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Dive Review of Waidroka Bay resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu

Waidroka Bay resort: "Nice small resort in Fiji", Apr, 2022,

by Joel Hirsh, CT, US (Reviewer Reviewer 4 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 11911.

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 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 2 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Waidroka Bay is a small (max 31 guests) resort with an interesting mix of divers (mostly from US) and surfers (mostly from Australia). There are 7 free-standing ‘bures’ near the water which look native on the outside (thatched roofs, etc) but very modern on the inside. Some have two bedrooms. There is also a block of 5 double rooms on the hill. All are air-conditioned. The staff is very friendly and accommodating.

Breakfast is ordered the night before (so the kitchen has an idea of what to make, but not for a specific time) from a long list of typical egg and non-egg choices. There is a long lunch menu which is also ordered after breakfast. But since the dive sites are typically 25-40 minutes away, we always had lunch on the boat between 2nd and 3rd dives. Lunch was a wrap or some chicken/fish rice/potato combination. Dinners were set each night with a soup/appetizer, main course and dessert. The kitchen would accommodate diet preferences. All the food had good flavors but not overly spicy.

The dive operation was well run. Tanks had good fills (3100-3200 psi) but no Nitrox available. BCDs and regulators were taken by the crew off at the end of the day and rinsed, and set up again the next morning. Separate rinse tanks for wetsuits, other gear and cameras. The 2 dive boats have wide decks (pontoon hulls) with room to move around. There were more surfers than divers when I was there, so the dive boat was never crowded. Would be less elbow room with a bigger crowd. I needed some help with my tanks (recovering from surgery) and the crew was very helpful getting both off and on the boat.

The local dive guides know the sites but moved a little fast for me. But all the sites were easy to navigate and buddies splitting off from the group was not a problem. Most of sites had moorings on bommies in 10-20' that made great safety stops with nice coral gardens and lots of small fish. Deeper corals were not in as good shape for the most part. Smaller fish in large schools (like fusiliers and anthias) were on most sites, along with some very large anemones and their accompanying anemone fishes. Spotted a nice number of nudibranches. But compared to Indonesia, the variety of fish and critter species was not as impressive.

The shark dive(s) were fun. It is in a location where fishermen have always dumped their fish guts, so it is just capitalizing on what was happening anyway. Divers sit @ 60' behind a low rubble wall and watch the ‘show’ for about 25 minutes. Dive masters are also along the wall to nudge any of the more curious sharks away if they get closer than a couple of feet. We saw mostly various reef sharks (grey, silver and white tips), nurse sharks and a few bull sharks. A tiger shark was sighted a couple of weeks before.

We were accompanied by some dolphins one day and a pod of 10-11 pilot whales another day which hung around for quite a while. One day we went out with some surfers, and dove near one of the major surfer ‘breaks’. We were able to watch surfers during the surface intervals. Awesome.
Websites [same]

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Caribbean, Australia, PNG, Philippines, Indonesia
Closest Airport NAN Getting There Fiji Airways from LAX or SFO to Nadi (NAN) then a 2.5 hr drive to the resort. Transfers included in packages.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy Seas calm, surge, currents
Water Temp 85-°F / 29-°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 50 minutes, but some extended past 60 minutes
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins Schools Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 2 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Other than a large bucket on the boat and a separate rinse tank on shore, there isn't anything dedicated to photography. Bring a 220v power strip for your room since the number of outlets is limited.
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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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