Thursday, February 07, 2008

Under the sea - in Lau?


from w
An intriquing news item yesterday raised the topic of the building of an underwater resort on a mystery island in Fiji - clue 1, it once was a copra plantation, clue 2, it can be accessed by sea-plane. clue 3 - there's a lagoon. Well, the secret is out. It's Katafanga in the Lau group! But who wants to sleep in an underwater bedroom looking at little fishies googling/ogling you?

But.... is the project on hold, because of uncertainty in investing in Fiji? The claim is that it is the only resort in Lau, but I don't think so.

In today's Fiji news: Multimillion dollar Fiji resort identified 07 FEB 2008
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The mystery island on which a $US105m undersea resort is being built is believed to be on Katafanga Island in the Lau Group, to the southeast of Fiji. Currently, the Katafanga Island Resort & Spa is the only resort in the largely uninhabited and pristine Lau Group.

A staff in the resort’s Suva office confirmed that an undersea resort was being built on the island but said that work currently on the project was at a standstill and that bookings are also on hold. This was largely due to the uncertainty created by the coup of December 2006, the staff said. The staff was unclear when the project would restart.

Called the Poseidon Mystery Island, the project is estimated to cost $105 million.

A questionnaire sent to Poseidon Resorts director of communications early this week, Riki Cameron remains unanswered. The details about Katafanga Island on the resort’s website match that of the Poseidon Mystery Island on its website. According to the resort’s website, Katafanga (a Tongan word that means smiling beach) is a 225-acre private island. It is a former 19th Century operating coconut plantation surrounded by a 5000-acre lagoon, located in the eastern Lau Group. A coral reef surrounds the entire island, offering protection from extreme tides. Katafanga Island is 1 mile long by 1/3 miles wide and 150 feet high with numerous caves and tide pools to explore. It is home to rare coconut crabs, giant clams, leather back turtles and other birds and marine mammals, the website says.

The project is being developed by Poseidon Resorts whose president is Bruce Jones.

Poseidon’s website described the undersea resort as the world’s first seafloor resort and the only place that visitors could spend the night 40 feet underwater in incomparable luxury. Nestled in the crystal clear waters of a 5000 acre Fiji lagoon, it would be accessible by an elevator.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good research.
To my information the project has been stalled due to difficult political situation in Fiji. The island is really very remote - which is a disadvantage for people who would probably not stay for longer than a few days.
Find informormation on the Poseydon Resorts engineering, especially the
acrylic windows

Anonymous said...

this whole deal is a scam and is never going to happen, the company has no funds and cant get funding on such a ridiculous project. The problems in the country were not the problem and the location is as about as remote as Los Angeles is to London so give it a rest. the best thing that happened is the country is finally cleaning house from all the crooks and corruption that pretend to be such honest do gooders. posted by the owner

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

Hello,
Posted by the owner? Of the so-far half-built resort? Or the Lauan landowner? Or one of the little fishies?
Re catching the crooks - okay let the police do their work, but be consistent, huh? Some good people lost their jobs last year.
w.

Anonymous said...

I actually am the President of the company that is developing the Poseidon Undersea Resort project. I can be reached at bruce@poseidonresorts.com. If you have questions, feel free to contact me.

I can assure you that the world's first undersea resort is becoming a reality despite the previous moronic comments. Perhaps Mr. Anonymous would like to reach in his pocket and make me a $1 million wager on the outcome?

Anonymous said...

daywilcox@hotmail.com Well I just got this invite to work......Hope they have a doctor on the Island......? Scam, I don't know... you tell me... coppy this link.....http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Feplaya.burningman.com%2Fviewtopic.php%3Fp%3D546656%23546656&h=cae86

Anonymous said...

This 'hotel' is a long way from even starting construction. According to Wikipedia, negotiations for purchase of the build site have fallen through as of 2016, so the company do not even have a location in which to build, let alone the funds to begin.

Unfortunately, the hotel's website is rather overenthusiatically worded, and makes it sound as though the hotel is almost complete. Additionally, the site contains some highly detailed CGI images of the 'interior' of the hotel, which if you don't look carefully, may fool you into believing the hotel already exists.

I would love somewhere like this to become a reality, but as the 'hotel' has evidently been in the pipeline for at least the last 15 years, yet appears no closer to being built, I have serious doubts.