I have dove there.

Are you saying that the 7 sisters pinnacles were not spectacular by any standards? I have a hard time imagining better dives than Sandra and I did when we were at Beqa Lagoon Resort....And when we went, I would sometimes freedive on the house reef...easy for a freediver to cover easily, and the vis was typically well over 80 to 100 feet by the house reef--much better out where the pinnacles and other reef attractions were.

I found the currents very mild by Palm Beach standards, even by Fort Lauderdale standards.....We were there in winter if I remember correctly--dry season--the water was colder than I expected, so I had to wear my 5 mil freediving wetsuit--made with the real rubtex and with a texture like Killer Whale skin--this is drastically superior in thermal protection to the high abrasion resistant suits sold to most scuba divers--more like a 7 mil, but slick beyond belief--no drag when scuba diving--you get to do a big kick and long glide...
Pretty sure our vis was spectacular because it was the dry season.

I would definately go back, and stay for a whole month this time...but they would need to increase the portion size on the dinners --even if it meant paying more

 

[cbm32]

I was there the first part of the rainy season. It was nice the first ten days or so and then lots of rain the other 20 days. I cant remember at just which point I dove Seven Sisters, but I don't recall any of the dives being particularly noteworthy other than the shark dives, and even those did not measure up to the shark dives I did while at Blue Lagoon Beach resort in the Yasawas. Far more and bigger sharks during the Bega shark dives but much more like being herded around like livestock (the divers not the sharks). I highly recommend the shark dive at BLBR, but it is a looooooong trip to get up to the top of the Yasawas to do it and so I usually advise folks to do the one in Bega.

When I dove Bega it was after diving two other areas for 3 weeks and none of the diving in Bega came close to the other two areas. I was warned I wouldn't like the diving in the Yasawas, but I liked it area far more than Bega as well.

All that being said, Bega was still better than Kauai, St Thomas, and all the other places I have dove except for the other Fiji areas and Cozumel.

If you go back, do yourself a favor and dive Naigani, Namena, Teveuni or Kadavu...in that order of preference (although Kadavu might move up the list a notch if the weather allows you to get outside of the reef consistently). Or if it is the rainy season and you dont want to take any chances go up to the top of the Yasawas where it is nearly always dry (up there it is like you picture in your mind when you think South Pacific Islands).

 

[chuck e]

Thank you for your terrific report. We visited BL 9 years ago and can concur on the accuracy of your report. While I have UW video of what I saw, what I remember is the local experience. We have been to many dive destinations throughout the Pacific, but nowhere did we feel more integrated with the local culture. We were serenaded nightly by the school teachers and toured their village and school. They did make you feel like a guest and not a customer. A few months ago I received some emails that BL was looking for an engineer for engine maintenance. Perhaps this is the reason for the mechanical issues as skilled personnel is probably difficult to obtain. I look forward to returning some day.

 

[Scoober]

Beqa is truly a yawner. Very much overrated. Hit the Astrolabe!

 

[danvolker]

Beqa is truly a yawner. Very much overrated. Hit the Astrolabe!

Don't know how you could say this....My wife Sandra and I have dived all over the Caribbean, way over 10,000 dives each....and we are very picky about what we like......
From our perspective:

• the Dive Experiences you get on the reefs they drop you on are exceptional--huge amounts of marine life, huge structures, and amazing colors.
• The people of Beqa Lagoon Resort were the most natural acting and inhernetly "nice" people we ever met at any Resort, ever. They are also just "happy"--whether guests are around or not.
• You get to experience real local culture, and see the tribal distinctions and social functions in action, and this provides a nice backdrop to a major dive adventure
• The lodging is very nice, the food is excellent, and the tropical atmosphere in the Bar is fun for those that drink We were at the Resort with a club of Florida Divers we were able to get included in for the rate....and these guys were on and off the boat like penguins ( blowing the minds of the boat crew--apparently used to novices from NZ or Asia)--so the boat catered to us as if it was a boat load of instructors....and after diving, this group drank all the Jack Daniels out of the bar, and a few other drinks, causing the resort to get a special plane flight to re-stock the bar after 3 days ... Bottom line they make it easy for you to have the best time you can have, whatever this best time might be. While Sandra and I are not big drinkers like many of this group, we enjoyed the ability of the resort to offer both ideal diving and adventure, along with luxury and 4 Star Service at an easily affordable price ( if you pretend there is no air fare cost
• If you see our Facebook page, you will also see that we enjoy pretty amazing marine life on every dive we do--and photograph it...so it is not a simple matter for us to visit a resort far away and be all that impressed.... www.facebook.com/wild.diving

 

[Scoober]

I'd be happy to give it another shot. I have over 5000 dives in my pockets, all over the world, and Beqa was a bust for me. I reckon if I am in that area again, I will dig up your post and give it another go.



No problems with the topside part. That's great pretty much everywhere in Fiji. But the diving just was not happening (won't even comment on artificial shark dive). Especially compared to other areas of Fiji.

 

[cbm32]

Comparing Bega with Socal diving is much different than comparing it with diving in other parts of Fiji. One is apples and oranges. The other is apples to apples but the Bega apples are drops and some other areas are the nice big, luscious, red, hand polished, premium apples