Our last night in Fiji

Paradise Taveuni had it's Fiji night which included the lovo burial of meats and starches but also a delicious spinach yogurt conviction, Fiji dancing and kava drinking. We ate the lovo dinner in addition to our favorite dishes and a special cassava dessert. We didn't participate in the festivities as we preferred a quiet secluded dinner at Bulabula point instead. It was amazing because there any was perfectly clear and no moon was out so we saw so many stars. We could actually see the whole milky way. It was awe inspiring and beautiful. Between courses we laid on the beach loungers and stared into the sky. The staff made the evening extra special by scattering flower petals along the walkway as well as decorating our table. It was a truly special final night in Fiji.

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Reflections on Paradise Taveuni

It's hard to live up to the awesomeness of a over-water-bure at Likuliku but there was a great tropical rainforest feel to this place. It rained many of the days off and on but it was still beautiful because the area was so lush. There were rainbows everyday and of course all the great dolphins sightings.

The grounds - beautiful lush rainforest with a beautiful coast. The waters are clear and there's enjoyable snorkeling just outside the resort. There's many hammocks to laze away in. There's a small but cute infinity pool. The best part is the little area right by the water called Bulabula point where you can eat/sit/hammock almost surrounded by the lapping shore.

The food - it was surprisingly good - quality homey food with some touches of class. My favorite was their fish chowder which had a light coconut broth and the grilled fish salad with farm fresh vegetables. They were good at lightly grilling the fish as I requested. There's also a strong Indian influence on the cuisine and their dahl and curries were great. They cannot do desert though. Not fine dining but quality meals that are satisfying and delicious. Oh and their tomato chutney is fantastic.

The staff - everyone was very nice but some people were a bit annoying with their "how are you, you look tired or you must be hungry" every day. The bartender Waka was fantastic and created this great passion fruit smoothie with rum for me. He was also the only person who could get our orders correct. The rest of the servers had about a 50% accuracy rate. Most of them either didn't speak much English or were just dumb.

The luxury deluxe ocean front bure - charming compared with the over water one at Likuliku but was comfortable. There was a fantastic outdoor shower for 2 where you're surrounded by volcanic rocks and beautiful flowers and plants - a nice Oasis, especially after a day of diving. There was also a nice tub to soak in. There's a large space in front of the bure with a table for 2, 2 sitting hammocks and a lounge area. It was really nice. However, there was a lot of construction around our bure and that was quite disturbing because there was always loud shouting and noxious smells from the work sites. We eventually mentioned it to management and they stopped the work for our last day of the stay.

The dive shop - their equipment was good. The boat driver was great. Tina - one of the divemasters was very good - safety conscious and helpful. However, they did have 2 guys who led dives who had not completely their divemaster training - that was a little disconcerting. Philip who leads the snorkel trips seemed very wreckless and only cared about freediving himself rather than leading the group or making sure everyone in the group is safe. Allan - one of the owners of the resort as well as a divemaster - took us out just once but I was disappointed in how he led the group. On our second dive, he took us down to 80 feet but during our ascent saw some sharks and called out to everyone. One person got as deep as 113ft. Clearly everyone needs to be careful diving but as a divemaster he should have been more careful about everyone's safety. That's the primary reason to have a divemaster.

The other owner is Terri and it was my correspondence with her that led me to choose this resort - because she was so responsive and helpful by email. When I emailed her about our issues with the construction around our bure, she blamed us for not mentioning it earlier. She also indicated that she gave us a free upgrade to the luxury bure. I found her response very off putting especially since we specially paid for the upgrade. We were trying not to complain about the construction but it was literally getting worse every day. Eventually, she refunded us the cost of the upgrade which I think was the appropriate thing to do.

Would I stay here again? Probably not. Not because the experience was so terrible but there's resorts closer to the Rainbow Reef if we wanted to come back and there's also so many other great dive spots in Fiji. They say they are a 4-star resort, maybe they can be that one day, but not yet today.

