#wananavu

[sikeligreg-blog]

Sikeli’s first snow

[postaworld-blog1]

Beautiful Fiji

[moresweetthanbitter]

missing fiji

[@ wananavu resort, june 2018]

[moresweetthanbitter]

missing fiji

[moresweetthanbitter]

missing fiji

[southpacifictourismorg-blog]

Wananavu Beach Resort is one of our major prize sponsors for the Fiji Dive Famil competition, EXCITING 8-NIGHTS DIVE FAMIL IN SUN COAST, FIJI. Which has been designed for travel agents only. Dive Wananavu is Fiji’s premier scuba diving resort specialising in buddy dive teams, and larger dive groups. Fiji is known for our world class coral reefs and has been labelled the “The Soft Coral Capital of the World”. Located on the Sun Coast overlooking the Sailstone Reef and the Nananui Islands, only 2 and half hours drive from Nadi airport, Wananavu Beach Resort offers you the feel of an island paradise with the convenience of the mainland. Wananavu is an idyllic 4 star resort with a traditional Fijian feel. Wananavu’s family of staff look forward to showing you the warmth and hospitality the real Fiji has to offer. http://southpacificspecialist.org/specialist-promotion/ #wananavu #wananavubeachresort #wananavufiji #divewananavu #fiji #divefiji #therealfiji #SouthPacific #specialist #WeAreThePacific

[shilohjackson-blog]

The Hostess In The Marijuana Print Dress. Now That's Fiji.

When the hostess at the Wananavu Beach Resort showed up in a marijuana print dress; I knew we were in for something special.  Boy, was I right!  Here is a posting I shared with Bluewater Travel.  Enjoy!

Wananavu Beach Resort is a beautiful resort nestled in the Fijian foothill side along the northern coast of the Bligh Water on the main island of Viti Levu. Truly, Wananavu Beach Resort is everything you can imagine it is. White sandy beaches in the warm Fijian sun. Smiles and happy people greeting you each and every day. A beautiful lush garden amongst the Fijian bures. And a first class dive op to back it up.

Accommodations and Grounds The Wananavu Beach Resort sits atop a foothill along the northern coast of the Bligh Water. As such, walking to and from the bures throughout the grounds involves walking up and down through the hilly resort. I personally did not mind the workout, but some folks in our group that were older mentioned it was a lot of work, particularly to access the dive op grounds on the beach.

That said, the grounds are quite meticulously taken care of. There are sculptured, lush tropical gardens surrounding all the bures. They add quite a bit of color and attract some of the local wildlife, such as birds and small reptiles. It’s quite beautiful.

There are two sets of bures, those atop the hill, and those at the beach front. The bures at the top have a stunning view of the coastline and are more accessible to the restaurant, and involve less walking to the commons area. The bures at the beach front, in my opinion, are more desirable because they’re secluded from the resort, and the beaches are white and and are quite serene. 

The bures themselves are mildly spacious, and spartan-like. You can expect a comfortable bed, a couple end tables, and small desk area. Bathrooms are clean, updated, and functional. Electricity at this resort was constant and we did not experience power outages, like we have at other Fijian resorts. There are locks on the doors, which again, is optional at some dive resorts in Fiji. 

If you’re a camera shooter, I found the lighting to be quite inadequate, and table space short. There is not a camera environment on grounds, so you’ll need to make due with what you have. I recommend adding a headlamp to kit if you don’t already have one. 

Food The food at this was resort was a pleasant surprise. Breakfast is served buffet style with a spread of tropical fruits and fresh breads. They also serve a local recipe of muesli. It’s an oatmeal-like dish, sweet, with tropical fruit and nuts. I must confess, that I’ve copied the recipe and have been eating it home for the past six months.

Lunches and dinners are made to order and consisted of a variety of fresh fish, meats, and vegetables. It’s quite clear, that a professional chef is running the kitchen as the food dishes are well prepared. Ingredients are local and fresh. The dishes were remarkable, complex, and of high quality. 

Service, at times, did run slow. Factor this into your dive planning if you’re trying to get out for a third dive. 

Dive Op In my opinion, this is one of the best dive operations I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. The dive crew was absolutely professional, and on top of their game. The boats were well maintained, and run well. We never had any issues with the boats. Also tanks were well maintained and inspections were up-to-date. 

The dive masters were very accommodating as we had group of about 12 divers, with lots of camera shooters. They broke us off into smaller groups of 4 divers each. Also, since many of our group were very experienced divers, they gave us the play we were looking for on our dive trip. I can’t say enough about the people running the dive op. Just a great group and well run. 

My only knock was at the dive center; they had very little in the way of tools. They had a recent change in management when I was there and the previous folks gutted the tool inventory. I always bring a few things with me, so it wasn’t a big deal, but at the time they could have used an update in tool inventory.

Diving I enjoyed diving the pinnacles in the Bligh Water. Typically, each dive site was on a set of pinnacles. The average being about 4 - 5 different pinnacles. Target depth was usually 60 - 80 feet with the dive ending at or near the tops of the pinnacles. The soft coral on these pinnacles is colorful, and teaming with life. The tops of the pinnacles are freaking spectacular with a mixture of hard and soft coral, and just an insane amount of fish. I also remember the currents being rough at the top of the pinnacles, and sometimes mixed up with some surge-like currents. It can be rough at the top, but really fun. 

Currents can be ripping in areas, and can come up on you quick. Watch the particulate in the water for direction and speed. I noted that a few feet in depth can make a huge difference. The currents sometimes changed dramatically when turning the corner around pinnacles. Also, we encountered some down current on pinnacles. I thought the diving was more for intermediate to advanced divers. 

The photography in the Bligh Water, for me, was primarily wide angle, with some opportunities for macro with nudibranchs and the like. There are some fantastic wide angle shots waiting at the E6 dive site with really long coral swim throughs and gorgeous sea fans, something I noted that Fiji is not lacking. I did think that shooting in the Bligh Water was tough. It forced me to think about setting up shots and trying to fill shot well with interesting subject matter. Sometimes there’s not enough, other times there’s too much, and other times you’re just trying to figure out how to make it work. That sums up my Bligh Water photography experience.

Looking back at my pictures, I shot a lot of coral reefscapes, and sea fans in this area. I got some great video of the swim throughs. I also got some great pics of Anemone Fish and LionFish. We did you see quite a few White Tip Sharks while on dives. I primary used a wide angle lens, 10-17mm Tokina. I think some folks were shooting some rectilinear lenses. There wasn't a great consensus on how best to shoot the Bligh Water, and I know some of my pals struggled with the subject matter.

Night diving was hit and miss for us in the Bligh Water. We hit a couple sites and we didn’t see much. That said, if you do go, they will take you out in the Bligh Water, which is far from shore, with current. We did hit a site called The Wheat Fields on one of the night dives. It was pretty cool to see, and almost think it would have been an awesome day dive. Just don’t expect a ton of critters in the Bligh Water at night. There are some crabs and other critters; but you’ll have to hunt for them.

Bottom Line The bottom line is that Wananavu Beach Resort will appeal to someone who is looking for a higher end resort with a first class dive operation. While the diving is more intermediate to advanced, the underwater photographer may get their fill quickly of reefscapes and sea fans and maybe become bored with subject matter all too soon.

Wananavu Dive Sites