I was lucky to be invited to sample seven resorts in a wonderful whirlwind tour of diving
and resort living in March 2018.
OUR group of eleven from NZ, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Germany met in Nadi and headed off to the massive Captain Cook Cruise boat early on day one. We heard about their 4, 7 and 11 day cruises. The eleven day one goes East to the Lau Group and looks like a grand adventure.
Captain Cook Cruises do one to two dives a day and lots of cruising including two mammoth cruises for eleven nights to the Lau Group of Islands in the far East and the Northern islands.
Our first dive was “Golden Dreams” at Voli Voli with Ra Divers on the North side of Fiji. We were promised five ghost pipefish and were lucky to find eight including one of the rare hairy robust ghost
pipefish. I had left my macro lenses at home and only took the wide angle set up.
The overcast conditions meant that there was limited light and so I tried to do close up wide angle photography.
Voli Voli is owned by the Darling family from Christchurch. They have rebuilt the resort to an even higher standard after Cyclone Winston and are also adding more luxury family units and accommodation for groups of six. There are beautiful gardens on each Vale. Nick, the manager says that it can accommodate a family or six friends in total privacy and luxury. They are still celebrating the Excellence in Tourism award for quality accommodation. That evening, we had drinks and some very fine dining at their new restaurant.
In the morning we set off for the famous Mellow Yellow dive site. This site has stunning coral gardens and coral windows. The next dive was Chile. I found a coral Window of Dreams and took a few photos of Nick.
For keen underwater photographers, Chile is a dive to capture those stunning model photos. It has so much colour and fish life. It is a vivid reminder of the incredible underwater panoramas that Fiji has
been famous for. Of course, anyone who has dived at the Bligh Waters will know just how beautiful and photogenic these reefs are.
On day two we took the bus to Wananavu Resort a few kilometres away. This is a beautiful garden resort in the protection of a bay. Without taking a breath, we headed off for a dive even before the
resort orientation.