Overall impression of diving in Fiji - Rainbow Reef

It was great! The water was super clear with great visibility. There were so many schools of fish. Not sure if Winter in Fiji is fish mating or spawning season. The soft corals are amazing. There so many colors and variety. Everything was so vibrant. Not so many turtles but many sharks.

I think if I'm back in Fiji, I'd like to try Kavadu diving along the Astrolabe or diving Namena Marine Park. Maybe do both on a live aboard.

Last dive day in Fiji

BlueWe were the only divers on the boat with addition of divemaster and captain and deck hand. It was glorious because it felt like our private boat and private trip. We did 3 dives on the rainbow reef - Mid way, Barracuda point, and Cabbage patch. The current was super strong so a number of the sites weren't safe. As always we saw an amazing number of fish. We saw the funny hammerhead nudibranch again but this time 2 of them and I learned that they are called blue velvet headshield slug (from the dive shop sea creatures book, not there divemaster who keeps calling it hammerhead nudibranch). On the third dive we saw a shark and a lobster.

For lunch, instead of going to the same island that we have been having lunch at, they brought us to a special island that the locals call picnic island. It's got beautiful sandy areas around black volcanic rock. Apparently the locals flock here on holidays and weekends to enjoy the beaches there. It was really charming.

I loved sitting on the top deck of the boat as if it was our private charter. There captain said he saw whales but I didn't see any. And no dolphins either but that's probably why the weather was so pleasant. They say dolphins and whales come when the weather changes.

Day 4 of diving Taveuni - Rainbow Reef

The diving was amazing as always. We did our first dive at The Ledge and second dive at Jerry's Jelly. The trouble with diving here is there's so many fish that I get distracted from looking for other critters. I did get some cool nudibranch photos though. I'm still trying to figure out my new underwater camera - Olympus TG5. I don't think I'm using it to it's full potential yet.

Before the dives, we were greeted with dolphins again but this time they were jumping fully out of the water! I didn't know that they did this is nature. I thought it was just a trick we made them do for aquarium shows. It was incredible. And they can do it synchronized too.

We saw 2 sharks. One actually swam towards me while I was taking a video and really scared me. But I think then I scared it and it swam away.

Also on the second dive, there was an amazing overpass where we let the current carry us over the top of the reef. I took a video. There were so many red and blue little fish!

The most incredible dive of the day however was the night dive. Best night dive ever! I saw an eel, 2 crabs, a bunch of nudibranches and sea slugs, but coolest of all was 2 octopi (octopuses?) mating!! They changed colors and there was a bit of chasing each other around the reef. Tentacles from one into the other... It was amazing. Unfortunately my camera was low on battery so I only got some pictures, no video :(
Best night dive ever!!

Some pictures around the resort and from dive boat

Another amazing day of diving

We did 2 dives on the rainbow reef and a third in a nearby area.

Dive #1 - rainbows end - there was an amazing number of fish just color everywhere. I couldn't figure out what to take pictures of so I took a bunch of videos instead. It was the first time I've seen a lionfish out swimming. Usually they are just hiding in a hole or a crevice. Their many fins were beautiful in the water.

Dive #2 - freeway - we saw 2 sharks and more lionfish. When we surfaced, a pod of dolphins came to swim with our boat again. It was glorious.

Dive #3 - dolphin's cove - it was a local dive but the visibility was great as the water was super clear with minimal current. I got some great pictures.

Again, pictures and videos to follow.

Second day of diving Taveuni

We went to Rainbow reef again for 3 dives but the first one was at the world famous great white wall!! Overall it was an absolutely amazing day. Great white wall, cabbage patch, and fish factory.

The cool white coral and fantastic swim throughs were awesome at the white wall.

The cabbage patch is just a cool formation that I've never seen before.

The number of fish at the fish factory was extreme. At one point I was wondering if I was seeing double or having blurry vision because there were so many amazing fish around. We saw 5 sharks and a turtle including 2 sharks on the reef during our safety stop.

