Dive Review of Wananavu Beach Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu

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Wananavu Beach Resort: "Beautiful sea life and a smooth operation", Oct, 2016, by Joel Snyder, AZ, US ( Sr. Contributor 29 reports with 30 Helpful votes). Report 9147 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
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	We spent 4 days diving in September at the Wananavu Beach Resort, a 2-hour drive from Nadi airport in Fiji. The beach resort is fairly secluded---if you decided to go somewhere for dinner, you'd have a 30-45 minute drive---so we elected for an all-inclusive plan with room, meals, and diving included. We picked beachside rooms, which are small cottages, each a duplex, with a large bedroom and bathroom, plus a small patio right on the beach. The same cottages are also placed up the hill a bit at a slightly lower price. Although the beach is shared among all the cottages, the ratio of land-to-guest is high enough that we were never disturbed by beach activities. Rooms had fans, air conditioning (not required that time of year), and a small bar area with refrigerator. Traditional construction let breezes pass through while keeping out any insects. Based on the tracks on the beach, it appears that the resort has an aggressive insect control program as well. We didn't notice anything other than the occasional ant during our stay. Meal service in the restaurant had a fixed menu, which we never used, and a small daily menu that changed each day. Those on a fixed meal plan like we had will not go hungry---we could never eat all the food we were allowed on the plan (2 courses at lunch and 3 at dinner). Water is free; all alcoholic beverages are extra and quite expensive. Service was prompt and very pleasant. The food was amazingly good given the remoteness of the area and the challenge of creating a new menuy every day. This resort is not a foodie destination, but there is nothing to complain about and it is better than many of the others we have seen over the years. Diving was why we came, and the dive shop is very efficient and well-run. Standard procedure is a 2-tank dive, leaving in the morning and getting you back in time for a late lunch. (Fruit and muffins are served on the boat between and after dives if you get hungry.) You take your gear down the first day and from there the staff is responsible for loading it on the boat and rinsing it at day end. Because of moderate winds, we were restricted to "close in" sites, about a 15-20 minute ride each way (plus a surface interval in between), but we never felt like we were not getting the best diving. Water was a bit cloudy (20-40' visibility) with no strong currents. The dive shop is managed by an expat couple, and the staff are all Fijians, all of whom have very long-term experience in the area. Boats went out with a captain, first mate, and divemaster (one per 4 divers). Most days, one of the managers was with us as well, so we had a leading DM and trailing DM for the group. We had 4-6 divers on boat during our stay, never crowded. A second, smaller, boat is available when needed. Dives were led by the divemaster, but with a fairly relaxed attitude. All of our dives were essentially coral pinnacle clusters surrounded by sandy bottom or dropoff, so as long as you continued to circle around the coral peaks, you couldn't really get lost or far off course. Once the DMs figured out that we were not going to cause them trouble, they let us get out of sight and didn't insist that we keep close into the group. Dive profiles were not restricted (we dove air instead of nitrox because of the modest depth and number of dives, but nitrox was available), and as divers ran out of air, the dive master would escort them back to the boat. We did 60-70 minute dives each time with average depths in the 40-50' range. Water temperature in mid-September was about 77 degrees. Diving was outstanding---incredible bright colors of soft corals and gorgonians, huge schools of anthias, lots of brightly colored reef fish and frequent lobsters. Photographers could go either wide-angle or macro, although the cloudy water might make macro a better choice most of the time.
Websites	Wananavu Beach Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Asia; Carib; Mexico; Hawaii; Red Sea
Closest Airport	Nadi	Getting There	2+hour drive from Nadi; hotel can provide transport
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	77-79°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	20-40 Ft/ 6-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No time restriction (other than air and politeness)
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	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	Because of weather, we were limited to "close" sites and there was cloudier water. Thus, our experience was not optimal for photographers. Since weather is unpredictable, photographers might find the week incredible... or disappointing. On boat, a rinse tank was provided.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Wananavu Beach Resort in Fiji and Tuvalu

Wananavu Beach Resort: "Beautiful sea life and a smooth operation", Oct, 2016,

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 Wananavu Beach Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu