Travelled on an uneventfull by long Air New Zealand flight to Nadi and
then on Sunflowere Air to Taveuni. My wife and I stayed at the Garden
Island Resort, which is the biggest hotel (34 beds) on the Island. Our
overall impression of the hotel was very favorable- however the food was
somewhat expensive and meager. Diving was in the SOMOSOMO straits between
Taveuni and Viti Leavu on the Rainbow Reef. Hence Diving operation was
called Rainbow Reef Divers. The attraction of diving this island is the
soft coral- which when in bloom was mind blowing. However the blooming of
the c***is very dependent on current/tide and here lies the rest of the
story!! For example the signature dive for this area is the Great White
wall, a white c***carpeted vertical wall plumetting to LA LA land,
unfortunately as dives apparently could only be run at 8.45 AM the Great
White Wall was infact more the Great Grey/Brown wall as the current was
slack at this time. After 3 days of diving great sites at the wrong time
the whole boat managed to complain as one about this somewhat stupid
situation and actually dived a site called the ZOO at 11 AM an a incoming
tide. This dive was a good enough reason on its own to come halfway around
the world;*** in the current at 100 ft on a vertical wall with 100+
barracuda above and 2 8ft bronze whallers chomping on a school of snapper
below us followed by upwards of 10 white tips on the reef top. Other sites
in the SOMOSOMO staights such as the ledges, Blue ribbon eel reef, yellow
tunnel, annies bommie and the fish factory turned into very good dives-
allways with a multitude of fish, inverts, sea snakes, etc. Although the
diving was good it could have been world class but for the ridgity of Dave
the dive shop owner; if I ever make it back to Fiji I would dive with the
other outfit on the Island DIVE TAVEUNI. If anybody has any questions feel
free to mail me. David.