But perhaps the most awesome of all, we saw a huge pod of dolphins - more than 10 and they played with our boat for maybe 15 minutes. It was absolutely amazing - pictures and videos to follow!

Dive photos from Rainbow Reef

tiger tail sea cucumber

longfin spadefish

butterflyfish

large white tipped shark

pink anemonefish

giant clam

Pictures around Taveuni Paradise

First day of diving

We went to Rainbow reef which is the whole we reason we chose this resort. Well, the white wall is highlight but we didn't go there yet. Hopefully soon.

The plan was 3 dives with snacks on the boat and lunch on an island beach.

Dive #1 - over the fence
Almost as soon as we got in the water, we saw a huge shark. We then saw at least 2 more sharks. They were all white tip reef sharks. We also saw an eagle ray. But all the fish were beautiful and the coral was pristine. I loved all the colors and the clarity of the water.

Dive #2 - the zoo
We saw more than 5 sharks - white and black tipped. There was this point underwater where we just sat and waited and saw schools of Jack, huge groups of barracuda, and a group of sharks. We got a little deep there and decided to sit out the third dive.

The lunch location was beautiful with lush tropical trees and rainforest adjacent to a beach with water shallow waters and mangroves.

Instead of the third dive we snorkeled at the mini cabbage. Not as nice as diving though.

Dive pictures to come...

Taveuni Paradise

Leaving Likuliku

Last night was their special Fiji night with free cocktails and singing and dancing by the staff. It was a great send off for our last night at the resort. All the guests were gathered to watch the show and there was even a conga line at the end. And unlimited sparkling wine for me :)

We learned that there were several couples there on return trips. Including a couple that was there on their 8th trip. Apparently the record is 23! Another couple liked it so much after a 2 week stay, they returned a month later to stay for 30 days! Wow!

Dinner was also special. They cooked some pork, chicken, taro, potatoes, and pumpkin in a lovo - buried over hot coals and covered with banana leaves. There was also an assortment of meats cooked to order as well as some super delicious sweet and spicy mud crab. We really enjoyed that! They also had some island sushi rolls that weren't bad.

We got up at 5 this morning to go on our private sunrise cruise to the private island of Mociu for a picnic breakfast on top of the island as we watched the sun rise. It was magnificent. We were there only people on this island. We hiked up to the very top of the island where we had a 360 view of all the surrounding islands and sipped champagne as we watched the sun rise. We also had a Continental breakfast with hot tea and coffee with local fruits and pastries. Watching the sky turn shades of orange, pinks and blues was really magical. It was so romantic up there. I'm so glad we had a chance to do it.

On our walk back to our bungalow along the foot bridge, we saw a small albino reef shark and 2 blue spotted stingrays lurking in the shallows.

Afterwards, we jumped into the water from our bungalow and snorkeled for over an hour. It was probably the best snorkeling trip I've ever had. We were so close to the reef and the sun was shining through the water so everything was well lit.

After another delicious breakfast, we finally said good bye to likuliku and took the ferry to Nadi. We boarded a 18 seater plane for our connection to the next destination - Paradise in Taveuni.

Dive pictures from yesterday's dives

Beautiful sight in Paradise

While walking along the pier at low tide, I saw an octopus moving about. This is very rare during daytime! It was amazing because he changed colors several times to try to camoflage himself. It was quite impressive.

I took the catamaran out and sailed between the islands. It was a real treat. Beautiful sailing with a nice breeze!

After lunch, we headed over to the jetted infinity pool.

Now I'm enjoying the sunset from the water bungalow. It's a good life.


Happy feet...

How close we are to the reef

Someone asked how far our water bungalow is from the reef where we can snorkel.

View from our balcony

And when I looked down earlier, I saw a stingray right under our bungalow through the windows on the bottom of our floor. Amazing!

Likuliku lagoon continued

Sunset Cruise just for us

 Breakfast