lauren27

We are planning on a five night stay in Fiji in conjunction with a New Zealand trip in late November/early December. We love snorkeling and would like to stay on an island with snorkeling from the beach. We'd also be interested in taking a boat trip for more snorkeling.

Also, I realize that this is the rainy season. Which islands are "drier"? Is the rainy similar to the Caribbean rainy season--where it typically rains for just a few minutes a few times a day and gets sunny again?

Also, do you have any resort recommendations? Some of the things we're looking for in a resort are:
airconditioning (my husband wouldn't make it without it!)
individual bure would be nice
great snorkeling
Less than $400 USD a night if it includes meals (not necessarily drinks), less than $250 USD if it doesn't include any food.

Thanks very much for your help.

maryk

The lowest rainfall areas in Fiji are the Mamanucas and the yasawas. The further offshore and north you go the lower the rainfall will be. (Yasawas would be the lowest). Few of the resorts (particularly ini the Yasawas) have air conditioning - most have large ceiling fans. Personally I've never felt and overwhelming need for air-conditioning in Fiji and would rather stay out on one of the islands with their sea breezes than on the hot, wet and humid mainland! Matamanoa does have some air-contioned rooms (they're the garden rooms, not the beach-front bures) and they have quite good snorkelling off the beach. Tokoriki also has air-conditioned bures, although the snorkelling off the beach is not as good as Matamanoa and I understand that they are still battling with a seaweed problem.
They'd be the two I'd reccomend.
All resorts offer snorkelling boat trips.
I'm afraid I can't comment on the pricing as prices out of the USA are often completely different to ones from Australia.

ALF

I left a similar post on another one of your questions, but I'll reiterate: most of Fiji's beaches stay shallow for a long way out, so I have not seen many good places to snorkel from the beach. It would generally be better to take a boat for snorkeling. If you must snorkel from a beach, I have heard that the Yasawas would be a good location, although I have no direct experience.

Tim_and_Liz

There is excellent snorkeling from the beach at Matamanoa resort. We stayed there in January and enjoyed ourselves very much. www.matamanoa.com