Wananavu in Fiji for two weeks in June 05

[roundrockdiver]

Hello all....After considering Palau..I have found a better deal which includes some meals (about 4,000.00 cheaper) in Fiji at the Wananavu Resort. It Will be June of 05 with both my wife and two kids. Boys ages 14 and 9. Looking forward to decompressing from the working life. I had questions for anyone that had stayed at this resort and had dove with their dive operation. I know that just across the way a diver was lost (Dan....I have been watching the thread closely) but was wondering how the diving was there.....ie..currents..vis..critters. Also, any info re what else there is to do so far out on the island would be good. What is the weather like in June. Also...water temp. WE have dove the the carribiean the past 5 years and would like to know how it compares to Fiji.

What is the beach like at the resort. What are the best drinks. ECT......

Any info would be helpful..

Thanks.

Matt

:06:

 

[CaribQueen]

Beach is minimal at best. Resort is exposed to much wind. Nothing in area except resort. With Dan Grenier missing...not sure if Crystal Divers is a happening thing. The "other" dive op in area is not nearly as good as Dan's operation. I would think twice about going to this area for diving...don't get me wrong...the diving is most excellent in the Vatu-I-Ra channel and even the fringing reefs are descent, but only if dive op is up to snuff. Booze is mucho $$$ at resort. Buy rum at airport. Get the "good" stuff as the Fijian Rum is gasoline!!

 

[donacheson]

Hello all....After considering Palau..I have found a better deal which includes some meals (about 4,000.00 cheaper) in Fiji at the Wananavu Resort. It Will be June of 05 with both my wife and two kids. Boys ages 14 and 9. Looking forward to decompressing from the working life. I had questions for anyone that had stayed at this resort and had dove with their dive operation. I know that just across the way a diver was lost (Dan....I have been watching the thread closely) but was wondering how the diving was there.....ie..currents..vis..critters. Also, any info re what else there is to do so far out on the island would be good. What is the weather like in June. Also...water temp. WE have dove the the carribiean the past 5 years and would like to know how it compares to Fiji.

What is the beach like at the resort. What are the best drinks. ECT......

Any info would be helpful..

Thanks.

Matt

:06:

Unlike the other respondent, I happen to like Wananavu a lot. The food's fine; service is great; the accomodations (bures) spacious, clean, and well-maintained; the view from the deck for all meals spectacular; and drinks reasonable.

There are, I believe, now two diver operators running out of Wananavu - Ra Divers and Kai Viti Divers - since Crystal Divers began operating as Bamboo Reef Divers out of Bamboo Beach Resort on the island, Nananu-I-Ra, about a kilometer off of Wananavu. In the past, Ra Divers tended to dive the "inshore" reefs, but does go out to the passage. I know, based on the report of a friend who just returned from Wananavu, that Kai Viti regularly dives the sites along the edges of the passage between the two big islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

I've dived both the inshore and the passage (Vatu-I-Ra) sites many times. The inshore sites are coral bommies rising off a relatively shallow (60-80 feet) bottom, generally with only good visibility, but very varied with beautiful soft corals and little critters (nudibranches, shrimp, etc.) to be seen. These sites can have currents. The passage sites often have strong currents, but can offer a remarkable combination of sharks, jacks, and tuna on the hunt as well as little critters and soft and hard corals. My favorite site: Black Magic Mountain.

In short, let either dive operator get a look at you and your diving skills and determine what sites you can handle.

Enjoy the Bligh Water - you'll find it the best, or among the best, diving in the world.

 

[reubencahn]

Stayed at the resort in August of '03 with my wife and son. The resort is nice, just a step below luxury. Food is okay, too many sauces but otherwise good. No real beach but there is a pool and some deck chairs down on the shore. You can snorkle there but there's not much else to do. That was fine by us. Our son made friends with the owner's son and some of the staff's kids and hung with them after diving so he was quite happy. We dove with Crystal Divers but diving at Wananavu has not been with Crystal Divers aka Bamboo Reef Divers since sometime earlier this year or late last year. Dan's old partners, with whom he had a falling out, are running an operation there called Kaiviti Divers which has gotten some good reviews. See echeng.com. However, given the choice, I would much prefer to dive with Dan, Alisi, Joji, Alfi, etc. of Crystal Divers. I'm assuming that Bamboo Reef Divers will keep going because that resort has spent a lot of money getting started and needs a dive op. I'm hoping if Dan isn't found, Alisi, etc. will continue to run the op. The first week we dove with Crystal Divers, Dan wasn't around but the op and diving was still great. Incidentally, I understand that Wananavu itself has just been sold. I don't know if that means any changes in store.

As for the diving in the Bligh Waters, it is fantastic. You'll see all the things you don't see in the Caribbean. Maybe it's not as biodiverse as PNG or Indonesia but I thought the diving was excellent. Healthy reefs, lots of soft coral, lots of Indopacific tropicals. Not a lot of big stuff but otherwise great. Water in August was 75 degrees. Lots of strong currents but manageable. The site where Dan went missing did have some very nasty currents including down currents. In sum, I'd love to go back.

