Dive Review of
Jean Michel Cousteau in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Savusavu

Thailan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Roatan, Bonaire, Cozumel, Flower Gardens

Dive Conditions

Depth limits were given for each dive, and in general we followed the
divemaster's profile.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

The Cousteau Resort is gorgeous and lush, and the accommodations and food
are outstanding.  The service from the Fijian staff is wonderful -- very
warm and accommodating.  We had a one-year-old with us, and the set-up was
ideal: private nanny all day long for any child under 5 years, and an
outstanding "Bula" camp for other kids.  Adult areas, and adults
with kids areas, are kept separate.  We definitely gave up something on the
diving in order to stay at Cousteau -- you would get much better diving on
a liveaboard in Fiji, and better land-based diving at resorts like
Wananavu. The diving on the farther-out sites at Cousteau (45-60 minutes)
like Namena and Nosomisomi Passage was outstanding, but the boats are
dependent on the weather in order to go, so if you ran into some bad
weather, they would be inaccessible.  The diving in Savusavu Bay ranges
from good to great, but the area is definitely overfished.  We saw very few
pelagics, and the number of fish in general was a lot less than Palau or
PNG.  But the coral was excellent.  Cousteau had problems with their big
boat halfway through the week, so we switched to their smaller boat, which
is also very fast but not as comfortable.  The dive staff was great and was
very accommodating about diving whenever we wanted to.  There were probably
only about 10 divers total at the resort, so the service was very custom. 
Luckily, we knew that the water temp would be colder than we were used to
because it was Fiji's winter, so we brought extra protection.  The women
wore from 6-8mm, and the men from 3-6mm, and we were OK.  The air temp
during the day was quite warm, and the evenings were cool. Our overall
experience was just outstanding.  A dream vacation for a family with any
kids along or with some divers and some non-divers.  There is plenty to do
for non-divers: snorkeling, sea kayaking, small sailboats, hiking through
the rainforest, village visit, gorgeous pool and beach, etc.  We booked our
trip through Kirsten Treias at Reef and Rainforest, who did her usual
excellent job of answering myriad questions and booking complicated
arrangments.  




































 

Questions?
Send an email to the author of this report

What others have to say about Undercurrent
And get immediate access to ALL 248 dive reviews of Fiji and Tuvalu
and all other dive destinations immediately!