WITH the soothing sound of the waves slowly crashing close to the Toberua Island Resort’s PADI dive centre, it’s no surprise divemaster Epeli Bigitibau would love what he does for a living.
Working on a beautiful island surrounded with the beauty of nature, the Beqa lad knows the Toberua dive sites like the back of his hand.
Epeli has worked for Toberua Island Resort for more than four years and he simply started his career as a boat crew member at a resort in his island home before he decided he wanted to know more about diving in Fiji’s waters.
Now having worked in many prestigious resorts in Fiji over the years, he says Toberua Island Resort surpasses it all, as it allows him to interact with resort guests more, even with returnee guests becoming his friends.
He said the PADI dive centre offers guests a while range of dive courses and the dive sites are extremely beautiful.
“We follow a program every day and we make sure that guests enjoy their time with us,” he said.
“I also help out with other activities at the resort like kayaking, snorkeling, going to Bird Island and just simply tending to the guests needs in a day.”
He said he jumped at the opportunity to learn how to dive while working in Beqa and now it had allowed him to work for several resorts, something he never dreamt of doing while growing up on the island.
“I learn new things every day in my line of work and it’s good to always try to get out of our comfort zone because we can learn a lot of things in the process,” he said.
“Like many who work at Toberua, we appreciate our guests and we want to provide them with the best quality service we can offer them.
“We love when we get positive feedback from guests who go diving with us because it motivates us to continue providing the best service we can offer them during their stay at the resort.”
He said he appreciates nature and like many on the resort works towards protecting it.
The resort was awarded the PADI Green Star Dive Centre Award in December last year and the award is only granted to resorts that demonstrate a dedication to conservation across a wide range of business functions, including water conservation, energy use, environmentally-friendly transportation practices, use of sustainable materials, conservation leadership and support of Project AWARE.
