Dive Op Review

Aquatrek is who we called and booked our entire trip through.  This made things very easy - and we got a great deal, but there were also a couple of hiccups.

When we arrived at the Nadi airport, we found that Air Pacific had failed to get our luggage to Fiji - we then had to hop on a small prop plane run by Fiji Air to get to Taveuni, which has to have the absolute worst customer service I have ever seen for an airline (story for another time).

Our scuba vacation started on the island of Taveuni at the Garden Island Resort (that review is here).  Aquatrek dive shop is located on the resort grounds, and very convenient.  We were very happy to find that the dive shop would provide us rental gear at no charge until our luggage made it over from the States.

Aquatrek Taveuni had a great staff.  We felt like they knew us on a personal level.  In fact, they addressed us by our names within a day.

Our dives consisted of two morning dives a day, and you could pay extra for a third.  Keep in mind that Fiji has varying current, and the morning dives seemed to have the least amount of current.  On some of the dives the current was strong enough to make beginning divers wary, and a couple of dives the current was so strong that it should be considered advanced diving.

The strong currents in Fiji promote awesome coral growth.  The soft coral colors are so bright and beautiful that it makes diving the caribbean seem like the surface of the moon.  You could spot an entire rainbow of colors on one coral head.

We also saw so many fish!  The species and colors were astounding.  Of special note, my wife (ScubaChick) had a few key things she wanted to see before we left Fiji: a Lionfish, Anenome, Anenomefish, a Blue Ribbon Eel, a Sea Snake, and a Nudibanch.  ALL of which shee saw within a few minutes on our first dive!  In addition, we saw leaf scorpions, unicorn fish, clown triggers, spanish dancers, many types of flatworms and nudi's, jellyfish, and so much more - I don't know the species in the pacific.

Dispite the extremely long flight from Colorado to Fiji, the strong currents, and the costs involved - we almost don't have any desire to dive the caribbean ever again... almost.  Moving on...

Aquatrek has very fast boats in both locations we went to (Taveuni and Beqa Lagoon).  On Taveuni, this made it easy to shoot over to another  island to spend our surface interval on.  A white sand beach, good snorkeling, and a volleyball court made for a great time.

There were a few downsides that I feel obligated to mention.  First, we had to request a fresh water tank for our camera equipment, and the one they brought aboard was so small that 1 camera filled it up.  Also, when you came up from your dive, it was difficult to board the dive boat.  The crew was sometimes available to get your camera, and there was nothing by the ladder to grab onto to get onto the boat (like a mast or handle or a post).  When you did make it onto the boat you often found that someone else had been placed in your spot.  This was really annoying because you had to move your belongings to the new spot.  You could blame the seating problem on the divers, but it seemed to happen on almost every dive.  Some people may get upset at the fact that the divemasters do not automatically move your gear to the new tank.  Personally, I prefer to do this myself.

Below is some video I took (quality degredation courtesy of YouTube ;-)  You can start to see some of the color offered in Fiji.

Overall, we liked the dive shop because the dive crew seemed genuinely interested in you.  They were observant underwater, always pointing out the critters.  The divemasters also 'fixed' broken parts of the reef.  You often would see them flip a broken hardcoral rightside-up so it could continue to grow.

Overall, I would give Aquatrek Taveuni a 7.5 out of 10 (with the decrements due only to the 'on the boat' issues above) - and I would definitely dive with them again.

--Pictures taken by ScubaChick ;-)