devingordon
Registered
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 47
- # of dives
- 200 - 499
Here's a report of 10 days in Fiji in June 2025 at Taveuni Dive Resort and Volivoli.
BLUF: It was our first time in Fiji, but I doubt it will be our last - amazing diving (particularly in Taveuni), people, culture, etc.
We're a couple who have been diving for 20+ years, 400+ dives, almost all in the Caribbean with several trips to Hawaii. This trip was the first of many planned to explore the South Pacific, Asia and elsewhere. Fiji set a high bar from a diving perspective.
Transportation
After an American flight from ATL, we took the newish non-stop from DFW to Nadi. Nice, fairly new plane, and coach was as good as it's going to get. The flight was packed. Paper boarding passes only at DFW; no idea why Fiji Airways wouldn't accept electronic boarding passes from their own app.
My wife fell on the flight and cut her head. The staff was great, and several passengers who were RNs and other medical professionals graciously helped. We weren't sure if she would need stitches, and we had a connecting flight to Taveuni two hours after we landed. I talked to a flight attendant, and they arranged for airport medical personnel to meet us at the gate. The nurse took us to a small treatment room at the airport, patched my wife up, then personally walked us through customs, helped collect our bags and took us to the domestic terminal. It made a potentially bad situation significantly better and established a high bar for Fijian culture to start our trip. Turns out that everything we had heard about the kindness of Fijian people is true.
Luggage
After reading trip reports and research, I was concerned about luggage on Fiji Link flights. Turned out to be a non-issue. I booked everything on the same itinerary - ATL to TVU, TVU to NAN, and NAN to ATL. So according to our itinerary, we had 50 lb/23 kg checked bags on all segments throughout. I called before we left to confirm since this was different from what's on the Fiji Airways website. At the domestic terminal in NAN and the terminal in TVU, they just asked us to put each bag on a scale, and get on the scale ourselves with our carry-ons. We did stick to the carry-on weight limit for Fiji Link. But no one mentioned the weight of the checked bags. I'm not sure if booking everything on an international itinerary made the difference or if we just got lucky. The Fiji Link flights were about 2/3 full.
Taveuni Dive Resort
This is a great place that I can't recommend enough. The entire staff is fabulous, and we felt like we were among family the entire time. This was our first time at a dive resort (we normally rent condos or houses), and it was a great experience. It's rather remote in many respects, and unless you want to go on an excursion or into the small town, many people don't leave the resort except to dive. It's off grid with solar and generator power, but that never posed a problem, and there was plenty of power. Wi-Fi is only available in the restaurant, which serves as a central hub for the resort.
The rooms are great. The only downside, which was a concern going in, is that there's no air conditioning. It was never a problem. The rooms are very large with high ceilings and two large ceiling fans. It was never hot in the room, and we often turned the fan off over the bed at night. Beds are very comfortable. Highs each day were in the low to mid-70s, dropping to high 60s at night.
Food is quite good. We're vegetarian, so resort food was a concern. There are several daily specials for lunch and dinner, and the staff made sure there was a vegetarian special at every meal. You can also order from a standard menu, which includes pizza, sandwiches, etc. Everyone staying at the resort thought the food was a highlight. The restaurant and bar staff were wonderful. Although separate tables are available, almost everyone chose to sit at a communal table for all meals.
The diving was amazing. The boats are aluminum hull and not opulent, but they're perfectly fine and roomy. Two boats went out most days when we were there, and the largest group we dove with was eight people with two dive masters. We did three dives some days and two other days. At breakfast or after the morning dives, you just let the staff know if you want to do an afternoon dive or a night dive. As long as two people wanted to dive, the trip went. Boat rides were about 15-20 minutes for most Rainbow Reef sites. Surface intervals were either on the boat or on a nearby beach.
The dive masters were great and got to know all the divers and their preferences quickly. We were there during the Great White Wall, which was very interesting. Our favorite site was Purple Wall, similar in some ways to the White Wall but not quite as sheer. It's covered in purple soft coral (that appears fuchsia under white light) and is gorgeous. Every other site we visited was great as well.
The soft coral was amazing and lived up to its reputation, but in particular we fell in love with the Fijian anemonefish. We saw at least six varieties and saw many species on every dive. We saw quite a few sharks, two grays, two or three blacktips, many whitetips and even a few tuna. Some people on another boat from TDR saw two mantas one day. There were lots of small critters, including nudibranchs, a pygmy seahorse, a tiny ribbon eel, etc.
Overall the diving off Taveuni is best suited for divers with experience in current and surge. Every dive had a good bit of current and several had quite a lot of surge. If you have good buoyancy and are comfortable in current, it's great diving. There were two divers who were less experienced and had quite a few challenges, but the staff handled it well. For us, every dive was 60-65 minutes, although on a few occasions dive masters took some divers to the surface sooner if they ran low on air.
