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Dive Review of Matava in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Kadavu

Matava, Jun, 2011,

by Elizabeth Crapo, ID, US (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 9 reports). Report 6414.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling 3 stars
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 2 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments After you take a Twin Otter from Nadi, resort personnel will pick you up at the Kadavu airport for the hour-plus boat ride to Matava. The resort is "off the grid," and is accessible only by boat. Bures (bungalows) have no electricity but you get a gas lantern to use after the sun goes down. The bures have hot water, mosquito nets and nice beds. You are summoned to meals by a drum, and everything is served family style. The food was very good, and the staff was always cheerful and helpful.
The diving was great as well. It is often tide/current dependent. A couple were just OK, but most of them were great. The reef is healthy, mostly hard coral, but some sites have soft corals as well. There was a site just outside the lagoon where manta rays regularly hang out.
They have a cool topside excursion where you go to a Fijian village and a waterfall. It's a double waterfall, where you have to scramble up the first one with the help of the locals to a pool below the second one, which is in what you could almost call a cave. It's one of the best waterfalls I've ever seen. The local boys entertain you by jumping from the cliffs. If you are into fishing, the resort does fishing charters as well. There's a reef in front of the resort where you can snorkel or dive at high tide, as well as a small island with a nice beach.
I had a great time at Matava and would love to go back. Great diving, great staff, beautiful resort. If you like the idea of really getting away from it all, in a low-environmental-impact type of place, you will probably like it here as well. If you insist on an infinity pool and nonfat soy-milk lattes, maybe not.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Palau, Yap, Chuuk, Guam, Bali, Dominica, Roatan, Bermuda, French Polynesia, Key West
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, cloudy Seas calm, choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp 80-85°F / 27-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions [Unspecified]
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Bring extra batteries if you can. Matava is "off the grid," and they don't always run the generator. I was always able to get my battery charged, but I would have felt better having a backup.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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