388 replies to this topic

[jesterdiver]

Roatan is amazing diving! I could've stayed days just exploring the house wall at the resort Kamala uses!

I will need to pass on this Fiji trip. Kamala, I'm looking for an easy fast dive for the week of April 13th, 2015. Maybe st. Maarten or someplace easy to get to from phx. Roatan?

[SeaLassie]

Using miles for flights - it's close to time to book or the award seats will be gone. Do you have a definite departure date (for the land piece)? Fiji Airways does not operate the flight from LAX to NAN every day. Kind of a goofy schedule! The return flight from NAN back to LAX can be booked for Friday night of March 20?

[dive_sail_etc]

Using miles for flights - it's close to time to book or the award seats will be gone. Do you have a definite departure date (for the land piece)? Fiji Airways does not operate the flight from LAX to NAN every day. Kind of a goofy schedule! The return flight from NAN back to LAX can be booked for Friday night of March 20?

I PM'ed Kamala to alert her of this post; no need for you to do so now but I recommend it in the future for things ONLY she can help with i.e. long range trip dates, flight planning etc. Us Trip Coordinators can be reached via PM or trips@singledivers.com any time as well.

[WreckWench]

Using miles for flights - it's close to time to book or the award seats will be gone. Do you have a definite departure date (for the land piece)? Fiji Airways does not operate the flight from LAX to NAN every day. Kind of a goofy schedule! The return flight from NAN back to LAX can be booked for Friday night of March 20?

I have been near deathly ill the since returning from the Maldives. Ok maybe not deathly but no one has wanted to be near me and I've sounded and looked deathly.

As a result we are behind. Our land pkg with Beqa Lagoon has flights in it from LAX to Nadi and so are on hold and I will be posting the full details this week as I have to release spots not being used asap.

Please bear with me a bit longer. />

[Jaque]

Please put me down as interested and let me know when this trip opens for booking. It doesn't work with my schedule right now, but I have time to fiddle with my schedule and make it work I think. I would probably do the land-based and the liveaboard if I am going to spend that long in an airplane seat.

[WreckWench]

IMPORTANT TRIP UPDATE:

This trip will be opening next.


Our plan is to do an 11 nite landbased option as a standalone trip or do a 3 day landbased option in conjunction with Siren's 10 day liveaboard trip.

PRICING:

$TBA - 3 nite, + diving + meals + unlimited shorediving + transfers + taxes ADD ON for either the 7 nite pkg or as a stand alone pre-Siren Arrival Buffer Pkg

$3159 - 7 nite, 10 boat dives, unlimited shore diving, 3 meals daily, Roundtrip AIR non-stop LAX to Fiji, transfers, all taxes, and Fijian cultural activities daily + MORE

$4960 - Siren Liveaboard doing BEST OF BLIGH WATERS Lomaiviti & Taveuni Islands from: 10th - 20th March 2015 All Inclusive (see full itinerary below)

$TBA - Round trip air for those doing 3 day pkg and/or Siren available for limited time (NOTE: If you are doing the 11 day land pkg and the Siren the air in the landbased will cover both your trips if you sign up early)

[WreckWench]

Please put me down as interested and let me know when this trip opens for booking. It doesn't work with my schedule right now, but I have time to fiddle with my schedule and make it work I think. I would probably do the land-based and the liveaboard if I am going to spend that long in an airplane seat.

Those are the easy dates:

Depart March 1 arrive March 3 NADI Fiji
March 3-10 Beqa Lagoon
March 10-20 Siren
Depart March 20 arrive March 20 LAX US


Liveaboard is March 10-20 and we will have a limited number of "Early Arrival Buffer Pkgs" at Beqa Lagoon that will allow you to arrive 3 days early, ensures you get your bags and allows you to get some diving in so you hit the ground running for Siren.

OR

You can just do a 7-10 pkg landbased and not do the Siren at all.
Depart March 1 arrive March 3 Nadi Fiji
March 3-10 or 3-14 Beqa Lagoon
Depart March 10 or 14 arrive March 20 LAX US

Air Contract:

You can use our air contract if you depart March 1 and either do the landbased or the land based and the liveaboard.

[WreckWench]

IMPORTANT TRIP UPDATE:

This trip will be opening next.


Here is the diving itinerary of the liveaboard portion of the trip.

BEYOND THE BLIGH
-
10 NIGHTS
FIJI
Beyond the Bligh, Fiji
-
10 Nights
34 Dives including up to 5 night dives

Day 1
-
Welcome Aboard
Meet members of the Worldwide Dive and Sail yacht crew at the Volivoli Beach Resort in Viti Levu and transfer to the waiting S/Y Fiji Siren. After a short boat briefing and
introduction to your crew you have time to relax, settle in and get acquainted with the S/Y Fiji Siren as she moves to one of the many local sites for your first dive of this 10 night safari. A suitable check dive site will be chosen based on the local conditions of the day. The following is a sample itinerary of where you might dive during your holiday with us. We wish to show you the very best diving but a number of factors can determine where we visit. Weather, tides, currents, trade winds and how busy a site is with other dive vessels all play a part in the Cruise Director’s decision of which route the yacht takes. The safety of all on board is paramount and we always do our best in offering diving at alternate locations. The Cruise Director is happy to listen to requests from guests to visit or remain at certain sites and providing it is possible and the schedule allows, then guest’s requests are respected.

Bligh Waters & Vatu
-
I Ra Passage E6 – starting from just 1m below the surface this large pinnacle drops to over 900m providing a wealth of hard and soft corals along with a cathedral like overhang adorned with gorgonian fans. Eagle rays and hammerheads are known to make an appearance; meanwhile amidst the colourful corals we spot numerous crustaceans and molluscs. We dive this site directly from the S/Y Fiji Siren.