Volivoli Beach Resort
Overall this resort and the diving were fine, but we probably wouldn't return.
The drive to the resort from NAN airport is at least 2.5 hours - good roads, but it's long at fairly slow speeds. As others have reported, the entire resort is rather hilly. We stayed in a Premium vale at the top of the hill which was nice but not fancy and had plenty of space. Views are very nice from many spots around the resort. A/C in the room cut down the humidity quite a bit.
The food was mediocre, and we didn't have anything we considered very good. It was resort food without a great deal of flavor other than salt. The beach bar is a great place to watch very nice sunsets or hang out after dives. But calling this a "beach" resort is a stretch. There's perhaps a 150-yard long, narrow beach with a few lounge chairs and hammocks. The staff throughout the resort was quite nice and very helpful. They were definitely a highlight.
The diving was pretty good, but we didn't like it as much as Taveuni. Visibility wasn't great for most dives, and the boat rides were quite long. It's a solid 45 minutes to the marine park, sometimes longer, and even the closer sites were at least 30 minutes.
Daily dives are either two-tank returning for lunch or three-tank with lunch on the boat. This seems to rotate every day. So if you wanted to do three-tank dives on consecutive days, you're out of luck. We were unaware of the schedule until we arrived, which seemed to be the case for other divers as well. Several divers asked about doing two-tank dives on three-tank days, and the staff told them they could stay on the boat and not do the third dive while others dove.
The boats are pretty large but felt cramped while we were there. The smaller of the two boats took 10-12 people with two dive masters. The larger boat took about 20 divers with four dive masters. In each case, there were quite a few divers in the same area underwater, and at times it felt crowded in the water. The dive masters were fairly personable, good underwater and did a good job pointing out interesting things, particularly smaller things like nudibranchs. They were also accommodating for those who have better air consumption, putting us in the water first so we could dive a full 60 minutes. But you sometimes didn't get much help with cameras, fins, etc. while on the boat.
The diving was similar to Taveuni but was all stationary diving. Several dives were on the lee side of coral pinnacles with current on the edges. The rather odd thing was the lack of larger life. The largest thing we saw were jacks. The coral was in great shape with tons of smaller fish and lots of interesting macro critters, scorpion fish, anemone fish, etc. - all pretty good, but we liked the diving on Taveuni better.
BLUF: It was our first time in Fiji, but I doubt it will be our last - amazing diving (particularly in Taveuni), people, culture, etc.
We're a couple who have been diving for 20+ years, 400+ dives, almost all in the Caribbean with several trips to Hawaii. This trip was the first of many planned to explore the South Pacific, Asia and elsewhere. Fiji set a high bar from a diving perspective.
Transportation
After an American flight from ATL, we took the newish non-stop from DFW to Nadi. Nice, fairly new plane, and coach was as good as it's going to get. The flight was packed. Paper boarding passes only at DFW; no idea why Fiji Airways wouldn't accept electronic boarding passes from their own app.
My wife fell on the flight and cut her head. The staff was great, and several passengers who were RNs and other medical professionals graciously helped. We weren't sure if she would need stitches, and we had a connecting flight to Taveuni two hours after we landed. I talked to a flight attendant, and they arranged for airport medical personnel to meet us at the gate. The nurse took us to a small treatment room at the airport, patched my wife up, then personally walked us through customs, helped collect our bags and took us to the domestic terminal. It made a potentially bad situation significantly better and established a high bar for Fijian culture to start our trip. Turns out that everything we had heard about the kindness of Fijian people is true.
Luggage
After reading trip reports and research, I was concerned about luggage on Fiji Link flights. Turned out to be a non-issue. I booked everything on the same itinerary - ATL to TVU, TVU to NAN, and NAN to ATL. So according to our itinerary, we had 50 lb/23 kg checked bags on all segments throughout. I called before we left to confirm since this was different from what's on the Fiji Airways website. At the domestic terminal in NAN and the terminal in TVU, they just asked us to put each bag on a scale, and get on the scale ourselves with our carry-ons. We did stick to the carry-on weight limit for Fiji Link. But no one mentioned the weight of the checked bags. I'm not sure if booking everything on an international itinerary made the difference or if we just got lucky. The Fiji Link flights were about 2/3 full.
Taveuni Dive Resort
This is a great place that I can't recommend enough. The entire staff is fabulous, and we felt like we were among family the entire time. This was our first time at a dive resort (we normally rent condos or houses), and it was a great experience. It's rather remote in many respects, and unless you want to go on an excursion or into the small town, many people don't leave the resort except to dive. It's off grid with solar and generator power, but that never posed a problem, and there was plenty of power. Wi-Fi is only available in the restaurant, which serves as a central hub for the resort.
