Dive Review of Aqua-Trek/The Pearl Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Veti Levu - Pacific Harbour

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Aqua-Trek/The Pearl Resort, Jun, 2010, by Mike Cavanaugh, TX, US ( Contributor 12 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 5559.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I will address the resort and the dive outfit separately as they are independent of one another but on the same grounds. Pearl Resort - The resort was moderately furnished but had all the essentials of home. The A/C worked great. The grounds were very nice and there were many different kinds of plants to see if you explored a little bit. The SPA was easy to book and the services were about a 7 out of 10 ranking. The food was always good and the menu selection was pretty good. There were theme nights so you have to pay attention to the restaurant program. We were asked for bookings but never required one to be seated. Continental breakfast was good with plenty of fruit and non-fruit selections. Cost of food was high but there was little alternative for finding places to eat without additional expense of travelling to another restaurant. The dive operation was basically a "shark feed" dive which ran 4 days a week. The dive operation ran soft coral dives but cancelled many days because they didn't have the minimum required divers to make the dive run. We were told that our 2 tank soft coral dive was cancelled on the first day but they were willing to double up the next soft coral day and we were offered 4 tank dives. We were only able to complete 3 of the 4 due to fatigue (currents). I won't go into the ethics of shark feeds but if you want to see lots of sharks Aqua Trek is worth the trip. We dove 2 days (4 dives total) and saw many Bulls, Nurse, Silky & reef sharks. We did not see any tigers. Aqua Trek was very accommodating to me with the underwater video housing and placed me in an optimum position 3 of the 4 dives for shooting video. I have never gotten so close to such large bulls in any other previous shark dives so this was a 10 out of 10 for me. The dive staff was very attentive and helpful and did a fantastic job given the crowded conditions both on the boat and at the dive site. The one day we went on the soft coral dive we were the only two divers and Capt Billy and Joseph treated us like gold. Nitrox is not available as it has become a financial hassle for the dive shop to maintain for spot request. The nitrox is partial pressure mixed and maintaining the Oxy bottles is problematic for Aqua Trek. Personally I would have preferred to dive with Nitrox as the dives were 80' & 60' respectively and we were on a 3 week dive trip. The only complaint I have about Aqua Trek is the crowded conditions on the boat (19-20 divers) and the crowded conditions at the shark feed site (2nd boat resulting in 30+ divers). The dives are run like a well oiled machine but there is clearly opportunity for bad things to happen with that many people in the water. There appeared to be some political turf battle between the Aqua Trek and Bega dive boats as well as Aqua Trek and Adventure Divers in Pacific Harbour. Normally I would not make mention of the politics but they were obvious enough to be noticed by many. The only complaint I have about Fiji is the excess baggage fees levied by Pacific Air on the return trip. We carried all our own dive gear and had 2 bags each. Excess baggage fees were expected but Pacific Air wanted to charge $1000.00 for the 2 excess bags from Nadi to Perth. I pitched a fit to no avail and then demanded to only have my bags checked to Sydney. When I got to Sydney Qantas waived the bag fees to Perth. I won't go back to Fiji because of the excess baggage issues. Overall I would give the diving experience an 8 out of 10 and would highly recommend Fiji as a place to explore.
Websites	Aqua-Trek
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Austrailasia
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	cloudy	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	78-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive time
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	The boat was suited for no more than 18-20 divers and there were no provisions for any photography equipment belonging to divers. The boat crew was happy to assist divers with photo or video equipment on and off the boat but there was no place to store the gear between dives

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Dive Review of Aqua-Trek/The Pearl Resort in Fiji and Tuvalu/Veti Levu - Pacific Harbour

Aqua-Trek/The Pearl Resort, Jun, 2010,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Aqua-Trek/The Pearl Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Veti Levu - Pacific Harbour