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Pro Dive Paradise/Paradide Taveuni: "Great Trip to Paradise Taveuni", Nov, 2014,by Dave White, CA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 7862.
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No photos available at this time | |||
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Accommodations |  |
Food | |
| Service and Attitude |  |
Environmental Sensitivity | |
| Dive Operation | |
Shore Diving |  |
| Snorkeling | N/A | ||
Overall Rating |
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| Value for $$ | |
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| Beginners | |
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| Advanced | |
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| Comments |
Paradise Taveuni is the definition of a tropical island resort. The owners, Alan and Terri, have worked hard to make it the perfect setting. The biggest plus is the attitude of the staff. They were willing to do whatever was needed to keep everyone happy and always were smiling, addressing everyone by name and giving a cheerful "Bula". The resort has an ideal setting of Coconut palms, lawn, and a beautiful ocean view. Most of the rooms are separate bures with a living area, bedroom, bath and outside shower area. They also have a few more standard rooms that are nice, but some staying in them complained of paper thin walls and noise. We had an ocean view bure that was clean and well equipped. Two issues, one was during hard rain water came under the back door and made the bathroom floor wet. The other was intermittent hot water. We talked to Alan about it and he said to run the hot water full on so the on demand heater would kick on. This helped but did not always work. The bed in our room was very low to the floor. In other rooms we saw the beds seemed normal. The dining room is a thatched roof open structure, with roll down curtains to keep the rain out if the wind is blowing. There is a wedding bure on the bluff over the ocean and the staff will also serve meals there if you wish. The food ranged from good to excellent. At the first meal they ask your likes and dislikes and write on a board near the kitchen. We ordered the 1 course lunch and 2 course dinner and found the amount of food more than adequate. A 2 course lunch and 4 course dinner plan is available if you want. There are usually several choices (i.e.: fish or beef or vegetarian) for lunch or dinner. Breakfast also had several choices (eggs, pancakes, french toast etc.). Prices for drinks were about average for resorts. There were usually happy hour specials. They are in the process of building a new, expanded kitchen. One downside to the resort was internet availability. The "free" internet is on their laptop in the lobby. It either didn't work or at best was very, very slow and only on their computer. You can buy wireless internet in your room for about #13/day. Those that paid for it said it was better. If you have to have internet, plan on paying for it. The weather varied from sunny and nice to windy and rainy. Air temp ran from high 70's to low 80's. For non divers, they usually have one or two other activities each day. Trips to waterfalls, shore hikes, kayak trips etc. They also have a Fiji night with dancers. The dive operation, Pro Dive, is an onsite operation. They have a small dive shop, good rental gear, rinse tank (that had the water changed frequently), a secured gear drying area and an onsite compressor. Nitrox is available. There are three dive boats. We only were on two. Both were pretty standard with side tank racks and bench seats. The two larger boats have twin outboards, were reasonably quiet and good riding. One boat has only a side ladder and is a little inconvenient to enter. The other has a rear platform and ladder. If they were filled to the advertised capacity they would be very crowded. We had a maximum of about 12 divers and a few snorkelers and that was what I would have considered a full load. When a larger group of snorkelers came in, they were put on a separate boat, so we were never crowded. The boats do not have a head. Water and snacks were served between dives. We normally had 3 to 6 divers per divemaster. Divemasters Christine, Salote and William did an excellent job and made a good effort to find things. When I told Christine I was interested in macro photography, she went out of her way to find lots of small nudebranchs. On a few occasions, Alan took a group and was less devoted to finding things. When the boat returns to the dock, there is someone waiting with water and coconut. You must do a check out dive after arriving. I felt that the restrictions were a little strict, particularly to start up with 1000 psi. The divemasters tried to keep the group together although were not overly restrictive, particularly if the current wasn't too strong. One other thing to be aware of is that they charge extra ($40 FJ) to go to Rainbow Reef if there are less than 7 divers on the boat. Vuna reef is closer, but was mostly blown out while were there. If Vuna is not diveable, it is either go to Rainbow and pay extra(less than 7 divers) or dive the shore up from the resort. Rainbow is the best reef although Vuna has some nice areas. The shoreline reef is pretty barren, although there are some critters to be found. We had two opportunities to free dive with a school of dolphins on the way to Rainbow Reef. Many dive sites can have strong currents depending on the tides. Others were calm. Most of the dive sites are good with lots to see. Rainbow's End and Cabbage Patch were two favorites. A few are just average. Water temp was 78 degrees. Overall the dive operation is well run and the diving is good. Paradise is a well run resort and Terri and Alan have worked hard to make it that way. There is a lot of attention to detail and a very friendly and helpful staff. Overall, I would highly recommend it. |
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Reporter and Travel |
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| Dive Experience | 501-1000 dives | ||
| Where else diving | California, Cozumel, Little Cayman, Roatan, Bali, Sulawesi. | ||
| Closest Airport | Matei | Getting There | LAX-Nadi-Savusavu-Matei |
Dive Conditions |
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| Weather | sunny | Seas | calm, currents |
| Water Temp | 77-78°F / 25-26°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 3 |
| Water Visibility | 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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| Dive own profile | no | ||
| Enforced diving restrictions | 50 minute bottom time plus safety stop. Start up with 1000 psi although this was not strongly enforced. 100' max depth. | ||
| Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | yes |
What I Saw |
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| Sharks | 1 or 2 | Mantas | 1 or 2 |
| Dolphins | Schools | Whale Sharks | None |
| Turtles | 1 or 2 | Whales | None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Corals | |
Tropical Fish | |
| Small Critters | |
Large Fish | |
| Large Pelagics | N/A | ||
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Subject Matter | |
Boat Facilities | |
| Overall rating for UWP's | |
Shore Facilities | |
| UW Photo Comments | Camera facilities on the boat consisted of an ice chest used as a camera tank. It fit one large camera set up and several small cameras. It would not have accommodated two large camera setups. Boat crew treated cameras carefully and handed them down and picked them up from divers. The resort has a dedicated camera room with multiple stations, 2 rinse sinks outside, multiple charging outlets and compressed air. The only downside was no rinse tank at the dive shop while you were dealing with gear. You had to set your camera on a table or the ground. | ||
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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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