A Solar-Powered Resort & Water Plan for A Local Community
Let’s say you were working in corporate roles in international software and banking firms in Germany. But you and your best friend spend your free time dreaming about eventually designing and owning your own resort so that you can lead dives every day on one of the world’s most pristine reefs.
Furthermore, once you attain that dream, how do you promote a private island dive shop and eco-resort in a remote corner of Fiji? How do you attract groups of yacht owners, dive shops, and dive clubs, especially because this compound is 100% sustainable, with solar power and a desalination plant? How do you train local Fijians to dive? And how do you create a coral conservation and restoration program?
We asked Marina Walser, the Co-Founder and Director of the Dive Academy Fiji and Viani Bay Resort on Vanua Levu, who lives on the world-renowned Rainbow Reef, famous for its vibrant soft corals.
GIL: Bula, Marina! What should the diving industry know about your resort and dive shop?
MW: Vinaka, Gil! For 10 years now, we have offered a boat-access only experience for a maximum of 10 guests who stay in sustainably built oceanfront bures, cooled by ceiling fans and ocean breezes. All meals are included, featuring fresh, locally sourced artisanal Fijian cuisine.
Divers and freedivers enjoy concierge service from an award-winning Five-Star PADI Eco Center, with groups of up to four divers per boat, returning to shore between dives. We’re also the only PADI Freediving Center at the Rainbow Reef. And we were just awarded a Bronze at the FETA Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards as Dive Operator of the Year.
GIL: Sounds heavenly. I’ve always heard about the legendary Great White Wall. How’s the diving there?
MW: Wundebar! The GWW is the most famous of the 30 dive sites at the Rainbow Reef. You swim through a lava tube to a vertical drop-off at 22 meters that’s covered in vibrant white soft corals. Our proximity lets us dive it virtually any day, and sometimes at night, and when we time the tides correctly, the corals look like snow underwater.
As one of the most biodiverse underwater areas in the world, the Rainbow Reef is known for its abundance of soft corals, hard corals, and marine life, from tiny nudibranchs to pelagics, including occasional hammerheads, seasonal whales, and mantas.
Our knowledge of the reefs and most sites are essential because the soft corals only show their full colours when they feed in the current, and the fish are more active. Divers from all over the world fly to Taveuni Island, then take a boat over here to get wet along the Rainbow Reef and its Great White Wall.
GIL: How are you different from the large resorts on Fiji?
MW: We are located in the very heart of the Rainbow Reef, on the Vanua Levu side of the Somosomo Strait, northeast of Fiji. Most of the dive sites are just 5 to 15 minutes from our beach, which gives us a high degree of flexibility in how we plan our dives around the six-hour tidal streams.
All operators here work with tides and conditions—that’s essential on the Rainbow Reef. Our proximity simply allows us to adapt more easily and make real-time decisions without long boat rides shaping the schedule. On sites like the Great White Wall, that flexibility makes a noticeable difference.
Guests typically fly into Taveuni or Savusavu, from where we arrange seamless taxi and boat transfers. Our yacht guests sail directly into Viani Bay.
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Our diving is intentionally small-scale and highly personalized. We take a maximum of four divers per boat and operate a true concierge-style service: no carrying heavy gear, relaxed back-roll entries, and comfortable exits with our crew assisting you back on board. We return to shore between dives, so there’s no rushing and no crowding — just time to enjoy the reef properly.
We are also the only operator offering regular night dives at the Great White Wall.
GIL: Tell us more about your sustainability successes.
MW: We recently installed a solar-powered desalination unit at our neighbouring Ucunivatu Primary School along Viani Bay to provide safe, reliable drinking water. It was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office through the Fiji Embassy in Suva, and implemented by a joint effort by our dive team and the school community. With no roads and an island microclimate that can result in several months without rain, this reasonably priced system was an ideal blueprint for areas like ours and could work for other remote communities. The funding included a 2.5kW solar system, water tanks, a backup generator, and supporting equipment.
We are pleased to have contributed our technical expertise and our local network to this project. Our collaboration with the German Embassy and the community showed once again how much can be achieved when everyone works together.
GIL: How does it filter the seawater?
MW: The newly installed system treats seawater through pre-filtration and reverse osmosis powered by solar energy, which filters up to 140 litres per hour, enough for 52 students, four teachers, and a kindergarten group. The clean water is stored in dedicated tanks and distributed to classroom taps and teachers’ quarters, while the existing well continues to supply toilets and laundry facilities. Best of all, because it is plug-and-play, it provides a scalable model for other isolated coastal schools.
GIL: What other programs do you have that are notable?
MW: We believe in education to protect our environment. That’s why our initiatives are designed to increase our knowledge for a sustainable relationship with ocean life. In 2019, the community agreed to protect a reef here in the bay, where we then started our Coral and Giant Clam Restoration Project <https://www.diveacademyfiji.com/marine-conservation>.
Our Scholarship Program guides local youth to become divers or PADI dive professionals.
We also design conservation-focused holidays that combine coral restoration, COTS (Crown-of-Thorns) removal missions when needed, Project Aware, and PADI Freediving or scuba diving programs.
Finally, my co-owner, Jone Waitaiti, also operates Fiji Sea Salt <https://www.fijitradeexpo.com/fijian-companies/house-of-salt>, a small-scale artisanal production unit creating sea salt and coconut-based products with local communities.
GIL: With all this, it sounds like Dive Academy Fiji would be a perfect partner for our Blue Friday initiative.
MW: Yes, I was excited to read about it on our first call, and I would love to start participating this fall. Besides the projects listed above, our Coral and Clam Nursery was designed primarily as an educational and demonstration site for the local community and our guests, while a long-standing tabu (locally protected) reef area now functions as a fish nursery for the bay. We also schedule beach clean-ups here and on Taveuni. Twice per year, we even sponsor a free dog spaying and neutering campaign with a local charity.
GIL: Finally, it sounds like you’re a dreamer who makes things happen. What are your plans for the future?
MW: We have a “wish list” that we discuss quarterly. We’re currently taking baby steps towards attaining each rung of that ladder. For example, we’d love to hire a marine scientist, extend our nurseries with permanent coral gardeners, bring in more representatives from neighbouring villages, create more scholarships, and much more.
GIL: How do our readers get in touch with you?
MW: Our email is info@diveacademyfiji.com, and our website is http://www.diveacademyfiji.com
GIL: Thank you again, Marina.
MW: It was my pleasure.
To find out more ways that you can “Blue” your business and make more “Green”, please contact me today: gil@zeimer.com.
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