Mellow Yellow – divers can expect to see grey reef sharks, schools of barracuda and plenty of turtles. Whilst at night the lionfish, flatworms and shrimps are a delight.

High - 8 - All manner of marine life from green turtles and titan trigger fish to white tip reef sharks can be spotted here.

Coral Corner – White tips and grey reef sharks dart between the schooling fusiliers, triggerfish and wrasse, meanwhile on the corals octopus can be found along with flat worms, moray eels and scorpion fish.

Chimneys – consists of 3 large coral bommies extending downwards from just 3m (10ft) and covered with soft corals and crinoids. Tuna, barracuda, white tips and occasional silver tip sharks are seen here as we drift around the bommies. Currents can be strong.

Namena Marine Reserve - The dives we make will be based on the currents and conditions but you can expect to see plenty of macro species including ribbon eels, garden eels and fire gobies. We are also likely to see several species of shark and schools of tuna and trevally jacks. Manta rays have been known to visit also whilst the shallow waters of the nature reserve are the epitome of healthy hard coral gardens.

North Save a Tack - offers a diverse reef structure and steep reef wall. We descend to 30m (100ft) to watch for large pelagics. Schools of big eye jacks congregate here as do hundreds of unicorn fish and red tooth trigger fish. Continuing along the reef southwards we come to a pinnacle known as “Kansas” named for the likeness to the wheat fields of the US State, due to an abundance of golden leather corals. A wide variety of reef fish, anthias and gobies can be seen along with octopus and garden eels.

Grand Central Station – A delectable fish soup with schools of barracuda, trevally, parrotfish, trigger fish. Colourful damsel fish hover over the corals in clusters whilst dog tooth tuna, Spanish mackerel, white tip and grey reef sharks patrol the reef edge.

Other sites within the reserve include:
“Two Thumbs Up”, ”Magic Mushrooms”, “Ned’s Heads” and “Keenans”.

Wakaya Island Lion’s Den – We dive out into the blue to watch for patrolling hammerhead sharks and manta rays. White tips, grey reef sharks, schooling barracuda, batfish and hawksbill turtles are also commonly seen.

Wakaya Passage – A wall dive with swim throughs & overhangs covered with soft corals; another great spot to look out for manta rays and hammerhead sharks.

Blue Ribbon Eel Ridge - this sloping coral wall develops into plateaus at 18m (60ft) and 30m (100ft) coral bommies on the plateaus hide leaf fish, dart gobies and blue ribbon eels

Gau Island - The Nigali Passage is a deep channel and with an incoming current attracts schools of pelagic fish. Barracuda and trevally jacks are a common sight at the channel mouth whilst grey reef sharks form schools at just 18m / 60ft. hang out in the channel for most of the dive and watch the action then end your dive in the shallow lagoon as the channel ends. Also of note are the huge groupers that cruise about.

Jim’s Alley – typically a more relaxed paced dive than the Nigali passage, Jim’s Alley offers swathes of garden eels and anemone fish, black snapper and clown triggerfish, nudibranchs and banded sea snakes.

Taveuni Island - The dives we make at Taveuni Island are largely dependent on the currents and tidal conditions. Timing is crucial to your enjoyment of the diving in the region. High slack tide is often the best to enjoy the soft corals when they are open and bright without the ripping currents.

[SeaLassie]

I'm stoked! Waiting for this trip to open to secure a spot. I will go with leaving on March 1 and returning on the 20th (7 day land plus Siren).

[Resqdew]

So, just to clarify, if we can't fly with the group on March 1st, then we will need to reserve our own flights to get to Fiji.

March 7 to 10 with the group, then Siren for 10 days, then I would like to stay at least a week longer in Fiji land based ---depending on the price. Another SD.com member has mentioned to me that she is also thinking about staying longer, so maybe there would be a few more people that might stay a few days in Fiji after getting off of the Siren.
If we don't leave with the group on March 20th, then it would also be logical that we would need to book our own flights home. This is good to know since we will soon be able to book flights for March 2015.
Thanks!

[WreckWench]

FLIGHT CLARIFICATION:

You only need to fly with the group on March 1st that is why the contract can cover the landbased for 7 days or 10 or the landbased and liveaboard.

Currently the contract does NOT cover the liveaboard only. I am looking at how many people we need to do a contract for that but do not have the information yet.

NOTE: If you are doing Beqa Lagoon landbased I can get you a small contract to fly AFTER the Siren part of the trip. If you are staying someplace else let us know and we'll work to save you money on that booking as well.

p.s. I'm bummed you can't join us before the liveaboard. The diving in Beqz Lagoon is much easier so is a good start before the Siren for which the Bligh Waters are amazing but much more difficult diving. Many have said you'll be disappointed in the diving elsewhere in Fiji if you start with the Bligh Waters first...hence our saving it for last.

[Resqdew]

Even though I have flexible time off from work, sometimes the dates just don't work. No worries, at least I can get there before the Siren trip!

If you have time to check on land based diving options after Siren, I would appreciate your expertise to find the best deal. I'll be checking prices too.
If I can still enjoy the diving in my local lake (51 temp, 10ft viz) after diving Maldives, Galapagos, Cocos, Dominica, etcetera, then I doubt that I'll be disappointed in any diving in warm sunny Fiji. :-)
Thank you!!

[WreckWench]

I'll see if Beqa has availability. Are you looking at a week or 10 days for the landbased?

[Resqdew]

Arrive in Fiji on March 6th or 7th, complete the Siren trip, then stay ABOUT 5 to 7 days AFTER the Siren trip. Looking for the best deal for diving and lodging.
Thank you!

[WreckWench]

Beqa will be amazing... here are some sneak peeks at what you'll see!


DIVING:














THE HOTEL:










THE CULTURE:








THE FOOD: