Dive Review of Aqua-Trek/Uprising Beach Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa Lagoon

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Aqua-Trek/Uprising Beach Resort, Sep, 2009, by Gina Sanfilippo, CA, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 5035.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Aqua-Trek is the outfit that started shark dive in the Beqa area. There are now two dive shops that do shark feeding dives (at separate locations), and additional shops partner with one shop or the other and accompany them on dives. You will pay a FJ$15 per day fee on top of your dive cost; this amount goes to a local tribe who allows Aqua-Trek to dive their waters, and in exchange that tribe will not fish there (and therefore deplete the area of fish and sharks), but more importantly, the tribe will not allow anyone else to fish their waters either. Two shark dives are done at the same location with an hour surface interval between dives. Several safety divers are on-hand to make sure everything goes as planned. Nurse sharks of 5-9 foot/2-3 meters are regulars. I saw as many as 7 bull sharks of 5-7 feet/2-2.5 meters on all 6 shark dives, although they are shy and tend to stay to the back and sides. Silvertips and grey reef sharks are also common, and one day we were lucky enough to see a 9-10 foot/3 meter tiger shark. After the feeding portion of the dive is over you can spend some time exploring the adjacent reef. Sadly, too many sloppy divers have killed most of the coral there, but there are still some fish and nice scenery to pass the end of your dive. The shop owner/shark feeder Brendan is friendly, knowledgeable, and promotes shark conservation. One day we did a two-tank reef dive which was very nice, although maybe not as stunning as other parts of Fiji. Fish were plentiful and we did see a little whitetip reef shark. There were only five divers for this trip and it was good to have a small group like that. -- Although Aqua-Trek is based out of the Pearl Resort, we stayed at the Uprising Beach Resort there in Pacific Harbour. Don't make the same mistake we did. The resort looks nice, but we had many problems including: roaches in the bed, handle falling off the shower, shower water vacillates between hot and cold, you cannot access your bathroom from inside your bure (why is it outside?), key does not open the front door and you have to walk through the sand to unlock the back door, food ranged from mediocre to inedible, restaurant staff had difficulty understanding English, restaurant staff frequently had difficulty taking orders and often forgot things, etc. In addition, the Uprising is a 20- to 30-minute walk from any other restaurant or cafe, so unless you have a car it is difficult to eat elsewhere, particularly if it is dark or raining outside. The only advantage the Uprising has to the Pearl Resort is its private bures. If you really have to have a private bure then stay here, otherwise, stay elsewhere.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Sea of Cortez, Caribbean, Tonga, Mergui, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Monterey
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	75-77°F / 24-25°C	Wetsuit Thickness	7
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Reef dives were limited to approx. 45 minutes. Shark dives were 20-25 mins. at depth watching the feed, plus an additional 15-20 mins. on the adjacent shallower reef.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	The boat has no facilities for cameras, and the shop has only a dunk tank, although this isn't much of an issue since this is only a day boat. Photographers are given prime spots to see sharks, but beware--there are so many fish at the shark feedings that it's hard to take photos of the sharks. Concentrate on the sharks at the back & outer edges. Also, take photos without a strobe as there is so much particulate matter in the water you will be lots of backscatter if you use your strobe.

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Dive Review of Aqua-Trek/Uprising Beach Resort in Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa Lagoon

Aqua-Trek/Uprising Beach Resort, Sep, 2009,

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 Aqua-Trek/Uprising Beach Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa Lagoon