Dive Review of Dive Gizo/Fatboys in
Solomon Islands/Gizo, Ghizo.

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Dive Gizo/Fatboys: "THIS BEAUTIFUL!!", Oct, 2022, by Mary Adams, FL, US ( Top Contributor 31 reports with 13 Helpful votes). Report 12400 has 2 Helpful votes.
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	I flew to Gizo after disembarking Bilikiki. I stayed at Fatboys Resort for 10 days and dived with Dive Gizo for 7 days, 14 dives. Dive Gizo is run by Danny Kennedy, a gregarious American from Florida, and the dives and surface intervals with Danny were very much fun! Dive Gizo fetched me and sometimes a couple other divers from Fatboys bar/restaurant dock at about 9 am for either a short ride to the nearby dive sites or a longer ride to the more faraway dive sites on the northwestern tip of Ghizo Island. The nearby dives, Inside Naru, Gap In, One Tree Reef, Manta Dive, Secret Spot, Kennedy Island, and Gap Out, were similar to each other, steep sloping walls covered with corals and sponges and fish. Some of the sloping walls had a lot of dead coral, and if I looked for it, I could usually find the crown of thorns starfish that killed the coral. Danny turned the starfish upside down and piled rocks on it, starving it. We saw whitetip sharks, grey reef sharks, and one silver tip shark. I saw a few Napoleon humphead wrasse, a lot of bignose unicornfish, some spotted eagle rays, and a few groupers. I saw no turtles at Gizo. I think the Islanders eat the turtles. The northwestern dives, Grand Central Station, Toa Maru wreck, and Njari Island, included a long surface interval with lunch on Njari Island, owned by Danny. Njari Island is about 2 acres, and Danny is cultivating giant clams and doing his best to keep the illegal fishermen away. The Island has a very productive fringing reef with spawning adults and big hatchings of juvenile reef fish. I snorkeled the Njari Island reef during the 3-hour surface intervals, and saw Giant Sweetlips, Blubberlip Snappers, and breeding pairs of lots of other fishes. It impressed me again with how important those spawning areas are to the humans’ need for food from the oceans. Lunch was fish, chicken wings, and pumpkin on the grill; fried rice; and pineapple. Solomon Islanders know what to do with pumpkin. It was delicious and I ate more than my share. At Grand Central Station we saw all the big migrating fishes, barracudas, snapper, blue spotted grouper, whitetip sharks, a yellow-margin triggerfish, a titan triggerfish, and many more. Grand Central Station dive site is a “saddle” between coral reefs, and it can only be dived at slack tide, because of fast currents. Grand Central Station had all the big fish - bigeye trevally jacks, Napoleon wrasse, and sharks. We dived the Toa Maru, a big fascinating WWII wreck. It had several swim-throughs led by the dive guide, and 2 upside-down army tanks covered with sponges and algae. I saw a big map pufferfish, coral rabbitfish, red groupers, and more. I would have liked to dive the Toa Maru more than once. At Njari Island during a SIT, I was struck by the overwhelming beauty of this place. I will return to Gizo at my earliest opportunity. Fatboys Resort was way overpriced for its quality. My bungalow had a ceiling fan, but some nights that was not enough for the tropical heat. Two nights there was a rat in my room, eating the instant coffee creamer. I could not get management to trap it, or to sweep out the droppings (hanta virus is the last thing I wanted to bring home with me). The food was very well-prepared crayfish, unless you wanted chicken wings. Staff was as friendly as can be. Next time I visit Gizo, I’ll stay somewhere else.
Websites	Dive Gizo Fatboys
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Cuba, Bonaire, Cozumel, Florida Keys, Clearwater FL, Bimini, Saba-St. Eustatius, Roatan, Kona, North Carolina, Flower Garden Banks, Caymans, Palau, Chuuk, Jupiter Florida, Belize, Costa Rica, Turks and Caicos, Revillagigedo, St. Lucia, Solomon Islands, Fiji,
Closest Airport	Nusatupe (GZO)	Getting There	Solomon Airlines daily from Honiara.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy, no currents
Water Temp	85-87°F / 29-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	25-75 Ft/ 8-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	No accommodations for cameras on the small boats or resort, except in your bungalow. Wi-Fi only in the bar/restaurant, not in the bungalows.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Dive Gizo/Fatboys in Solomon Islands/Gizo, Ghizo.

Dive Gizo/Fatboys: "THIS BEAUTIFUL!!", Oct, 2022,

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 Dive Gizo/Fatboys in
Solomon Islands/Gizo, Ghizo.