Dive Review of Nai'a Fiji/Volivoli & NAI'A in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Fiji

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Nai'a Fiji/Volivoli & NAI'A: "FIJI - Combination Land & Liveaboard", Jul, 2024, by Albert Ross, CO, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 13228.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
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	There were only two things bad about this trip. It was raining when first arrived...though it did not last long. The other was leaving. The Fijian people are very welcoming and happy people. We made two land trips into small Fijian villages and the reception from each village was wonderful. More on that later. From the West coast...just one flight. About 11 hours...9.5 on the return. You do cross over the international dateline; so there goes a day a the front end. Fiji sure beats the 4-5 flights plus boat ride you need for diving Indonesia. So if you do a long haul trip to Indonesia...do a 2-3 day layover in Bali. We spent 10 days diving with 3 land base days at the Volivoli Resort and the remainder on the NAI'A Liveaboard. In the time spent at Volivoli; we did 7 dives. Two on the first day, then three and two on the third day. On the third day we also visited the Rewasa village; located not far from Volivoli. Some of the Volivoli staff came from this particular village. We were greeted Fijian fashion with many in the village singing a song of welcome. After the welcome ceremony, we were lead into one of their gathering places and there we elected our King...who would then participate in the KAVA ceremony. Everyone in our group also drank the KAVA. The drinking of KAVA is part of the Fijian culture and not simply a ceremonial thing. We participated numerous evenings over the coarse of our stay. Nothing crazy about KAVA...though you do experience a numbing feeling on your tongue and lips. There is no High associated with the drinking of KAVA. After the KAVA ceremony we went on a hike to a swimming hole with a natural waterslide. Before leaving the village we had an opportunity to make a donation or buy art and jewelry and other trinkets. Back at Volivoli...The main building for dinning, meetings or reading sea creature books is spacious with nice views; was also adjacent to the swimming pool. Nice pool BTW with a swim up bar. There are two places to dine at the resort. One is down by the dive shop, on the beach and serves up appetizers and cocktails. The main dining facility at Volivoli is full service dinning and bar. The staff does a great job making everyone feel right at home. Order off the menu (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Great selections and they can accommodate vegans and vegetarian diets. Volivoli has a variety of bungalows to choose from. Ours was spacious with a large bathroom/shower. Nice sitting area as you enter the the space with a step-up to where you sleep. Unit also had a small kitchen. There are several bungalows with their own swimming pool or that can handle large families. Great views from all around the resort. The first couple of dives were good. Visibility decent and lots of little fish. The second day proved to be better...with a stop on a uninhabited island for lunch. The third dive that day was utter SUCK. It was a wreck with outgoing current and with that current a lot of silt. Visibility was awful...aborted the dive. However the third day of diving was spectacular. We started with Redemption and followed by Fantastic. Visibility was very good...80-100 ft with lots of everything. Schooling fish...small critters, swim throughs and some sharks off below us. It is possible that if you are doing a longer stay on land you could sign up for a long day excursion into the Bligh Waters and do a dive site called E6 or Cathedral...spectacular. Though it is an hour + boat ride both ways. We ended up doing this as part of the liveaboard. One thing my wife and I like to do on these dive trips that have long haul elements to them. Is have some decompression time to get your MoJo in line before the big diving. A tune up at Volivoli was just the right thing before heading off to the NAI'A for seven days. Part of our group (8),of 18 came early to dive Volivoli and the rest joined up for the NAI'A. The advance group got their MoJo in sync prior to the multiple dives off the liveaboard. The NAI"A has an interesting history and was Dutch built. The ship was sold back in the 90's to be refitted as a dive liveaboard. Same owners to this day. Well maintained vessel (steel haul)and like many liveaboards; small rooms. Though they were comfy enough. Your now empty gear bags were store elsewhere so as to not take up space in your room. The kitchen turned out some great dishes the entire week. Also accommodating to vegans and vegetarians. There were plenty of snacks between dives. You did not go hungry. As far as I know the NAI'A is the only Liveaboard operating in Fiji. This made for an excellent diving experience...as we encountered no other dive operations during the seven days. Pretty much had the reefs to ourselves. Fiji being know as the Soft Coral capital of the world...did not disappoint. Overly impressed with the topography and mixture of corals, including hard corals. Many of our safety stops would end on the top of of these coral Bommies...large coral platforms topping out in 15-20 feet of water, with an abundance of fish activity on just about every dive. We did not see any coral bleaching or die off. Due to