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Went to Beqa Lagoon in Oct of 02. Diving was good, resort was nice, but not overpriced. Very comfortable. We had divers, fishermen, and surfers. The only comment I heard about surfing was that it was intense as compared to here in SoCal. Since they were surfing several miles from shore (where he waves broke on the reef), if you wiped out you could float a long way!
Do a search on my user name for past posts, I've been to Fiji 3 times in the last 5 years.
Taveuni at Maravu resort was nice. Great Great food and good diving.
I've also stayed on the gold coast half way between Nadi and SavuSavu at a couple different resorts (great if you have kids), (hideaway resort and the Naviti) and twice on Beqa Island, but I prefer Kulu Bay Resort over Beqa lagoon resort on the island. Kulu bay is QUAINT and only has 7-8 bures RIGHT on the beach, there might be 20 people max there and they have top notch brand new dive boats.
Beqa Lagoon resort might have 100 people there at once, but is more a family resort with a big bar and other family activities. Last time 3 out of their 5 cattle boats were broke down and they kept asking Kulu Bay resort to put divers on their boats, no thanks.
do a search on my name for photos and other past stories.
I did a surf/dive trip to Fiji 5 years ago. I researched quite a bit , and found a resort on Viti Levu that catered to both. It is primarily a surfing resort with access to about 6 spots that are a short boat ride(5-10 min.) from the resort. When I was there, the resort was the only people surfing these breaks.
They also have a small dive op. My wife and I were the only ones diving, and , had them at our disposal. The diving was great. the name of the place was Waidroka resort.
We also went to a small Island off of Kandavu called Nagigia resort. They have 2 breaks that they surf.One is a really fun left right out front. This is also primarily a surf resort. At that time they contracted the diving out to dive Kadavu. they were awesome. They really like to cater to this resort, because, the best diving in the island is right out front.
The divng here was the best we have done anywhere. The snorkelling here was better than a lot of places we have dove. It is more expensive than the main island, but, well worth it...
Hope this helps....
Hey dashark,
Thanks for the info...That's a pity I know that now, my daughter is a learning surfer, she would have really enjoyed the place.. unfortunately I have already booked our Kadavu stay at Waisalima, the other end of the island.
That said, I'm not sure the best diving is located in the west end, near Nagigia : the famous Naiqoro passage on Great Astrolabe Reef is sitting just in front of Waisalima resort, that's mostly why I booked there. A legendary dive, it seems.
You did good. Kadavu is great. I believe the astralobe reef extends over towards Nagigia if my memory is correct, it ends there. I am sure you will get some great diving in. There is also a good surf break on the NE side of the island that I got real good when I was there. Not sure of the spelling. Waitatoka? Real fun right.
As far as the surf lessons at Nagigia for your daughter, the only disapointed people on the island were those that came for lessons. at the time,the teacher wasn't very good himself. He was more interested in being a water hazard at the breaks with us than teaching. Not sure if that has changed, i think they have new owners.
Let me know how the diving is on the other side. We really want to go back. Take a side trip to some of the villiages on the island. When we went 5 years ago, it was still pretty primitive, and the villiagers were wonderful. If they give you the opportunity to dive the sites at Nagigia, check them out...
My wife and daughter and I recently returned from a three week trip to Fiji. We first went to the Papageno resort on the island of Kadavu. ([URL="http://www.papagenoresortfiji.com"]www.papagenoresortfiji.com[/URL]) It was a very nice resort and there were things to do other than SCUBA dive. There were probably 20 people staying there when we were there. In the literature it said that they had NITROX available, but in fact according to one employee the Nitrox equipment hadn't worked for about nine months - a little disappointing, but not that big of a deal. I would rate the diving is pretty good, not great. The people running the diving operation were very nice and accommodating, as are all the employees of the resort. It is really off the beaten track. If you want to be incommunicado for a while, I recommend this place. Our most enjoyable trip, was a snorkeling trip to see manta rays which tended to congregate around an island about a 45 minute boat ride from the resort. The manta rays were very accommodating and we had a great time. Of course, this was an extra costs deal. We also saw some giant clams at another stop on our boat ride back.
We left there and flew back to the main island of Viti Levu and the Waidroka Bay Surf and Dive Resort (http://waidroka.com/). There were only eight people staying there after we arrived (five Germans and the three of us). It is owned and run by an Israeli named Boris. He was originally from Germany and has spent time working in the US. His English was impeccable, and I guess his German was to. He was an excellent dive master, the best that I have experienced. I really enjoyed talking to him - a very interesting fellow. Once again the diving was good, in my opinion better than Kadavu. In this particular area there are four dive operators who three times a week have a “shark dive”. They bring three big garbage cans full of chum and meet in a particular location in the ocean. The three of us and an Italian, along with Boris went on one of these dives. We were ready in just a few minutes whereas we probably had to wait a half an hour to 45 minutes while the big dive operators got their divers organized. Once in the water we formed a conga line and watched (95 feet then again after an hour wait at 55 feet) while the dive masters fed the sharks and thousands of other fish that showed up. There were big bull sharks, black and white tipped reef sharks, nurse sharks, and one spectacular 15 foot tiger shark showed up. As a matter of fact he came within a few inches of my nose as I first saw him. Also a 5 foot grouper showed up. Those fish have big mouths when they open wide. He sucked in a big chunk of chum meant for the sharks. We used the rest of our air examining a shipwreck nearby and beautiful coral reefs. They had a very nice swimming pool at this resort.
I did a total of 29 dives on the trip.
This is the rainy season in Fiji and we had a few days when it was overcast and rainy, but in general the weather was good - very hot and muggy.
My experience was the opposite. I thought the diving off of waidroka was good and the diving off of the area i stayed in Kadavu was amazing. we were told that area was were the best diving was on that island, for what thats worth.
Contact Subsurface Fiji which is a dive outfit that services some of the island resorts off the northwest of the main island of Viti Levu. They'll be able to help you with some tips.
smfcpacfp, thanks for your report (and for your private message too ...) dashark, no probs, I will revert and inform as soon as I'm back, mid march. nzm, I had spotted Matana as my first choice beachwise but that was really too expensive... though I'm sure that's one of the best choices on the island!
(btw, seems Fijis have been badly hit by a cyclone 2 days ago,)
PS : Thomas, retourne chez p.com... tu t'es perdu ou quoi?
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