**ANDEX23**

[Ms.Goggles]

ANDEX- I know I said this to you in another thread, but I''m so excited that someone else is doing Fiji! I can''t wait to see your pictures! Where are you guys spending your second week? We still haven''t decided 100% on resorts, so we haven''t booked yet, but I am getting so antsy!

I would love to learn to dive. We snorkel (which I know is so not the same) but FI is afraid of being deep underwater so he''s been really resistant to learn. I just don''t think we can go to Fiji and NOT dive!

 

[andex23]

Hey! Andex is me!

I am so excited about Fiji too...when are you guys going? We''re there the last week in April 2010.

We are spending the first week in Viti Levu (north) www.Wananavu.com then the second week in Taveuni. We''re there really to dive and so we told the travel agent...dive is most important, wedding is second important, everyone else can not come if they don''t like it. We''re staying at Paradise Taveuni. http://www.paradiseinfiji.com/ Don''t know much about it other than good diving. It''s just what the travel agent recommended and so we said sure.

Diving...I could talk to you about diving all day long. How TOTALLY AWESOME it is. How it is, by far, one of the most enjoyable things that I/we have ever done. We love it and I''m seriously thinking about how I can change my career from construction to diving. We''ve decided that we love it so much, that if we were to move (from coastal Orange County, CA), it would have to be to a place where we could dive regularly.

My recommendation to you is to google "Scuba" and your town. There are dive shops in all cities. Many of them offer a "discover scuba" class that is usually an hour or so and usually free. It''s for people that are hesitant, have questions, don''t know what it involves, etc. Try to get FI to go and see. SOmetimes they let you get in their pools and try on gear and see what it is like to scuba dive (in a 10-15 foot swimming pool). Maybe that will give him a kick in the rear.

Then...get certified at home. There are different ways to get certified and I won''t lie, scuba can get expensive. But since you''ve got this vacation/wedding planned to one of the top 10 dive spots in the world (and soft coral capital of the world--if you didn''t already know that) they are going to throw these most common options at you.

--Scuba Diving at your Resort--this is a total money maker for resorts (IMHO). They charge you 150-200 bucks (pp) often times and you spend a day learning to dive. You''ll spend the morning in a class and go in the pool and then the afternoon they''ll take you out in the ocean to do "the real thing." We''ve never done this class, but we accompanied one of these groups on a boat one afternoon and it is very limited. You don''t have enough experience in a resort pool to really get used to what you need to do (and often resort pools aren''t deep enough to really learn properly) and so on our dive, all the "students" held hands, formed a chain, and the instructor basically pulled them through the ocean. Think of it as being on a scuba train. They didn''t/couldn''t go off and explore what was on the rock, go swim after fish, etc. Also, this certification isn''t really certification. When you hear people say, i went on vacation and went diving in Cancun (only that once), this is what they are talking about. It is good for only that day, only with that resort, etc. It''s not what divers consider "being certified." All your stuff is rental stuff...meaning I think that you only provide your bathing suit and you are good to go.

--Getting certified at your resort--this is definitely better than above, but it is still similar. Here you often go through a 3 day class and do multiple dives. Then you actually become certified. Your certification is good anywhere in the world and you really are a "diver." Depending on the resort, where you are, etc, I''ve seen this run about 300 or so.

--Getting certified at home--this is what I recommend. If you are going on your honeymoon or any vacation, why spend three days of it in a class, learning to dive. Spend those days at home (either during the week or weekend) and learn to do it. Then, when you go on vacation, you can just jump in and go. The price is usually the same (about $300 is the going rate) and then you''ll have to buy your personal gear (mask, snorkel, fins--and in CA we add gloves and booties). I don''t know if when you get certified at your resort (option 2 above) if you also have to buy the personal gear or if you can rent.

Diving was one of the first things that FI and I did together when we started dating (started at the end of april and were officially certified by the end of September). That''s one of the reasons that we like it so much. I also think that if you snorkel, you''ll end up REALLY wanting to dive (esp. in Fiji) as there''s so much to see. Do you live in a place now that has lots of diving opportunities? We live in Orange County, CA (think Newport Beach) and so we go diving about once a month off the beaches in Laguna Beach. We went two weeks ago and saw 2 small sharks (between 3 to 5 feet), 2 octopods (what''s the plural of octopus?), lots of colorful fish, lobsters, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and it was AWESOME.

Want to talk about diving or Fiji? I''m your (wo)man.

Back to Fiji...super excited. Have you figured out where you guys are getting married?

 

[Ms.Goggles]

Your resorts look gorgeous! I think it''s hard to go wrong with Fiji! I have heard good things about Taveuni for diving and in general, actually. We were looking at a resort there as well, but once the quotes came back, it was out of the budget. I know one of the resorts we''re considering is supposed to have great diving, so I really want to take advantage of it! We don''t really have any places where we can actually dive around here. I know there are places in Chicago that will teach us in a weekend...the only thing is, how to convince FI!?!? He''s worn the equipment before (we did something on vacation in Disney World once where we wore tanks and masks, fins, etc. but swam on the top of the water...why we needed tanks, I have no idea), but he is afraid of really deep water, sharks, etc.

We aren''t going until next end of June/early July. It seems soooooooo far off, but I''m a teacher, so we can only go when I have enough break time. I didn''t want to try to pack it all in over winter break, so summer it is! I guess that means we have a good amount of time to book, but I feel like I should get it done ASAP since the resorts are small. We are doing something similar to you- going to the first resort to have the wedding (just the two of us though) and then another for the "honeymoon." Right now the top contenders are Royal Davui for the wedding and Likuliku for the honeymoon. With all this time on my hands, I keep looking at the pictures on other resorts'' websites and second guessing! Royal Davui is supposed to have amazing snorkeling and diving, but it''s on a tiiiiiiiny island. That sounds AMAZING at times, but then I wonder if we''ll get bored. We''re going to be in FIJI, I think we might want to do some excursions. That''s why we were looking at Taveuni- there''s so much to do there!


It''s so great that your guests are going to come with you! I think a simple ceremony on the beach will be so beautiful. We''re definitely going to do a celebratory dinner when we get back at a restaurant downtown somewhere.

Thanks for offering to help with the diving stuff! I am NOT done working on FI yet...

 

[andex23]

We booked Wananavu for the diving. We didn''t really give that much thought to our guests, but the more that time passes, I worry that they aren''t going to have enough stuff to do. I checked out Frommer''s/Lonely Planet a few days ago and they said some good things about where we are staying (that it''s far from some of the more "populous" places so you have the opportunity to see what Fiji is really like, rather than the tourist meccas of white sand beaches and Tshirt shops) so that eased my fears a little bit.

I''ve read (somewhere and sorry I can''t remember very well) that many of the "excursion" type stuff is on the island of Viti Levu on the southern portion (where the crowds are). If you want to go on the zip line, you''ve got to go there because that''s the only one, etc.

I checked out "Diving Chicago" in google and it looks like there are TONS of places to dive. Especially in the North Point area (don''t know where that is, just what I found). It looks like there are a lot of wrecks to explore, some at 40 feet or less. And I''d have to guess that there''s few sharks in those great lakes.

No celebratory dinner/reception for us. I think that it''s because we are too cheap and selfish. Cheap because we don''t want to spend the money, selfish because I think that it would be a lot of "people pleasing" that neither I or FI want to do. I mean, if FMIL/FFIL want to throw us a party in their hometown, sure I''ll fly over there, but I''m not going out of my way to plan a reception of sorts, either where we live or where any of our parents/relatives/friends live. They can come to Fiji if they want.