Tawali Leisure & Dive Resort

We stayed at Tawali for 2 1/2 weeks and had a wonderful time. Our bungalow was comfortable and clean and the balcony overlooked the ocean. The communal dining and relaxing areas were excellent and the service terrific. The food was fresh and the cooks used local produce and served a range of options for every meal. They even made cakes for guest birthdays which was a lovely personal touch. The diving was excellent - we were lucky to experience the outer reef, local reefs and muck dives. The dive team ( Charlie, Albert, Alfred, Nathan and John and Greg) are highly experienced and know the dive sites intricately. Tawali is a superb dive resort for novice and experienced divers alike. There are other activities for non- divers and an excellent house reef for snorkellers. We highly recommend Tawali.

Visit was eight hours off of a cruise ship with about 27 other people. Beautiful location on the Lee side of the island. Very good snorkeling off their docks which made me think the other locations would have been unbelievably gorgeous. Staff was very helpful and safety conscious. Lunch was delicious… as good as if not better than some of the food we’re getting on seabourn. Skull cave was an interesting side trip… very friendly villagers and beautiful carvings. Kids were a lot of fun.

Was the only guest during their quiet period. Very well looked after by Kathy and team. Food very fantastic and very generously served. Very peaceful location. Snorkelling was absolutely fantastic and Nathan was a helpful guide. Enjoyed the skull caves. Would be very happy to go back, but maybe not in January when I hear the ocean is often choppy.

Stayed at Tawali over the Easter weekend. It as advertised as a 3 night stay but our flight to Alotau was cancelled on Good Friday - so we only got to stay 2 nights. Flight was good - and was picked up by their bus at the Alotau airport - travelled for about 1+ hours to then board a boat to the resort. Was accompanied by an armed guard the whole trip and felt very safe. A lovely warm welcome on arrival and although it was drizzling with rain on the first afternoon -my husband and I ventured for a swim and a snorkel at the home reef. Great visibility and some beautiful fish - really enjoyed the afternoon snorkeling. Drinks and dinner on the deck - food was plentiful and tasty. Met some other travelers and we were entertained by some local dancers. We booked a snorkeling trip the following day along with some other guests - was perfect weather and we explored the coral garden. Magnificent snorkeling. My advice would be to take some money with you - as the locals paddled out selling lovely shells - but I was not able to buy any as I did not take cash (because snorkeling!!). The rooms were adequate - not luxurious by any stretch but we enjoyed the tranquil surroundings -room was serviced daily. Staff were lovely and very helpful. I would definitely go again. I think 2 nights was not enough. You really need minimum of 3 nights to see everything.

Huge disappointment, from A to Z unfortunately, with only a very few positives to report. Overall, the resort seems to be under a lot of economic pressure, due to low number of travelers, and that has unfortunately impacted services and business approach. It started with the shuttle service, for which guests are being charged, that took almost 2 hours (instead of one) since after airport pickup other guests needed to be picked up from an oil palm plantation that was located in the opposite direction. They could have easily been picked up in advance, instead of having all other travelers driven 2 hours back and forth. Upon arrival I was informed that the resort made in error with my invoice - which I had pre-paid - now more than doubling my room prince. Not even a small discount was offered for an error totally beyond my control. I ended up paying 3 full extra nights that were ‘overlooked’ during booking. Rooms are not up to standard. The most annoying thing is that the floor is shared with the adjacent bungalow and hence all movement, steps and everything else (!) happing next door is also felt in your bungalow half and vice versa. Zero privacy is the result. Food quality is average and over the Christmas holidays hordes of day tourists arrived, playing loud music on the beach and ruining any aspirations for a ‘getaway’ holiday in a ‘remote’ resort. Some days we sat on the back porch since loud day tourist groups occupied the main dining area. Not even the highly paying longer term guests were prioritized. We needed to pay for an expensive day trip by boat to a remote little uninhabited island just to have a day of calm. The large dive boat is broken dawn, rusting at the jetty and used as bunk bed hostel for large package groups. Divers are being taken out in small boats. There is no safe in the room. The list is long, but unfortunately this is the bitter truth and experience we had. Avoid going during holiday season, try the off season - if at all - as you will otherwise get the opposite of calm, remoteness and nature you have paid for. No value for money. Staff other wise friendly and carting. There’s a local replacement cook that is much better than the expatriate regular cook. Cocktails are good, though expensive.

L'hôtel est calme dans l'ensemble mais les climatisations sont très bruyantes et si vous avez la malchance de tomber sur un voisin qui met la climatisation cela fait l'effet de dormir à côté d'un vieux frigo. Les repas sont très répétitifs et de qualité moyenne. Les chambres un peu austères et défraîchies. Le bateau de plongée est désagréable : très bruyant dû à un moteur poussif qui émet une fumée noire et une odeur de fuel. C'est vraiment dommage pour l'environnement. Je déplore également l'organisation : pas de pick up à l'arrivée alors que ma réservation était confirmée, la manager est peu présente, ne se préoccupe pas de savoir ce que vous souhaitez faire et surtout ne vous informe de rien : programme de plongée ou heure de départ pour l'aéroport, par exemple. Surtout j'ai fait la désagréable expérience d'une mauvaise organisation d'une sortie bird watching avec un retour 45 minutes en retard et pour conséquence l'annulation de ma sortie plongée prévue sur la côte Est (en remplacement des plongées proches que j'avais déjà faites et que je ne souhaitez pas refaire). En revanche l'équipe de plongée (Albert notamment) est super.