Dive Review of Dive Tropex/Worldmark Fiji - Denarau Island in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Mamanuca Group

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Dive Tropex/Worldmark Fiji - Denarau Island, Jan, 2008, by Richard Rodriguez, Texas, USA ( Reviewer 4 reports). Report 3843.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Baggage handlers at LAX lost my luggage and it was not received for three days, so I was required to use rental gear. Dive Tropex had Apollo equipment and I would recommend renting from them instead of hauling your own gear, perhaps with the exception of your regulator. Our resort was on Denarau Island, an exclusive resort area twenty minutes from the airport and home to about seven different resort hotels and a large shopping/restaurant complex at the marina. Dive Tropex had facilities at the Worldmark, Sheraton and Hilton, but the main shop was at the Sheraton. We had planned to do four days of diving, but Cyclone Gene interrupted this plan. The staff worked with us on rescheduling some of the dives, but we still only managed two days of diving during our stay. Hardcore divers should consider staying on one of the out islands dive resorts, as diving from Denarau appears mainly an afterthought for most divers. There are many other sport, recreation, relaxation options to choose from on Denarau Island and many of the better dive spots are too far away to access easily. With that said there is no bad diving in Fiji, just some better than others. The storms and excessive discharge from two nearby island rivers limited the visibility to 30-40 feet on one day, with the best viz being only about 60'. Dive Tropex has several boats, but they took us out on their largest vessel, the 50' plus Surface Interval. This boat has a large, enclosed cabin area with cushion seats, an upper deck, and a large dive deck, easily accomodating 24 divers. There are two heads and lunch, snacks and water were provided on the trip. On our first day of diving, two dive guides were provided for the eight divers. Only one dive guide was provided on our second dive day, but we had only four divers. The guides did a great job finding and pointing out small critters and keeping everyone together in the limited visibility. After our first dive the guides recognized my wife and my experience and allowed us more freedom to explore and did not require us to stick with the group. Our dives were typically in the 60-80' range and were 45-60 minutes long. On both days we dove in a reef area just to the south of the most southerly island in the Mamanuca Group, Malolo Lailai. It was a 35 minute boat ride to the dive sites, Plantation Pinnacle and Cabbage Patch. The pinnacle site consisted of two large coral pinnacles about 100' apart. After we got into the water and descended on the first pinnacle the boat moved to the second pinnacle to await our ascent. Sea cucumbers as big as your arm, large schools of jacks, surgeon fish and a seahorse were some of the things we saw on the dives. The second pinnacle had a swim through at the base that was filled with soft corals and sea fans. Even had it been sunny with better viz I highly recommend taking a light to enjoy all of the colors this environment has to offer. The tops of these pinnacles are a garden of anemone, anemone fish, hugh schools of damselfish and wrasse, and on every dive we were treated to a large lionfish. Cabbage Patch is named because of the large growths of cabbage coral. Some of the coral in this area was dead and covered in silt, coming from the rivers on the southwest side of the largest island in Fiji, Viti Levu. We saw other areas of prolific pillar coral with all kinds of creatures swimming over, through and arond the large stalks of coral. We were told that the farther north you go along the Mamanuca Groups, or even into the farther north Yasawa group of islands, where the diving is much better. If you interested in other activities while in Fiji then Dive Tropex is probably for you, but if you are planning an all dive vacation I would recommended staying on one of the outer islands or a liveaboard. The staff at Dive Tropex is very professional, friendly and just otherwise top notch and will work hard to accomodate any request.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Cozumel MX, Isla Mujeres MX, Grand Cenote Tulum MX, Pensacola, West Palm Beach, Ginnie Springs, Jackson Blue Spring FL, Bahamas, Flower Gardens Marine Sanctuary, St. Maarten, Saba, Maui HI, Lanai HI, Grand Cayman, Cabo San Lucas MX, lots of Texas lakes
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	choppy, surge
Water Temp	80-83°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	You were allowed to dive to the limits of your air and NDC time.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	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	A five gallon bucket was the only thing made available for cameras on the boat. The inside cabin did have a large table that made camera prep easy. Lines with brass boat clips were hung from the bottom of each ladder to make getting cameras on and off the boat without damage.

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Dive Review of Dive Tropex/Worldmark Fiji - Denarau Island in Fiji and Tuvalu/Mamanuca Group

Dive Tropex/Worldmark Fiji - Denarau Island, Jan, 2008,

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 Tropex/Worldmark Fiji - Denarau Island in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Mamanuca Group