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Dive Review of Nai'a Fiji/Fiji Gateway Hotel in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Viti Levu

Nai'a Fiji/Fiji Gateway Hotel: "Fiji on Nai'a is Shark-tastic and Manta-tastic", Nov, 2017,

by Jeffrey Watkins, NV, US (Reviewer Reviewer 3 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 9982 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments I had an excellent 10-day trip on Naia. I've done the 7-day trip previously six years ago and I like the longer trip. You get to spend extra time at Gau island and in Namena Marine Reserve. The weather was cloudy for most of the trip with several sunny days at the end. This is the start of the rainy season, so you have to expect that. The boat was in great condition and all the systems worked without fail through the trip. The crew was super-friendly and helpful. The food on naia is really good and plentiful. The dinner plates were even photo worthy. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy eating. I used a 3mm suit for diving while some guests used 5mm. This time of year the water temperature is trending up from its low point. The diving was excellent on this trip. We did three great shark dives at Nigali Passage at Gau island. Lots of sharks and tons of barracuda and jacks. We moved from Gau to Wakaya where I got lucky and spent ten minutes of quality time with a manta at a cleaning station at the Vatu Vai site. Only two of us got to experience this. I think the manta came after most of the dive group left and the bubble noise lessened. This isn't the place to come for guaranteed manta interaction, that's why I say that I got lucky. We headed on to Namena and had a lot of qood dives. I especially liked the Arch site and its sister site Grand Central Station for the great shark and fish school action. The final dives were at Nananu-I-Ra where we got a chance to see two large octopus in a mating ritual. The two were zooming back and forth over a sunny shallow pinnacle. Truly awesome. There was some moderate current on most dives. That is what brings out the soft coral and interesting fish action. There is almost always a place hide from the current if you don't want to deal with it. We saw a shark on almost every dive. Lots of White Tip and Grey Reef sharks. We saw several turtles and several banded sea kraits. I did three of the four night dives and they were enjoyable as well. The naia travel department helped arrange an extra day before and after the trip at Fiji Gateway Hotel across from the airport. This hotel isn't exactly exotic and exciting, but it is comfortable and the food in the restaurant is good. It is hard to come up with something to complain about as this trip was so good. Two of the night crossings were rough with the boat rolling a lot. I didn't get much sleep on those nights. They were followed by nights at anchor so you can catch up on sleep. There were also night crossings with dead calm water making for easy sleeping.
Websites Nai'a Fiji   Fiji Gateway Hotel

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Fiji, Bonaire, Belize, Turks and Caicos, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Palau, Chuuk.
Closest Airport Nadi Getting There Easy flight from the USA via LAX to NAN.

Dive Conditions

Weather cloudy Seas choppy
Water Temp 79-81°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 100-200 Ft/ 30-61 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Moderate current on most dives. A couple of dives had surge. Plankton in the water makes many dives "cloudy" but you can still see a long distance. Restrictions were mostly none; occasional limit on dive time to 60 minutes for logistics.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments I have a sealife snapshot camera that doesn't require me to use the camera facilities, so factor that into how you view my rating. The camera room was large and the crew handled the real underwater cameras with care.
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Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Howard Kaiser in MO, US at Mar 30, 2019 17:47 EST  
We're on the ten day trip in May; thanks for the input.
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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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