Dive Review of Paradise Taveuni in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Taveuni

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Paradise Taveuni: "Nice Resort, Wonderful People, Excellent Dive Operation, Good Diving", May, 2024, by Hugh Aaron, FL, US ( Top Contributor 30 reports with 30 Helpful votes). Report 12986.
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
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	TRIP OVERVIEW Note: This trip overview is the same for my reviews of both Paradise Taveuni (this review) and Oneta Resort (reviewed separately). The other sections of this review are specific to the particular resort/dive operation being reviewed. We spent about three weeks in Fiji in late April and early May, 2024. We booked all our flights on one ticket, which is easy to do with Fiji Airways. That is important because the more generous international baggage allowances apply to all flights, including all inter-island flights if the inter-island flights are booked on the same itinerary as the international flights. We initially flew into Nadi (pronounced “Nandi”) on the overnight flight from San Francisco. Nadi is Fiji’s international airport. It is on Viti Levu, the largest of the Fijian islands, which some Fijian’s call the “mainland.” Interestingly, Nadi is not the capital. The Capital is Suva, which is on the opposite side of Viti Levu. We spent four days in Nadi at the Platinum Cawa Apartments near the airport. We booked our apartment through Booking.com. The apartments are huge and the location is great for exploring the area. But it is not near the beach. We rented a car and toured Nadi and the surrounding area on our own. Highlights were touring the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, hiking in the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park and the guided tour of the Tavuni Hill Fort remains near Sigatoka. Our Verizon Ultimate Unlimited Plan seemed to work fine in Fiji. However, that plan is limited to 10 gb of international data per month. While in Nadi, we visited the Digicel store where we purchased secondary e-Sims for our iPhones. For less than $25 US per phone we each got 225 gb of the fastest data that Digicel offered. After that, we hardly ever connected to Wifi anywhere as Digicel generally seemed faster. TAVEUNI ISLAND OVERVIEW Taveuni is north of Viti Levu, the main island. Taveuni is the third largest island in Fiji. The flight from Nadi to Taveuni takes about 90 minutes and passes over some beautiful scenery. Taveuni’s small airport is on the northern tip of the island in an area called Matei. There are a few small hotels in the Matei area and at least one dive operation. Most of the tourists sites are on the central east coast of the island including the Bouma National Heritage Park. We never made it to the eastern side of the island as it is a long and bumpy truck ride from the south end of the island where Paradise Taveuni is located. But if we had more time, we would have dedicated a day to see the rest of the island, including the eastern side. PARADISE TAVEUNI OVERVIEW Paradise Taveuni is located on the west coast of Taveuni near the southern end of the island. A driver from Paradise was waiting for us when we landed. He loaded our gear into a truck and drove us to the resort. It is about a 45 minute ride. The road is only paved on the northern half of the island. The drive passes though several small villages and through the Somosomo area, which is the largest developed area on the island with several small grocery stores and various other businesses. Paradise is located in a fenced compound with a manned entrance. There is a small restaurant/bakery on the grounds just before the resort entrance. The restaurant/bakery is popular with the staff and other local people. We enjoyed the cakes and ice cream, probably a bit more frequently than we should have. Paradise is located on the water facing west. The location on the west side of the island is important because all of the diving is done on the Rainbow Reef which is located in Somosomo Straits between the western coast of Taveuni and the eastern coast of Vanua Levu. Vanua Levu, the second largest Fijian island, is visible from Paradise. The Paradise grounds are well maintained with manicured lawn areas, coconut trees and tropical plants everywhere. There are multiple covered pavilions with comfortable chairs for lounging. There is also a large pool, suitable for dive training, overlooking the Somosomo Straits. The west facing location provides nice sunset views; however, it can get very hot and humid in the afternoon, even in the covered pavilions with the fans on. The reception area, main dining area and dive shop are all located in the same building. The reception and dining areas are under roof with open air sides. Those areas are generally comfortable but can be hot and humid depending on the breeze. The flies in the dining area can be obnoxious, again depending on the breeze. There is no beach. However, there is jetty where the dive boats pick up and drop off guests. The jetty provides easy access (down some stairs) to the house reef for swimming, snorkeling or diving. The area around Paradise at the southern end of the island is sparsely populated. There are no stores or other amnesties. Just some schools and small villages. Other than one short walk in the area, the only time we left the Paradise ground was to visit an area on the southern tip of the island called the “blowhole” where the waves crashing into the rocky shore create a blowhole effect. We took the public bus (local currency only). The bus was probably not much faster than