Dive Review of Beqa Lagoon Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa

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Beqa Lagoon Resort, Dec, 2008, by Kent Roorda, CO, USA ( Reviewer 4 reports). Report 4628.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The good: This trip was our 5th to BLR. They have fixed up the resort grounds nicely and built nice new bures. When out diving, the dive masters were great IN the water; keeping an eye on everyone and showing us lots of neat stuff. The 'not-so-great': Compared to previous trips, this trip was quite a disappointment due to the poor service we received. At the resort, some of the air-conditioners and hot water heaters did not work, and no one made an attempt to fix them; even though the problems were reported numerous times. The food (particularly the evening meals) were just not up to par; compared to what it used to be. The dining room service (especially at the evening meals) was bad, and came with an "I don't care" attitude. Evening meals are supposed to be served at 7pm.(which is late enough in itself!) However, never once was dinner ready at 7, and it was usually 8:30 to 9pm before dinner was served. The locals often provide (singing and dancing) entertainment for the guests before OR after dinner. But, while we were there, they showed no concern for us and continued their singing and dancing into dinner time. When dinner was served, the wait staff acted like lost souls. They often got different peoples' orders mixed up. They would put water glasses on the table, but forget to put water on the table. If then we asked for water, we might get it 15 minutes later, and only if we asked for it a FEW more times. Dinner (or any meal) was seldom ever served with a smile, even though guests were polite and thanked them with a nice Thank You (Vanaka). Needless to say, as 9pm rolled around, many people just weren't in the mood to eat anymore, and, when the food was brought out some of it was cold. When we arrived at the resort, we were asked if anyone had allergies or food preferences. For those who did have any allergies, or food preferences, even though they stated their preferences, they were completely ignored and non-preferred food was served to them anyway. Next.. the Dive Operation: First, the boats were pathetically slow and in disrepair. Our boat was missing one of it's engines, so the crew asked the passengers to sit on one side of the boat so that the boat wouldn't list due to the missing engine. Top speed on the boats was hardly more than idle speed for any other boat. Because of the slow speeds, the boats were only going to dive sites that were close to the resort, as the nicer, and further out dives sites simply took too long to go to and from. On the boats, service and help was minimal. Rather than keeping everyone's weights with their gear, everyone's weights were all thrown into a pile at the back of the boat every afternoon. Little or no mention to 'safety on the boats' was made. Even though a guest had lost her finger on a swinging ladder at BLR earlier in the year, absolutely NO mention was made to be careful with the swinging ladders; particularly when there was more wave action. The crew stated no preferred method for divers to get on or off of the boats. It was pretty much a free-for-all. Last, but certainly not least, NO roll call was taken before the boats left a dive site and headed back. The only thing the crew did was to write down everyone's dive stats for the dive, and that was often done after the boat was on it's way back to port! Due to the fact that the crew often ate meals and food on the boat, the boat(and particlarly the cabin area of the boat) was infested with ants and roaches. Finally, towards the end of the week, the cabin/bridge area of the boat was soaked with insecticide. Obviously, the crew did not think about, or care what would happen if the boat was washed down, or if it simply rained and washed all the insecticide into the water! (Wouldn't it be simpler and more environmentally conscious to simply hose down a boat and keep it clean, rather than to allow it to get filthy and then treat the problem with insecticide!?) In general, BLR seemed disorganized and without guidance or management. Attitudes didn't seem as friendly or accomodating as we had experienced on previous trips. After we got home and reported these things to BLR, their attitude was that of 'being in denial' and telling us that previous guests had not reported such bad service. They also told us that 'they would look into it', but, that was the last we heard of them. Bottom line, BLR is no longer a destination that our group will return to.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Carribbean, Micronesia, Indonesia, Coral Sea, New Guinea, South Pacific
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	currents
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-40 Ft/ 6-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Depth Limit 130'
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	You must keep your camera equipment in your room when you are not diving. When on the boat, the only place for a camera is a camera rinse tank. No one tells the divers NOT to rinse their masks in the camera tank, so doing so is up to you if you don't want defog and 'other mask debris' on your camera equipment

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Dive Review of Beqa Lagoon Resort in Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa

Beqa Lagoon Resort, Dec, 2008,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Beqa Lagoon Resort in
Fiji and Tuvalu/Beqa