Fatboys Resort

The bungalows were great, comfy loungers to sit outside. It was nice to have hot water showers and a flushing toilet. The snorkelling was great, a good variety of small/medium fish around the restaurant. The accommodation is just setting up a dive centre, the staff were friendly and helpful. Its handy to have a dive centre right on your doorstep. The dive lunches could be more user friendly- rather than stir fry and make your own sandwiches try snack size nibbles and biscuits. The restaurant was nice but when it was busy there were a lot of buffet meals which we are not keen on- we liked the select your own meal from the list. The staff were very warm and friendly and knew your name which made you feel really welcome.

Do not listen to Bernice S or anyone else that says the food is bad, she sounds like a sad woman who has never known joy. I have had an eating disorder my whole life and I am a vegetarian and there was always more than 2 options for me. Anyone that gives Fatboys a bad review for their food is too pretentious to be going there in the first place. We had the best time accompanied by the sweetest staff who WERE NOT inattentive. They are much better than I am, as if I had to cater to the likes of half of the people doing these reviews, I would just throw them off the deck. The staff are beyond lovely and will go above and beyond to cater to any needs. Seriously do not listen to the bad reviews, those people will never be happy no matter what service they receive.

March 2025 I was fortunate enough to spend a bit over a week in this fantastic spot. I have visited the Solomon Islands previously and this is my third time to Gizo, but my first time staying at Fatboys. The entire time I was there it went very smooth. I landed at Gizo airport after an overnight in Honiara. The boat transfer from the airport to Fatboys on Mbambanga Island was easy and stress free. Check in was super easy and I was then shown to my bungalow, which had a great view over the restaurant/bar area and over to Kennedy Island. Throughout the day I met other resort guests and spoke with other the resort staff. The days were filled with diving out of the newly built dive store, which is stocked with a great range of dive equipment (masks/fins/BCD's/regs/rash vests/weight belts etc). The dive staff took us to a number of the local dive sites which were all reasonably close by to Fatboys. We dived WW2 wrecks, a US Grumman Hellcat fighter plane and the Japanese wreck of the Tao Maru, as well as numerous wall dives and the amazing Grand Central Station which had a diverse number of aquatic life, large and small. The staff at the new dive operation are friendly and knowledgeable with a number of fast comfortable dive boats to get you to the dive sites. There are also reefs directly out the front of the resort which can be easily snorkelled, or grab a tank, and explore deeper. Fatboys can arrange to get you to a number of the local island attractions. However, I only visited Kennedy Island and a couple of other nearby islands related to the JFK and PT-109 WW2 story. I had a great time there and will be back by end of the year.

I didn't stay at Fatboys, though visited a couple of times. Beautiful setting. My family dived with their dive organisation. The staff were professional safe and helpful. We went to 4 dive sights, amazing coral and wild life. Lovely lunch between dives. I would recommend diving with them.

The resort maybe comfortable but we came by sailboat for dinner and it was really terrible and the service was practically non existent. Very limited meal choices- that’s fine but then do them well. 3 x crayfish meals in garlic butter, which we had to ask for as the crayfish was so overcooked and dry and when that arrived we had finished eating , no vegetarian options so our friend had rice with the same wilted green veg on our plates. They charge top dollar which is the biggest problem . I feel bad for the guests as there is nowhere else for them to eat.

We arrived on our yacht so we cannot comment on the accommodation. We had been told that the restaurant was welcoming of yachties and nthat the food was good and reasonably priced - what nonsense! Prices were on the upper end of the scale similar to what a top end restaurant would cost in Australia or New Zealand. The service was poor and the food was horrible with a very limited menu. This is one restaurant that will not be seeing us again