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Dive Review of Taveuni Dive Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Taveuni Island

Taveuni Dive Resort: "Taveuni Dive Resort", Feb, 2017,

by Lenny Zwik, TX, US (Reviewer Reviewer 4 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 9477 has 3 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Taveuni Dive Resort advertises itself as being created by divers for divers and it's true. Comprised of eight, poured concrete, free standing bures, each bure is well designed neat and comfortable. The housekeeping staff takes great pains to provide personal service, even organizing my toiletries each day and leaving fresh flower arrangements in the room. The Salty Fox Grill and bar serves as the main eating and gathering area located adjacent to a pool that overlooks splendid views of the Somasoma Strait and Vita Levu in the distance.

Of note, the resort prides itself as being totally off grid. Most electricity and hot water is derived from solar meaning no AC in the bures or use of hair dryers. A generator powers the compressors and kitchen. Never was this felt to be a limiting factor however. The resort sits at the base of some tall mountains and as the sun goes down, cool air flows down and through the bures where it's circulated by ceiling fans. There is WiFi with good bandwidth and internet connectivity in the bar area.

The dive operation is well run and efficient. The boats, three twelve passenger and one small boat with 250 hp outboards are located in a marina a short walk down the road from the resort although we were loaded in a pickup for the short ride down. You bring your gear to the open air dining room before the first day of diving and the next morning it is set up for you. It's rinsed, all of it including wet suits, booties, etc., after every day of diving and set up for you each morning. After the last day of diving, the team brings the gear up from the marina, rinses and hangs it all for you to pack. These guys work really hard to make sure you don't have to and they have an outstanding attitude and approach to providing an excellent experience.

The dive sites, The Rainbow Reef, are a quick 15 to 20 min boat ride from the resort and the divemasters exhibit excellent local knowledge of the reefs and current conditions. The reefs are extremely healthy with much fish life and amazing soft and hard corals. As befitting Fiji's tag line as the soft coral capital of the world, the White Wall and Yellow Tunnel were an explosion of color and life. We also saw quite a few white tips and mantas feeding on the surface and a few making sweeps across the reefs while we were diving. That said, there is current here! SMBs are recommended, even though each dive master carries one. This is not beginner diving, though the dive masters did exhibit great care shepherding some new divers that went out with our groups.

Nitrox is available and consistently mixed to 32%. There are a limited number of EAN clean tanks available, but our group of twelve easily dove two EAN tanks in the AM and air in the afternoon.
Websites Taveuni Dive Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Fiji, Truk, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Raja Ampat, widespread Caribbean, BVI, USVI
Closest Airport Matei Getting There LAX to Nadi, then an hour and half flight from Nadi via Twin Otter. No flight difficulties.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, currents
Water Temp 82-85°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions The divemasters struck a perfect balance between making sure no one got into trouble and allowing us the freedom to dive our own profiles. I'm sure they checked out our skills and after the first day, we were allowed to dive pretty much as we saw fit.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas Squadrons
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 2 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities 2 stars
UW Photo Comments The boats are fast and covered but basic. No camera tables but there is one large rinse tub. A boat full of photographers would be cramped.
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Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By report author: Lenny Zwik in TX, US at Feb 15, 2017 11:23 EST  
Just a note to add: While our group could have fit onto one boat, the resort chose to put us on two boats giving us a ton of space. They did this even though it doubled their operating cost for each trip. Kudos to them for doing this.
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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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