My wife and I stayed at the Octopus resort from December 30 2011 to January 5 2012. We had a great time. The only excursion that we did was the night snorkel with the dive master. I think his name sounded like "Cookie". Anyway, he was great and we saw tonnes of neat animals. We didn't feel like doing the other excursions because the snorkeling off the resort beach was so good. There was loads to see in water from 2-3 meters deep to much deeper. I think I got down to about 10m and the reef was still going. We spent on average 3 hours a day in the water split into a morning session and an after-noon session.
My only complaint was the food. My wife and I had actually been at Octopus's sister resort Blue Lagoon Beach Resort for a week prior to arriving at Octopus, so in fairness we'd been eating off a very similar menu for a week already. In any case by the end of our week at Octopus we were getting pretty tired of the food. Especially when you consider that we were trying to avoid the Walu.
Walu seemed to be the catch-of-EVERY-day. It was on the lunch menu and it was served for dinner a couple of times in the week that we were there. Walu is actually very nice tasting, the problem lies in the fact that Walu fish has an oil (actually a wax ester) in it's flesh that most humans can't digest. If you can't digest it, it can give you diarrhea. It's okay if you eat only one small portion a day, and it's probably best not too eat it two days in row. The thing is nobody at the resort mentioned this. I know of at least 5 people at the resort when I was staying there who complained to the management about being sick. One lady wanted to charter a helicopter back to the mainland she was so miserable. I suppose it's possible that something else made everyone sick.
Maybe it was another resort, people move from island to island very fluidly. Maybe there was some contamination in the well. Maybe there was a small child with poor hygiene habits touching all the forks when no one was looking. All I know is, I didn't have a normal bowel movement untill about 2 days after the last piece of Walu passed my lips.
So yes, by all means go to Octopus, it's a wonderful place, but, for the love of god, don't eat too much (any?) Walu!!
Room Tip: The "garden bures" are over priced. Think hut made of sticks held together by insects. Bun...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
3 February 2012
Thanks for the review. All opinions are valid and we're very happy to hear them. We'd like to add some info here to go with these thoughts.
The walu in Fiji is actually Spanish Mackerel as opposed to the Hawaiian walu (or wahoo) which has the health problems that Nick is referring to here. So we get to enjoy stunningly fresh fish cooked up with world class local recipes, and no worries about wax ester.
Walu is also one of the fish which our local fishermen catch around these islands so it may well be the catch of most days. We do what we can to support our community. Of course fresh fish is the best fish so we take whatever is caught: trevally, tuna, walu, ground fish etc - you can even go and catch it yourself if you prefer.
Sickness can be an issue for people travelling around the different environments of the South Pacific islands. A viral bug can be passed on easily so we agree 100% that hygiene is important and we make sure our staff are well trained and that people are given good advice, TLC and the right medication if they need it.
Finally - Garden View rooms: think charming traditional Fijian bure! Think wild little island with beautiful wildlife. True, our bungalows and top end bures are great - fresh and clean with more modern building -but our traditional style is the mainstay of our accommodation and we're very proud of it. Vinaka.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
