We went at a time when the occupancy was low which was nice. We did arrive at the Tui Tai tired from the all night flight and then our bags lagged behind us by several hours so next time I would bring a change of clothes in the carry on and maybe spend a night in or around Nadi. Having the food and diving included was great. We watched other people on the Tui Tai trying to decide how many and which dives to do and we could do them all!
The hospitality and quality of the service on the Tui Tai was good. There were only 14 guests; 8 Americans, 2 Australians, 1 Canadian, 1 Greek and 2 Austrians. Having Amy, a dive master, being American made it nice for communication and questions at times. Daniel, the other dive master, was wonderful; Amy said that by the end of the week we would love him and we did. He was very comforting and knowledgeable. We had never dove with computers before, since we were just certified, and they did not explain their computers to us and did not seem too knowledgeable or willing to explain their function to us. Chip borrowed the package insert and figured it out and was much happier then. There was one dive that I believe eight of us went on and they only sent Amy as a dive master when I believe it would have beneficial to have had both dive masters present. It was the first day diving for two of the people so they needed attention to their weight, two of the people had had issues with their ascent the previous day and the dive involved some current. More attention would have been useful as there was some frustration and confusion that dive. Aggie was comforting to Chip when the waters got rough – he said he wasn’t feeling poorly but he was scared and she was reassuring to him.
The food was good and plentiful and Vili, the cook, shared his mango syrup recipe with me. The bar service was attentive without being pushy. One thing about the bar was there were no prices and drinks were a little expensive but we also knew we could have asked the prices but decided we did not want to know until the end. Things didn’t always happen when they were scheduled, and we felt the hurry up and wait occasionally, but we just went with it and accepted Fiji time. The upgrade to the stateroom was an excellent idea; we did not see the cabins but felt that anything much smaller would have been too small.
At Papageno there were at most seven guests at one time. There were six of us on our airport pick up boat, 2 from Germany, 2 from Australia and Chip and I and there was one Australian girl there when we arrived. The 2 Australians left after three days and 2 more Australians replaced them. The Germans left after five days and the rest of us left at the same time. Isaac was a great dive master and he then let Daniel, Pate and Zacariah take us out diving. Unfortunately we never made it over to Astrolabe reef due to rough weather. There were a couple issues with the dive equipment – Chip had a console with a depth gauge instead of a computer and the gauge did not work. We were told they would switch it out but that took a couple dives to get done and later he had a bc that the inflator hose broke on so he had no buoyancy. That happened on the second dive of the day towards the end and he dealt well with it so it did not really create too much of a problem.
One day we suggested they let the single Australian gal go on the boat with us so she could snorkel while we dove and they agreed. This turned out to be a lifesaver for Chip because he forgot his mask and she loaned him hers to dive and then she snorkeled during our surface interval. The food and it’s presentation were spectacular. All of us guests thought it would be wonderful for the resort to have a cookbook. We used the kayaks a couple times, dove our 10 dives and hiked to their little waterfall but other than that we just stayed around the resort. The mosquitoes kept me in most of the time so I read a lot and we played games. It was nice that they had a selection of books and games as I had been limited in both due to the weight restrictions. The beach front bure was perfect.
Our luggage did not accompany us from Kandavu back to Nadi and the driver was still friendly after a wait of a little over an hour. He talked to us about the area and drove us through Latouka and another town but I can’t remember which one, Ba maybe. As we were driving out to Wananavu I did question where you were sending us. I realized that you had done great with the first two picks but I did have my concerns. Then, we drove up over the hill and saw the resort as a nice little oasis – and that it was. We were in a building at the top of the resort with a wonderful view out over the ocean not only from one front porch but you could also lay in bed and see it. We were the last room on the pathway so did not have foot traffic going by in front of us. Again the occupancy was low so nothing was crowded.
There were nine divers the first day we went and four the second. We ended up doing two days of three tank diving so went out into Bligh …, what? Channel? I don’t know, but we went out about an hour and a couple sets of experienced divers said it was the best diving they had ever done. Again, the staff on the boats were wonderful and even when I had a slight accident they took great care of me. On my second dive I wasn’t close enough to the edge of the boat yet and the water was rough and my back foot slipped so I went in face first and the tank hit me in the back of the head. Luckily I did have on a hood and that prevented the injury from being worse than it was and I was able to continue diving. I did break the skin and I had quite a lump, although it was greatly reduced by them giving me ice to put on it.
We did notice that on one day when there were only two divers wishing to dive the Kai Viti divers arranged for them to go with Ra divers rather than not be able to dive. We talked to the couple after their experience with Ra divers and they said that Kai Viti was definitely better. The meal package was not explained to us at Wananavu but eventually it was all figured out. Once again they had a nice selection of books and games to supplement what we brought. Soni was great and we did participate in one of his Fijian walks. Chip went on a horseback ride one day and another day we took a taxi into Raki Raki for a few hours. The hammocks down by the beach were wonderfully relaxing but I thought they should have one up by my room – now I want one at my house too.
When we returned Lori, who was the one who planned our week in Australia with you, asked me if I had been happy with your services because she was recommending you to another one of our friends who wants to go to Australia and New Zealand. I thoroughly endorsed your services. I also told her to think about Wananavu for her honeymoon if and when she and her long time boyfriend get married.
Thank you so much for all of your recommendations and help with the trip. Your choices and suggestions were wonderful. I have never taken a trip where I did not have to research and plan everything out so this was extremely relaxing.
Kathi Barry
Oct 2006
|
