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Dive Review of Nai'a Fiji in
Fiji and Tuvalu

Nai'a Fiji: "Nai'a Liveaboard", Apr, 2017,

by Dorothy McDonald, FL, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 12 Helpful votes). Report 9575.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 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 Due to flight delays and being so tired from travel and time change, I recommend arriving a day or two early to allow time to acclimate to Fiji time. Soon after departing on the Nai'a we had a check-out dive. Not exactly mandatory, but good to do - but after the long flight we were so tired it wasn't all that enjoyable - arriving a day or two earlier would have made a big difference.
All the Nai'a crew were fabulous. Vanessa & Chad were great cruise directors, knew how to "help" people without making it seem like a criticism or reprimand. Also we loved Vanessa's twenty minute "Scuba School" that she held most days, highlighting a different sea creature each class. All of the crew quickly knew our names and were willing to help with anything and were always cheerful and friendly. The skiff drivers were quickly there to pick divers up at the end of a dive. Sly will always be my all time favorite skiff driver just because he made heaving me out of the water seem so effortless! The chef is superb - a delicious and varied menu and able to adjust to individual wishes - portions are enormous, but we asked for half portions and which worked out to be just right!
The boat layout is very well organized for divers. It was especially great that after you initially put your BC and regulator on your tank it is moved to the back of the boat where the filling station is. Divers go to that area to check and record their nitrox readings then the crew puts your tank onto the skiff that you're assigned to. Divers only have to carry their mask and fins onto the skiff. You don't don your tank until at the actual dive sight. The 3 dive guides (Vanessa, Chad and Koroi) rotate between the two skiffs. Divers can stay with the guide or not - our experience was that each of the guides were excellent at finding and pointing out small critters, so there were advantages to staying near them.
During our trip we had a few unusually calm, flat dive days - currents ranged from none to very strong. We were surprised at how warm the water was - we had brought 5mm and 3mm wet suits along and definitely did not need the 5mm.
Websites Nai'a Fiji   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Philippines, Caribbean, Indonesia, South Pacific, Maldives
Closest Airport Nadi International Getting There Flew Delta from Orlando to LAX and Fiji Air from LAX to Nadi, Fiji. 3 hour delay at LAX on way to Fiji. On return trip there was an hour delay leaving Nadi and 1 1/2 hour sitting on tarmac on return to LAX while they repaired the jetway - awful to have those long delays when you will be or have been sitting on a plane for such a long flight.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas
Water Temp 80-83°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-90 Ft/ 15-27 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions We were asked not to do any decompression diving, and on a couple of dives we were asked to limit our dive to an hour because the skiff ride back to the Nai'a was further than usual on those dives. Other than that divers could dive their own profile.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 4 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 There was a nice sized camera room with quite a few outlets, shelves, etc - however, this trip we relaxed and enjoyed the dives without looking through a camera lens, so didn't pay a lot of attention to the camera facilities.
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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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