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

Garden Island Resort: "Great diving and feeling at home", Aug, 2017,

by SHARA NEIDELL, PA, US (Reviewer Reviewer 5 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 9917 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments A great trip! Diving was amazing - as this was the first dedicated dive trip I've done outside the Caribbean, the breadth of fish - schools of all sizes and colors - was really spectacular. You could literally just look up and be surrounded. Lots of nudibranch and of course the rainbow eels. As expected, the soft coral were incredible, ranging in color from white to dark purple and most of them out feeding in the mild current. The white wall truly looked white - gazing down from 90 feet it was as though we were on a ski slope. A number of white tip and black tip sharks appeared on most dives. The great variety of clownfish playing in anemones was always fun to watch! We did one night dive - and saw loads of basket stars wandering around, along with crabs, lobsters and different types of worms.
Garden Island Resort was a great place to stay, as they truly make you feel as though you are at home; and they arranged tours for us outside of diving. The last day we took kayaks to the island - and waded in the pools with baby black tip sharks swimming around us!
A couple of downsides: 1) we arrived on Saturday morning and our luggage got there Tuesday afternoon - make sure you pack essential dive gear with you. The dive shop was extremely accommodating in finding us enough gear (including hoods) to dive a bit, though the water/ air combination was too cold for us to do 2 dives without our own gear; and 2) the food at Garden Island leaves a bit to be desired and drink prices are high (US pricing). We solved this by going to the nearby liquor store and having happy hour in our room that overlooked the water.
Garden Island is also in the process of fixing their jetty (post the cyclone) so we were taken by car to board the boat. One day we did get blown out of the water; they tried but made the call once we were out that it was too rough. Other days it was gorgeous - and once the crew learned that we really liked to get off the boat and snorkel during surface intervals, they took us to an area in which this was possible - more clownfish and giant purple starfish!
If you go, definitely leave time for a couple of hikes - one to the waterfalls and the other, the coastal walk. The village visit is also worthwhile.
Websites Garden Island Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Mostly Caribbean, some Asia
Closest Airport Taveuni Getting There Long flight from the east coast; with a stop in SFO and then one in Nadi

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, rainy, cloudy Seas calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp 75-77°F / 24-25°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Briefings specified depth limits
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
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 3 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Ms Lynda Durfee in VA, US at Jun 11, 2018 22:57 EST  
Thanks for the great report. I did the Nai'a in 2014 and will be passing through on the way back from the Solomon Islands in June 2019, so I plan to book a week or so at this resort based on your positive review.
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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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