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Dive Review of Taveuni Dive/The Remote Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Rainbow Reef area

Taveuni Dive/The Remote Resort: "Great Time in Fiji!", May, 2015,

by Dorothy McDonald, OH, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 12 Helpful votes). Report 8232 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 1 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments The flight going worked out fine with no delays. However, Fiji Air charges $120- USD for an extra bag - each way - so pack light! They are also very strict about the size and weight of your carry-on. On the return from Nadi, Fiji Air cancelled our flight twice. They did put everyone up in hotels both nights and gave vouchers for food, but they have few planes, so be aware that this could happen and if you have a connecting flight out of LAX try to book that flight through Fiji Air too so they will take care of those arrangements. We did not, and had to pay the extra fees to United each time we rebooked our connecting flight.

The Remote Resort is actually on a peninsula of Vanua Levu and the only way to reach it is by boat. There are only 4 bures (with plans for expansion). Each bure has a plunge pool and out door shower/bathroom area. The bures are lovely and romantic. A wonderful, friendly and efficient staff takes care of everything for you. The chef is fantastic and meals can be held anywhere on the large property (beach, your bure, on the jetty, etc). The only problem we had at the resort was regulating the shower temperature - it usually was either scalding or cold, we couldn't seem to keep it at that "just right" temperature. As you would expect, there were bugs outside, but bug spray and mosquito coils were provided.

Taveuni Dive kept in phone contact with the resort to let us know what time they'd pick us up at the resort jetty each morning. Usually there was at most one other diver on our boat. One day a couple from our resort went along to snorkel and a guide was sent along for them. One day another couple was on the boat and Taveuni Dive sent along a separate guide for the 2 of them. Our guide, Ju, was great. He gave good dive briefings and pointed out little critters that we would have missed. He suggested the max depth but pretty much left that up to us - our max was 91 feet. We are usually efficient with air and there was never any pressure to ascend before we wanted to. Our bottom time ranged from 60 to 80 minutes. We both wore 3 mil wet suits with a 3 mil farmer john and were happy to have them. However, Ju and the other divers wore shorties and said they were fine. We used 2 different boats and both had shade and were comfortable and carried a first aid kit and oxygen. There were white-tip sharks on most dives, several turtles, a manta ray, several Napoleon Wrasse, a large school of barracuda on one dive, and loads of colorful tropical fish. The hard and soft corals were abundant and beautiful. The Somosomo Straights are known for strong currents which is why I only gave this 1 star for beginners. Ju and the boat captain knew when and in what direction the currents would be moving and included that in the briefings, explaining how the current would change about half way thru the dive and that we'd go around the end or over the top of a particular reef to move to the other side depending on what was best considering the currents. On one dive we made our way to the top of the reef, each finding some dead coral to hang on to for our safety stop. We were flapping in the current like flags in a windstorm. After 3 minutes we signaled to each other to let go and the current blew us away so fast we quickly lost sight of the reef and felt like we were flying thru the water, but the boat captain always seemed to have an idea of where we were and quickly picked us up. Because the water was choppy it was always a little tricky getting back into the boat, but Ju and the boat crew were very helpful, encouraging us to take off our gear in the water and then climb up the ladder and into the boat.

We definitely would like to return, staying at The Remote Resort and diving with Taveuni Dive!




Websites Taveuni Dive   The Remote Resort

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Solomon Islands, French Poly, Tonga, Easter Island, most of Caribbean, Australia, Florida Keys, Hawaii, Kiribati, Philippines, Indonesia
Closest Airport Taveuni Getting There From LAX flew to Nadi, Fiji, from there flew to Taveuni. The resort had a car and driver waiting for us at Taveuni airport for about a 20 minute drive to a dock where a Taveuni dive boat was waiting to take us on about a 30 minute ride to the resort. Same for return trip. If using Fiji Air book all the way thru to Taveuni to avoid extra baggage fees.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas choppy, currents
Water Temp 74-78°F / 23-26°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Our guide let us set the depth and time - diving until we were at 500psi or cold. Sometimes there was a third diver in our group and he/she would ascend when they were low on air. Once another guide and 2 divers were on the boat but there was no pressure to end our dives early.
Liveaboard? no 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 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments The resort is not a dive resort, so no particular accommodations for UWPs. The boat had a large plastic bucket filled with fresh water to rinse cameras in. The dive shop always picked us up at the resort, so we never saw their facilities. While lots of sea life, the currents make photography challenging.
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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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