Crusoe's Retreat, Fiji

by Catherine Corcoran

If you want a long reef to yourselves with plenty of dive sites, loads of tropical fish and coral as well as sharks, turtles, drift diving and/or easy snorkelling, this is the resort for you. They call it “Fiji’s best kept secret”, which I think is true.

Crusoe’s Retreat is at the centre of the Coral (south) Coast of Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji. About 2 hours drive (by courtesy shuttle) from Nadi airport, it is 4km off the main road down a gravel road. This means that it is close to nature (in good quality, comfortable bungalows) and next to a traditional Fijian village, so a good way to get a real taste of Fiji. Many of the villagers work in the hotel and share their culture with holiday makers in evening shows etc.

There is a great reef wall offshore extending for miles. Inside the reef this gives calm beaches and loads of snorkelling within standing depth. The dive operation, Dive Crusoe’s is the only one allowed to dive the reef by the Fijian village, Namaqumaqua (pronounced Namangumangua). As they only have one boat, you won’t see anyone except the divers you went out with on the reef. You will see plenty of clown fish, angel fish, banner fish, coral and many other beauties. Watch out for the other things I saw like lion fish, trigger fish, fire coral, scorpion fish, rays, tutles and, of course, sharks. I saw four different types of sharks while I was there: grey reef, black tip, white tip and a guitar shark. I hear they also have leopard sharks and hammerheads. This is a place where sharks seem to mate, so we had some interesting courtship to watch! There are usually 2 dives a day at times depending on tides.

Visibility is supposed to be best July-September when water temperature can drop as low as 22 degrees! I have dived there in October and December when the water temp was 26-27°C and visibility ranged from 15 – 30 metres. We generally did a deeper dive outside the reef wall in the mornings, looking at small wonders like nudibranches, tropical fish, rock lobsters, corals, anemones and lots of hanging over cliffs generally with 30m vis. In the afternoons we’d often dive in the channel out to the reef dodging trigger fish on our way to watch the sharks, rays, barracuda and when we were lucky a turtle would swim by. The vis in the Channel can get as low as 15m, but we drifted out to better visibility.

The dive boat is very easy to kit up on, with a central rack for tanks and gear. I just had to sit down on this, put my BCD over my shoulders etc, turn to sit on the edge of the boat and do a backward roll entry. The boat picked us up at the end of the dives/drifts and exit from the water was also very easy with help from the crew. Sometimes they even lifted me out! The dive guides were very attentive and pointed many things out to us underwater as well as entertaining us with underwater singing and ring bubble blowing on safety stops…

The prices for Dive Crusoe’s were very reasonable and for 9 dives with tanks and weights provided by them, I paid £178. Crusoe’s Retreat also provides complimentary daily snorkel boat and glass bottom boat trips as well as volleyball, games in and out of the pool and varied evening entertainment. There is only one restaurant on site which has a good selection of food, but if you want a change you will have to either go on one of the organised trips to Pacific Harbour, Suva or Sigatoka or arrange transport for yourself. We got a lift to the main road for Fiji$5 and the public bus to Pacific Harbour for Fiji$4 and the same on return for two of us. The journey took about 45 minutes each way.

For further details check Crusoe's Retreat. For Dive Crusoe’s information, contact the Kiwi instructor and cheerful organiser Don at diving@crusoesretreat.com.fj . One last tip: take plenty of insect repellent (although the rooms are insect free) and sun tan lotion. October was more comfortable (out of the water) for temperature and humidity than December. The hot, wet season is generally from December until April and there can be cyclones then, but we were quite comfortable at Crusoe’s and the rain doesn’t often last long.
Happy diving

Catherine Corcoran OWI 3016

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