Fatboys Resort

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.

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.

The thatch roof was old and full of termites, thus termite dust fells from the ceiling all day and night. I woke up with it on my face, in my hair, everywhere. The lighting in in the room is very poor. The room is open so you have mosquitoes all day and night. The chair on the porch was broken. Water drains onto the floor not down the pipe. I told the (new) owner and he said they knew these problems and planned to shut down the unit and put on a new roof. But still took my $175/night fee and did not put us into a nicer room, I would not recommend this room unless you know the rooms have been upgraded.