 

[roundrockdiver]

Thank you for all the info. We will be diving with KaiViti. I have heard good things about them and Julie. As far as the resort being sold, it was sold to the previous owners friends who are also from New Zealand. All staff remains the same.

Thank you so much.

Matt

 

[reubencahn]

Thank you for all the info. We will be diving with KaiViti. I have heard good things about them and Julie. As far as the resort being sold, it was sold to the previous owners friends who are also from New Zealand. All staff remains the same.

Thank you so much.

Matt

The resort staff was great so you should be able to count on having a good trip.

 

[ielgb]

Hi Matt,

My wife and I stayed at Wananavu in April this year as part of our honeymoon. The accommodation was very nice, as were the staff, but the food was mostly average and the choices a bit limited, especially compared to the other places we stayed in Fiji. There is no beach as such at Wananavu, despite being called a "Beach resort" and the non-diving activities were quite limited. Stocking up on a bottle or two of duty free at the airport is definitely a good idea if you are on a budget.

The diving was however absolutely excellent, so if that is what you are looking for you will have a good trip. We dived out in Bligh waters with Dan/Crystal Divers and saw some very healthy reefs and hard corals as good as I have seen and on par with the GBR/Coral Sea. As with some other parts of Fiji, we were surprised by low numbers of fish and bigger stuff, although I don't know how much of that is seasonal/luck of the draw, but there is lots of small stuff and reef fish to make every dive special.

It was a long boat ride out to the sites - around 1:15-1:30 each way, and the seas were quite rough so be prepared! You do have an option of closer inshore sites which we didn't try, but are supposed to still be good. We had originally booked with KaiViti divers, but when we got there they didn't have a boat. Luckily Crystal had space for us at last minute notice. As we had planned our honeymoon months in advance we were very disappointed with KaiViti not being up front with us so we could make alternative arrangements. I expect they have sorted out their teething problems by now though.

We ended up cutting our stay at Wananavu short as my wife got sea sick on the long and bumpy boat rides, and with the lack of non diving options and average food, we wanted to find somewhere better to hang out. If you have an extra day or two (or more), I would definitely recommend where we headed, which has a very special shark dive on offer: on the Coral Coast (S.Viti Levu), near Pacific Harbour we dived with Aqua Trek at Shark Fin Reef. The DM's hand feed around a dozen 10 ft Bull Sharks, Nurse Sharks, and sometimes a Tiger (unfortunately not this time though). There is also a huge shoal of Giant Trevally fighting for any scraps. Its definitely a very exciting dive site. Even on our safety stop were surrounded by grey reef sharks, and two large Manta cruised by. The reef was in poor condition and the Vis not too great as it had been raining a lot and the site is close to the shore (5 mins boat ride). We heard there are some other excellent sites in the area, but unfortunately our time was up.

Ian

 

[alashas]

Hi Matt,

We (3 families, 11 novice divers, 3 non-divers) are also looking at Fiji in June '05, but are not yet ready to dive the drift and/or deeper dives. We are looking at the shallower reef dives at some of the more "family oriented" resorts in the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands, and are also looking at a 4 day/3 night criuse on Blue Lagoon Cruises (which also says they can offer scuba, but they are not live-aboard dive boats). We are also looking at 2 weeks, and have been encouraged to stay at more than one place by others who've been to Fiji. A few days at one of these options might help keep the boys happy. Cheers!

 

[Code Monkey]

I, too, really enjoyed Wannanavu and Kai-Viti divers. My wife, 16 year old diving daughter and I just got back about a month ago and the diving was great! We saw lotsa' neat fish, bunches of nudibranchs, and some really beautiful coral. Check out our pix (some are from Beqa lagoon off the south coast of Viti Levu and some are from the Bligh waters where we dove with Mike at Kai-Viti) at http://travel.adventure101.com/fiji. Mike is a fun guy, he goes to some excellent dive sites, and his wife make good cake for the surface intervals.

I hope you go and enjoy it as much as we did! If you do, say "hi" to Essa (one of his crew) for us!

 

[aka_diver]

Hi Matt,

I'm also another Wananavu fan. I've meet the new owner and he plans on contining the operaton pretty much as is othere then possibly adding some more Bures. When we last taked he planned on keeping the same staff. In fact Sara was to continue managing the property.

The first time I stayed I dove with Crystal Divers and had a great time. Dan was leaving for stateside the day we arrived so I never got the chance to dive with him. My second trip I dove with Kia Viti and Ra Divers. I was scheduled to make all the dives with Kia Viti but their new boat had not arrived.

Ra Divers have some good staff and they took us out farther then they normaly go. Some of the inner sites are better then others.
During my 3rd week the Kia Viti boat arrived. Mike, Julie and Sethe really went out of there way for me. For the whole week I was the only diver with them. We went out to the Bligh waters when ever the weather allowed.

I will be returning for my third trip to Wanananvu in March / April 2006. Diving with Kia Viti.

Enjoy your stay and tell the staff at Wananavu and Kia Viti Ken says hi.