We had a fabulous vacation. At Papageno, they upgraded us to 1/2 a house,
and it was beautiful. Zacharias, the dive master, is "one of a kind", like Dr. Doolittle under water. We were spoiled, since we were the only divers the 3 of us had the ocean to ourselves. Loved the short boat rides! Food was delicious. Elizabeth is so warm and friendly, a very nice hostess and bartender! Lydia, the nurse/resident and Scott shared a lot of stories. Initially, we were the only english speaking guests, everyone else was from Austria or Germany, but it worked out fine, we pieced together conversations with pieces of english and lots of hand signals. Week one was very laid back and ran on "Figi time", since they were not at capacity.Week 2 was quite regimented, schedule-wise, but it needed to be, with all those divers. The bure was lovely, roomy, private and perfect! We were very late arriving, due to plane issues on the other end. However, Seta (or Seto) the Captain waited for us and transported us back to Beqa Lagoon Resort in the dark and on rough water. Talk about "above and beyond the call of duty". The meals were unbelievably delicious and the staff so friendly. It was nice to have the daily afternoon activities and evening entertainment. The dive staff, every one of them, was so friendly and accommodating! The wait staff were fun and friendly. Tu Emo is the best! He was everywhere ...escorting us to church service, leading us to the school for a tour and singing, singing in the choir, teaching about "roots to fruit" of the coconut, dive master, working on the grounds, teaching us about the kava ceremony....he's a gem (and has the best giggle I've ever heard)!
The bartending ladies were a fun bunch. Scott loved teaching them new martini recipes.
Tap water at both resorts was yummy.........that was a nice surprise, and much
different than our Fiji trip a few years ago to Matangi and Maravu (altho' those islands were great too)We did accrue more of a "cash due" bill than we expected, but that's obviously under our control as a guest. We chose to pay for specialty dives at each resort. We paid for a lot of juices, to mix with our own liquor, but also bought at the bar (yes, we're lushes). Buying the liquor at duty free was a great suggestion. The drinks we bought at the bar were reasonably priced. On both islands, we had massages, and those prices were very reasonable too.
Unlimited shore diving at BLR is not really a huge advantage, since it's very dependent upon the tide and can be a bit challenging at low tide. That's OK, the "real" diving was fabulous. The only negative is the long boat rides, but since they leave at 8:00 each day, it's a good jump start, compared to other resorts we've been to.
We wish Fiji was closer..........we'd go often. I think it was the best vacation we ever had!
Blessings to you and yours....
Regards,
S. Boucher
Stoneham, MA
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