Dive Review of Nai'a Fiji in
Fiji and Tuvalu

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Nai'a Fiji: "Good Trip except for the accident", May, 2024, by John kirkenir, NJ, US ( Contributor 17 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 12949 has 3 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Nai’a is a 35 year old vessel. It’s showing it’s age but is freshly painted and well maintained. It’s docked in a seaport about an hour drive from Nadi airport. Transport was provided by ship. Let’s start off with the accident and get that over with. On the first day of the 8 day trip we got to the boat about 2:30pm and stowed our gear and got a briefing about the boat and the trip. We then sailed about an hour from the dock and did a check out dive. This was a good idea but we were all very tired after traveling 24 hours from Philadelphia. The boat went back to the dock to get some supplies and to have dinner. The plan was to get underway around 10:30pm and travel until about 6 am to the first dive sites. We awoke to find out that the boat had run aground around 11:30pm. There was a well marked channel with lit channel markers we could see that were about 1000 feet off the starboard side. The crew checked out the boat and there appeared to be minimal damage but we were stuck on the reef until 11 am when the tide came back in and a tug boat could come and pull us off the reef. The plan then was to return to the dock and have a surveyor check the boat over before we could resume our trip. We were taken to a botanical garden called the Gardens of the Sleeping Giant. We got back to the boat around 3:30 pm and were cleared to resume our trip. Running aground is no small matter in my opinion. All kinds of real bad things could have happened. The communication with the passengers was very poor and sketchy. At no point during the accident or after did the Captain address the passengers at all. This was really bad form. The Cruise Director/Divemaster Mike was sent in to let us know that the the boat was good to go and the issue is behind us. When pressed for details on what happened a vague and bogus explanation of a bad GPS overlay was given. When asked how the person driving the boat missed the lit channel markers the answer was it’s behind us now and he immediately the galley. Discussion over. During the whole week the Captain never engaged the passengers or offered an apology or explanation. I hope some kind of investigation is done so this can’t happen again. Now to better things. The diving in Fiji was amazing. I have never seen reefs so healthy and colorful or such a variety or abundance of fish life. Fantastic. The diving is all done from skiffs. They are rigid bottom inflatables. There are two of them Lucky Lefty (port side) and Mighty Righty (starboard). Getting in and out of the skiff when seas are rough can be a little tricky, but the crew is very helpful and there were no incidents. The BCD rigs are all set up once and the crew fills them and puts them on the skiff before each dive. During the ride to the reef divers get their fins and masks on. Once at the site the crew helps you get the BCD on and when everyone is ready the boat moves into final position and a backward roll all at the same time gets you into the water. After the dive there are ropes on the side of the skiff to hold onto while you pass up your gear to the captain. Then you can either pull yourself up and over the side or climb up the ladder in the stern. Good system and easy to get used to. The only problem we had was that the gear does get manhandled roughly. Four passengers on our trip had weight pocket assemblies on their Aqualung Outlaw BCD’s knocked off during the week. They get caught on the rope and when yanked over the side the whole assembly falls off. The Nai’a did not charge us for the weights we lost thankfully. That would be salt in the wound. We had a windy week with some choppy seas but not much current. The visibility was usually 50-60 feet with a lot of particles in the water. One dive at Grand Central Station (the deepest of the week at around 100ft) had the best visibility of the week. Also had the biggest fish. Sharks, Tuna and Barracuda in big numbers. We did see a couple big mantas on one dive. They were at a cleaning station and hung around for a few minutes. Overall, the diving is nice and easy. The divemasters Mike, Bel, Mo and Semi do a very good job leading the dives. You don’t have to follow them if you don’t want to. Just do your dive and come up with 500 psi in your tank. The Skiffs hang around the dive site and pick you up when you surface. You need to all have a surface marker buoy. Dives last no longer than one hour. The dive schedule is pretty tight. The day starts at 5:30am with a continental breakfast. The first dive is 7 am. On return to the boat breakfast is served at 8:30. The second dive is at 10 am. Lunch is served at 11:30. The third dive is at 1 pm followed by a snack at 2:30. Dive 4 starts at 4 pm and dinner is at 6 pm. There were 2 night dives our week at 7:30 pm in a protected cove. The galley is set up with a couple long tables and some comfortable chairs to relax in. Food was prepared by chef Vili and served by the amazing Anna. She is also the Purser but baked and served all our meals. Wine and beer are complimentary during dinner until the dessert plates are removed. Other times you need to pay for them. There is also hard liquor available and mixers. Drink prices are very reasonable and paid at the end of the trip. The cabins are typical of SCUBA liveaboards small but comfortable. Each cabin has it’s own water closet, shower and sink. It is a little noisy when underway at night, so I recommend earplugs. The crew honored us with a kava ceremony one night. They sang and we drank kava. Not my favorite drink (not the crews either) but it was great fun. Very talented group of people. I would have liked to get to know the crew better, but we really didn’t interact with them much other than the divemasters. I want to add a compliment to Mike our Divemaster/Cruise Director. He was put in a tough position with the grounding and handled himself as well as could be expected. He is a great divemaster and gear repair man. He fixed a leak I had on my BCD and helped with many other small issues people had with gear. Overall, the trip was a good one. The diving was incredible. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The accident did cast a shadow over the trip though and the way it was communicated left much to be desired. At the end of the week, we were all given a $250 credit on our final bills as some attempt at compensation. We lost a day due to negligence on a six-day diving trip. The credit didn’t come close to the cost of one day lost but something, I guess.
Websites	Nai'a Fiji
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Cozumel, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Florida, curaçao, Bermuda, North Carolina, Aruba, Curacao, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Fiji, Turks Caicos, Cayman Islands
Closest Airport	Nadi	Getting There	Phl to LAX. Then LAX to Nadi (10.5 hours)
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	81-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	500 PSI back in boat
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 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	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Nai'a Fiji in Fiji and Tuvalu

Nai'a Fiji: "Good Trip except for the accident", May, 2024,

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 in
Fiji and Tuvalu