DEMA!

It's that time of the year again!

This blog will be inactive for the next two weeks.
Looking forward to some epic R&R and then, to many good conversations with peers and customers.
We will be displaying our newest batch of Sharky pics and distributing our brand new promo DVD - and there will be news: the Lagoon case has been resolved, plus we're branching out location- and activities-wise!

More about that here when I come back but if you cannot wait, come to booth # 1443 to get the news fresh off the press!

As to the crystal ball: very eager to see how the industry has fared since the onset of the recession - and what is happening to the customer base!

See you real soon!

Baloney!

Michael Field is an asshole.

He's an infamous, and pompous journo who snipes at several SoPac countries from the safety of some couch in New Zealand.
His pieces are essentially copy/paste excerpts from other media, garnished with hearsay from the coconut telegraph and libelous personal attacks against people he dislikes - in brief, total and utter rubbish!

Case in point: this stupidity about the Lagoon case.
Apart from being blatantly misleading, it puts Jim in a big pickle.
He's in the middle of a court case (against a bank, not the military regime or whatever) aimed at reaching some form of a compromise and must surely be very unhappy about a piece aimed at stirring up some totally unhelpful emotions. As to the Suva sources: shame on them for being either totally naive or the usual stupid purveyors of gratuitous gossip!
Thanks for nothing!

As to this piece on CDNN, what can I say except for it's on CDNN!

For the record, Beqa Adventure Divers were closed for one day and have been fully operational, and I may add, incredibly busy ever since. We have a direct agreement with the bank and will continue to operate normally regardless of the outcome of the court case.

Of course, not a single one of our clients was left to fend for himself!
Those who were turned away were offered alternative dives, or given a full refund; thanks to the exceptionally generous help of the other resort in Pacific Harbour, we were able to re-locate all of our pre-booked clients at no incremental cost and in some cases, clients even ended up by getting an upgrade; there have been no cancellations but if so, we would return any money in full.
Oh and the shoot was a successful wrap - and we're already hosting the next one!

Back to the Sharks - and let's hope this is the last such post I have to write!

PS as anticipated: Jim's reaction here.

Waiting for Decisions

We're waiting for the courts to rule in the Lagoon case.

As I said in my last post, we are just fine and operating normally.
We have signed documents with the bank that cover us for the medium term but when it comes to our long term future, we shall need to examine the court ruling. Worst case, we would eventually have to re-locate and have already scouted several suitable locations. If so, you can rest assured that we would do so without any disruptions to our services.
We shall certainly know more next week.

In the meantime, here's a selection of very different Sharky videos.
I must confess that right now, my mojo for ranting and long winded blog posts just aint working - hence I spare you any of the usual comments. They're pretty much obvious anyway.
But that fake Shark rocks - regardless of the messaging!

Enjoy!

Message from the Battlefield

Keep smiling!

It has been an interesting day!

Before the coconut telegraph goes crazy, here's what happened - straight from the horse's mouth.

Yesterday evening, after the weekend closure of the courts, Government ministries and law firms, our land lord Lagoon Resort was seized and shut down.
It's obviously about money and has nothing whatsoever to do with us - but as a consequence, we were caught in the crossfire and denied access to our premises, and 20 pre-booked tourists were turned away and could not join today's Shark dive.

The matter has been resolved and we will resume normal operations as of tomorrow, Sunday May 9.
I cannot go into detail but this has once again re-confirmed this Government's firm commitment to the Tourism industry and to protecting bona fide foreign investments. I must also say that despite of the obvious tensions, we were always treated professionally and with the utmost courtesy.

Whilst we are fine, we cannot predict the fate of Lagoon Resort.
This is however a very public matter and I believe that some decision will be reached by next week once Fiji is back open for business. Beqa Adventure Divers customers holding reservations with Lagoon Resort are advised to contact Andrew and Nanise who will keep them abreast of developments. In the worst case, we will be able to mediate alternative accommodation as we cooperate with all other local hotels and resorts.
Once again, all client bookings with us are safe.

More as matters evolve.

PS Story here - to be perfectly fair, in our case, the strife is being exaggerated.
Once we were able to contact them, the bank officials were extremely reasonable and proactively helpful, and so were the people occupying the premises - and I'm not saying this because of political expediency, this is the plain and simple truth.

PS2 More here