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What John and Marina have created is very unique and beautiful. They carved a beautiful and magical place in a remote location in the jungle and right on the bay. Their dedication and extraordinary hard work to build this “mini-Resort” by hand is remarkable. I wish I could give them a 5 star review. Here is why I give their efforts, unfortunately, two stars:
My scuba diving certifications are Master Instructor and advanced trimix technical diver. I have 1,000s of dives under my weight belt all around the world. My friend diving with me that day is a very experienced sailor who has sailed and raced in yachts of all sizes all around the world. Combined, we have a pretty good understanding of scuba diving and of the oceans and weather conditions.
Months before my trip, I planned to dive the Great White Wall on the Rainbow Reef. That was the reason I flew there to Vanau Levu and paid a lot of money specifically to Dive Academy to see this site. The plan was to make one dive on the way out to Viani Bay Resort from the location where Marina picked us up, have a snack at her place, and execute the second dive at the Great White Wall. When it was time to plan the second dive after a break at the resort, Marina said she checked the weather and swell on the forecast. and announced that we couldn’t go to the Great White Wall because there was a 7 meter (23 feet) swell at that location.
That day, it was sunny and the ocean was flat (see picture). We couldn’t have dreamed of better conditions. We were diving approx. 5 kilometers (2.7 nm) east from the Great White Wall. I checked the marine forecast for the area during our break and the swell forecast was 0.4m (1.3ft) for the entire day, which is not even noticeable. I had a hard time believing that in such a short distance, 5 km west from where we had been diving (I measured it on the map), we could go from a 7 meter swell to 0.4 meters. I didn’t want to argue the point at the time and we went to another site.
I was so very disappointed. I paid between 2 to 3 time the price of other dive operators on the island (plus car rental and getting to Buca Bay, as well as paying extra for the boat pick up, “convenience fee” and then for three dives with Dive Academy). It is a lot of money.
Marina's excuse of the extreme swell in the bay at the White Wall just didn’t add up. We checked the swell on the marine weather forecast and later asked another dive operator who dived in the area on the same day if he had seen or heard of a 7 meter swell or "tsunami" exception near to the shore. There wasn't one. When we asked Marina via email for the link of the website she used for her forecast, she didn’t provide it and came back saying that “she monitors the conditions and that site was not divable”.
Marina could have said there was too much current or that the tide and current was too strong for this dive site, then I could have understood. The swell excuse, sorry but NO. Why did she act like that? If I have to guess it is maybe because she wanted to save on boat fuel and her time. The dive site was 5 km west from where we dove.
I wish i could give a 5 star review for all the special set up they have and their hard work in building it. However, I cannot understand or tolerate people who take advantage of not so “knowledgeable people” of the location or of the ocean and diving. Unfortunately, myself and my friend are knowledgeable and do not agree with what happened and the empty excuses. - via 