walking because the bus traveled to some very remote areas before finally arriving at the blowhole. We were going to walk back to the resort but the bus came back by so we jumped back on. We were happy to be back on the bus. The walk would have been challenging due to the heat and lack of places to get water. While the blowhole is quite scenic, the highlight of our outing was having an opportunity to chat with local people and seeing some of the more remote areas of the island. Taveuni, which is sometimes referred to as Fiji’s Garden Island, looks and feels like a rainforest. It rained a lot while were were there. However, the rain had minimal impact on the diving or resort operations. The resort is “off the grid.” They make their own power using generators that appear to run 24 hours a day (although the power would occasionally cycle on and off as they switched generators). ACCOMMODATIONS, FOOD AND AMENITIES There are a total of 16 cottages (called bures or vales) in about 7 different categories, based on size, location and amenities. We were in an “Oceanfront Bure.” We had a separate bedroom with a king size bed, a living room with a sofa, an indoor bathroom with a shower, and a private outdoor area with a shower and soaking tub. There was also a large front porch with multiple seating areas. The bedroom had a mini-split A/C with remote control. We were told when we checked in that the thermostat did not work and the it was best to just turn the unit on and off as needed. However, we discovered that the thermostat worked fine. We generally turned the A/C on at night and off in the morning to conserve energy, as requested by the staff. The bed was comfortable and we generally slept well. However, there are bright lights on the reception/dining building that stay on all night. The light curtains on our bure did not block out the light. We would have slept better without those lights on all night or with curtains that did a better job of blocking the light. Our bure was adjacent to the reception area patio, so our bure may have been brighter than other locations. With the A/C off, our bure was uncomfortably hot and humid during the day, even with the windows open. Also, we never sat on the front porch as it was also uncomfortably hot and humid. In fact, we spent very little time in our bure except for sleeping. We were mostly diving, eating, relaxing on the grounds or socializing. The bathroom had double sinks and plenty of storage/work surfaces. We mostly used the outdoor shower as it was a really nice experience. We never used the outdoor tub except to wash gear. There was a clothes line in the outdoor shower room. That got a lot of use although things only tended to dry when exposed to direct sun. Our booking included three meals daily. That was plenty of food, however, we still visited the bakery for occasional afternoon snacks. All meals are cooked to order (no buffets), which is nice. For a small resort, the menu, which rotates daily, is fairly extensive. There are also additional daily specials. Most people seemed to enjoy the food. There was a full selection of vegetarian, vegan dishes available, and plenty of alternatives for those with food allergies. The resort offers a nice selection of non-diving activities. Most of the activities are included except activities that involve leaving the grounds. We enjoyed the “garden” tour (really more of a farm). Paradise grows a lot of their food onsite. We also enjoyed Fiji night, an extensive affair with a special menu, all the Kava you can drink, music, singing and dancing. We also enjoyed the massages which were an extra (but reasonably priced) charge after the welcome 30 minute massages included in our booking. There is a limited number free wifi minutes daily with an option to buy more. We used our Digicel data package instead of the resort’s wifi as we were told by the staff (and other guests) that the resort wifi was slow and somewhat unreliable. In order to get data, I generally had to take my phone out to one of the covered pavilions near the water. It was it hit or miss, but most days I was able to download the nightly news to stream on my iPad back in the bure before bedtime. DIVING Paradise has a serious dive operation with an onsite dive shop, dedicated air conditioned camera room, a compressor with nitrox, and two very stout custom aluminum dive boats. Most of the Rainbow Reef dive sites are 30 to 45 minutes away by boat. For the first half of our stay, there was a large group which used the large boat exclusively. During that time period we dove from the smaller boat. The smaller boat is fast, comfortable, and has plenty of room for up to about eight divers and their gear. Everyone is issued a gear storage box which stays on the boat unless needed for a shore dive. The staff also handles setting up the gear for each dive. The only thing the guests have to do is check their nitrox mix for each tank. Entry is by giant stride. Re-boarding is done via a stout, user friendly ladder. One downside to the small boat is the uncomfortably loud outboard. I ended up covering my ears when the boat was running hard. There is typically one guide for each group of four to six divers. No attempt is made to group divers by skill level. We are experienced divers and typically have no problem completing a full dive with gas to spare. On multiple occasions we were grouped with inexperienced divers who used their gas rapidly and/or had poor buoyancy control. On one dive, a new diver with buoyancy control issues was carried away in the current and surfaced without a safety stop. That meant that reminder of our dive was focused on staying with our