a typhoon that came through a number of yers ago; you will see some rubble at the bottom of some of the Bommies. The reef however recovered quite well in about eight years time. One of things that made this trip particulary nice; was the boats Dive Directors. Mike Snow (S.Affrica) and Bel (Brazil). They were also great dive guides. Unfortunately they are moving on after three years on the NAI'A. Not sure where they will end up...if you ever cross paths; they will do you right. Two of our dives took us to a manta cleaning station, where we encounter 4 different mantas. Most of the hour + we spent on the first dive had mantas pretty much from the get go til the end of the dive. The second manta dive, though excellent; was about 20-30 minutes of manta activity. Due to our group size; divers were divided into 2 pangas. We would alternate dive sites throughout the day and our guides Bel & Mike would alternate boats. Though if you wanted to switch boats; you could. Most dives were an hour...some even longer on the NAI'A. Though we would see sharks on several of the dives...they were usually swimming below us at depth...100 ft +. We did two shark specific dives at a site called Grand Central Station. Kind of reminded me of Blue Corner in Palau...just without the up-swelling current and the need for reef hooks. Drop down to about 95 ft. on top of this big rising formation coming off the ocean floor. Just hang out and watch the show. This particular dive was done in the afternoon, two days in a row. When it was time to head up, we could ascend through this very large archway. Big enough we could have gotten our entire group of 18 to poise for a photo...But then that would be like herding cats. We saw tremendous amounts of Anthias on most dives. They were everywhere. All sorts of wrasses...Triggerfish, puffers, small critters, cleaning stations, schooling barracuda, about 8-10 different butterflyfish, Jellyfish, weird stuff I have never seen before. Pigmy sea horse...I could actually see it. NOT! I needed my cameras magnifier and I hoped I had the lens centered (I did). We had a brief encounter with a couple of whales...blowing their spouts...and then they were gone. Not sure what kind. We had nice sunsets, several rainbows and lots of stars. The water was on the cool side and the air temps were in the mid to upper 70s. Most divers used 5 mil. Some with 3 mil plus layers and maybe a hood. Morning dives I might go without hood and by after noon on dive #s 3 & 4, add the hood. Though the NAI'A is an older ship, is in good order with all the safety features, escape hatches (which the crew goes over) night watch and good area for charging devices. The top deck has some lounge chairs and is a nice place to chill. If I compare this to other liveaboards...Not as nice as say the Black Pearl 1 in Palau or the Arenui...but not some run down wooden ship that looks more pirate than a home away from home. Besides you are there for the diving and that is top notch. Once you rigged out your dive set up; you pretty much do not have to handle until time to put it on. Dive crew loaded and removed your gear after each dive. All refills were done at the back of the boat and where divers would load on to the Pangas. Very efficient. Some of the memorable reefs were E6 & Cathedral, Mellow Yellow & Coral Corner, Rainbow Wall, Kansas, Magic Mushroom, Undenaiable and Humann Nature. On Volivoli, Redemption & Fantastic. All in all, a great trip. One that we would do again. Next time I would consider 10 days on the NAI"A. With just seven days, I feel you are finally hitting your groove by the third day and then you are going home before you know it. Though I must say splitting time between the land based operation and a liveaboard; at least gives you the chance to experience the locals. What time is it? IT'S KAVA TIME!
Websites	Nai'a Fiji Volivoli & NAI'A
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia (Wakatobi & Raja Ampat), Philippines, Cuba, Roatan, Belize, Bonaire, Curacao, Similan Islands, Cozumel, Turks & Caicos, Cayman Islands, Mediterranean, Great Lakes, Florida, Vancouver Island, Catalina Island, Costa Rica, Galapagos and Saint Lucia.
Closest Airport	Nadi	Getting There	Denver Los Angeles...LA to Fiji.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	76-77°F / 24-25°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	NONE
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	1 or 2
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	Volivoli had a spacious camera room located next to the dive shop. separate cubby's (12) for each person. Plenty of electrical outlets. Air compressor for drying off camera gear. Dive boats did have a separate tub for cameras. No other room on board for other camera needs. The NAI'A liveaboard has a separate room for cameras; just off the main dive deck. Double shelf...cameras on top, extra gear underneath. Also plenty of outlets for charging. Bring a power strip. Seems these days everyone has a camera...even if is just their phone. So outlets can get taken rather quickly. Compressed air for drying cameras. This space not as roomy as at Volivoli...certainly works. Room for big rigs down to GoPros and I-Phones.

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Dive Review of Nai'a Fiji/Volivoli & NAI'A in Fiji and Tuvalu/Fiji

Nai'a Fiji/Volivoli & NAI'A: "FIJI - Combination Land & Liveaboard", Jul, 2024,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Nai'a Fiji/Volivoli & NAI'A in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Fiji