The rooms are great. The only downside, which was a concern going in, is that there's no air conditioning. It was never a problem. The rooms are very large with high ceilings and two large ceiling fans. It was never hot in the room, and we often turned the fan off over the bed at night. Beds are very comfortable. Highs each day were in the low to mid-70s, dropping to high 60s at night.
Food is quite good. We're vegetarian, so resort food was a concern. There are several daily specials for lunch and dinner, and the staff made sure there was a vegetarian special at every meal. You can also order from a standard menu, which includes pizza, sandwiches, etc. Everyone staying at the resort thought the food was a highlight. The restaurant and bar staff were wonderful. Although separate tables are available, almost everyone chose to sit at a communal table for all meals.
The diving was amazing. The boats are aluminum hull and not opulent, but they're perfectly fine and roomy. Two boats went out most days when we were there, and the largest group we dove with was eight people with two dive masters. We did three dives some days and two other days. At breakfast or after the morning dives, you just let the staff know if you want to do an afternoon dive or a night dive. As long as two people wanted to dive, the trip went. Boat rides were about 15-20 minutes for most Rainbow Reef sites. Surface intervals were either on the boat or on a nearby beach.
The dive masters were great and got to know all the divers and their preferences quickly. We were there during the Great White Wall, which was very interesting. Our favorite site was Purple Wall, similar in some ways to the White Wall but not quite as sheer. It's covered in purple soft coral (that appears fuchsia under white light) and is gorgeous. Every other site we visited was great as well.
The soft coral was amazing and lived up to its reputation, but in particular we fell in love with the Fijian anemonefish. We saw at least six varieties and saw many species on every dive. We saw quite a few sharks, two grays, two or three blacktips, many whitetips and even a few tuna. Some people on another boat from TDR saw two mantas one day. There were lots of small critters, including nudibranchs, a pygmy seahorse, a tiny ribbon eel, etc.
Overall the diving off Taveuni is best suited for divers with experience in current and surge. Every dive had a good bit of current and several had quite a lot of surge. If you have good buoyancy and are comfortable in current, it's great diving. There were two divers who were less experienced and had quite a few challenges, but the staff handled it well. For us, every dive was 60-65 minutes, although on a few occasions dive masters took some divers to the surface sooner if they ran low on air.
Volivoli Beach Resort
Overall this resort and the diving were fine, but we probably wouldn't return.
The drive to the resort from NAN airport is at least 2.5 hours - good roads, but it's long at fairly slow speeds. As others have reported, the entire resort is rather hilly. We stayed in a Premium vale at the top of the hill which was nice but not fancy and had plenty of space. Views are very nice from many spots around the resort. A/C in the room cut down the humidity quite a bit.
The food was mediocre, and we didn't have anything we considered very good. It was resort food without a great deal of flavor other than salt. The beach bar is a great place to watch very nice sunsets or hang out after dives. But calling this a "beach" resort is a stretch. There's perhaps a 150-yard long, narrow beach with a few lounge chairs and hammocks. The staff throughout the resort was quite nice and very helpful. They were definitely a highlight.
The diving was pretty good, but we didn't like it as much as Taveuni. Visibility wasn't great for most dives, and the boat rides were quite long. It's a solid 45 minutes to the marine park, sometimes longer, and even the closer sites were at least 30 minutes.
Daily dives are either two-tank returning for lunch or three-tank with lunch on the boat. This seems to rotate every day. So if you wanted to do three-tank dives on consecutive days, you're out of luck. We were unaware of the schedule until we arrived, which seemed to be the case for other divers as well. Several divers asked about doing two-tank dives on three-tank days, and the staff told them they could stay on the boat and not do the third dive while others dove.
The boats are pretty large but felt cramped while we were there. The smaller of the two boats took 10-12 people with two dive masters. The larger boat took about 20 divers with four dive masters. In each case, there were quite a few divers in the same area underwater, and at times it felt crowded in the water. The dive masters were fairly personable, good underwater and did a good job pointing out interesting things, particularly smaller things like nudibranchs. They were also accommodating for those who have better air consumption, putting us in the water first so we could dive a full 60 minutes. But you sometimes didn't get much help with cameras, fins, etc. while on the boat.
The diving was similar to Taveuni but was all stationary diving. Several dives were on the lee side of coral pinnacles with current on the edges. The rather odd thing was the lack of larger life. The largest thing we saw were jacks. The coral was in great shape with tons of smaller fish and lots of interesting macro critters, scorpion fish, anemone fish, etc. - all pretty good, but we liked the diving on Taveuni better.