guide as he quickly moved through the water looking for the lost diver. As it turns out, the boat captain found the lost diver and stayed with him until we showed up. On other dives, we had to surface early because one or more inexperienced diver(s) in our group was low on gas. We eventually asked if there was anything we could do about the experience mismatch. The crew, who were all excellent, responding by sending a member of the crew down with us so that we could continue our dive while the divemaster took the less experienced divers back up. In hindsight, we should have raised the issue sooner as the crew seemed happy to address our concerns once we raised them. If you prefer to dive in smaller groups, it is possible to book a “private guide.” That gets you one dive master per diver or couple and space on the smaller boat. We never tried the private guide option. The idea of booking an all inclusive dive resort and them paying extra for a dive guide didn’t quite sit well with me. But plenty of people did it and seemed to really enjoy the experience. They commented that it was well worth the money. Note that the resort would not allow any divers to dive without a guide present. A maximum dive time of about 50 or 55 minutes was enforced. After the large group left, we were re-assigned to the larger boat. The larger boat is powercat with two new enormous outboards. It is also a very nice dive boat. However, when full (14+ divers), we found it a bit tight. On the plus side, it had nice cushioned seating on the top deck. And, it was much quieter than the small boat. The reef health was generally good but varied quite a bit from dive site to dive site. We saw very little evidence of bleaching but some of the dive sites had quite a bit of macro algae. Coral cover is good, but it is not Raja Ampat. On the other hand, Fiji’s world renowned soft corals are impressive. I was also pleasantly surprised by the variety of nudibranchs. On the downside, there were not a lot of big fish or other big animals. Although, there was often a shark or two lingering around. The water temperature was a comfortable 28 or 29 celsius on all of our dives. We dove without wetsuits. The tank fills were typically a solid 200 bar. Nitrox varied but was generally in the range of 32%. There is typically a two tank boat dive every day. The boats usually leave between 7 am and 8 am. The weather never seemed to affect the dive schedule much although I suspect the crew adjusts the dive sites based on the weather and currents. On most dives we experienced mild to moderate current. Over the course of our stay, I used my reef hook a few times but could have gotten by without it. Guests have free shore dives on the house reef every afternoon that they do the morning boat dives. The house reef is not quite as healthy as most of the Rainbow Reef sites but has a few interesting things to see. We enjoyed afternoon dives and a night dive on the house reef. However, two or three dives on the house reef are enough. CONCLUSION We enjoyed Paradise Taveuni. The owners, a couple originally from Australia, have been running the resort for a long time. They know what they are doing. The resort’s vibe is very social. Surprisingly, most of the guests during our stay were American with a few Australians. I suspect that is due to Fiji being relatively easy to get to from the west coast of the US and the east coast of Australia. We enjoyed meeting and interacting with the other guests. The resort and dive staff are mostly Fijian with many of them from Taveuni. They could not have been any friendlier or more helpful. We really enjoyed getting to know them.
Websites	Paradise Taveuni Paradise Taveuni
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Virginia, North Carolina, California, Hawaii, Florida, Abaco, Bimini, Exumas, Culebra, USVI, BVI, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Caymans, Dominica, Roatan, Belize, Saba, St, Barths, St Kitts, Nevis, Saint Martin, Bequia, Bonaire, Curacao, Thailand, Australia, Egypt, Bali, Raja Ampat, Maldives
Closest Airport	Taveuni	Getting There	Tallahassee - San Fransisco - Nadi, Fiji - Taveuni, Fiji
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, currents, no currents
Water Temp	28-29°C / 82-84°F	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	15-30 M / 49-98 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay with guide and group, start safety stop at about 45 to 50 minutes and back on boat at about 50 to 55 minutes.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
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
UW Photo Comments	No facilities for cameras on the boats other than a rinse tank dedicated to cameras. Crew was very good at handling cameras and keeping them safe. The on-site dive shop has a dedicated room with about five workstations for photographers. The workstations are well laid out, with good lighting and plenty of electrical outlets. I was able to keep my camera and camera equipment at the same workstation for the entire trip. The camera room has A/C which stays on all the time. It was nice and dry. There is a blow gun in the room. There are two large rinse sinks outside the camera room that appear to be mostly dedicated to photographers. The camera room is locked at night. All-in-all, a great setup for photographers.

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Dive Review of Paradise Taveuni in Fiji and Tuvalu/Taveuni

Paradise Taveuni: "Nice Resort, Wonderful People, Excellent Dive Operation, Good Diving", May, 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 Paradise Taveuni in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Taveuni