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Dive Review of Taveuni Ocean Sports/Nakia & Makaira in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Rainbow Reef

Taveuni Ocean Sports/Nakia & Makaira: "Fabulous Diving at Rainbow Reef with Taveuni Ocean Sports", Jul, 2015,

by David Holzman, VI, US (Reviewer Reviewer 3 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 8727 has 1 Helpful vote.

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 4 stars
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments A dive trip to Fiji has always been a dream and when old friends sailing the Pacific invited us to their favorite island, we booked it immediately. The Essence of Fiji Rejuvenation Center 5 minutes from the international airport made our 9 hour layover in Nadi a delightful experience with secure luggage storage, a footbath, full body massage, day room, lunch and shuttle service. And this was on a Sunday Morning at 7:00 AM!!
Charlotte is an avid snorkeler and I'm a novice uw photographer and even though we are immersed in Caribbean waters very often, we had never experienced the soft corals, currents or diversity we found in Fiji.
Taveuni is lush, full of happy, welcoming people and very peaceful. We thoroughly enjoyed our first weeks stay in a lovely cottage equipped with a full kitchen at Makaira Resort with Roberta, John and Lucy. John is a great cook (and prankster) and Roberta took Charlotte on wonderful snorkels while I dove with Taveuni Ocean Sports (TOS), which provided a free shuttle service. Breakfasts with Lucy were very tasty and healthy, which we loved. Roberta arranged a must-do coastal hike and waterfall swim in the Lavena Nature Reserve that I'd highly recommend. We had a great dinner at Maravu Resort and Tramonto Restaurant, both within walking distance.
After spending a few nights on our friends' sailboat we stayed at the Nakia Resort which is a 5 minutes walk from TOS. We were very well treated by Robin and Jim, who have created a lovely cottage resort with verdant surroundings, comfortable accommodations, organic farm, delicious meals, peace and quiet, massages on your patio and a pool looking out on an incredible ocean and islands view. Truly a peaceful paradise worth experiencing, at least for a few nights.
Their daughter, Julie, and her very able crew, runs the dive operations and also helps at the resort. Everybody made our trip easy and memorable. I really enjoyed the thorough dive briefings, fresh fruit and sweet breads between dives and professionalism of all the divemasters and boat captains.
I did two dives a day for six days and would have gladly repeated any of the dives many times over because there was so much to see that was new to me, having done almost all of my 40 years of diving in Caribbean waters. I am now hooked on Pacific Ocean dive trips and have already booked my next trip to Yap. I saw many new types of coral, familiar fish species with new and wilder colors and patterns, giant clams, several nudibranchs and schools of fish devouring the tiny organisms carried in by the currents. The visibility was good to great. Water temps for a wimp like me were doable with a 3mm hood, 3mm long sleeve top and 0.5mm full tropical suit. I longed for my 3mm farmer john on a few second dives, but once in the water the fish action and soft coral colors took up all of my attention. All of TOS's boats are well maintained, fast, comfortable and shaded. The boat rides to and from Rainbow Reef eat up 30-45 minutes each way, but the scenery is spectacular. During the hour long surface intervals, Julie or her divemasters provide an informative briefing of reef ecology and typical marine species that will be encountered in the water. Charlotte joined the diveboat for snorkeling and was astounded at the health of the coral and the variety of the fish she saw in 5-15 feet of water just meters from our dive spots. She may have seen more color and action snorkeling than I did diving.
I would definitely go back to Fiji to explore other areas and dive spots and I would certainly go back to Taveuni because I had a trip of a lifetime that might get even better the next time because there's more to explore. It's that kind of place.
Websites Taveuni Ocean Sports   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Virgin Islands, Bonaire, Curacao, Dominica, Saba, Nevis, St. Lucia, Utila, Roatan, Cozumel, Belize, Costa Rica
Closest Airport Taveuni Getting There Fiji Airways from Nadi with no delays but a 9 hour layover after a long flight from LAX

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm, currents
Water Temp 76-78°F / 24-26°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 65-125 Ft/ 20-38 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions Due to the currents on most dives, divers stayed close to divemasters.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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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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