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Published: December 26th 2006
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On Nov. 30th I headed out to Kadavu Island which is south of the Viti Levu. I started my journey with a rather stressful cab ride from Seashell Resort to the Nadi airport. My cab driver felt that passing 4 sugar cane trucks around a blind corner going up hill was perfectly acceptable. I’m not sure if it was the hot temperatures and 100% humidity or his driving that had me sweating, but I was rather drenched by the time I got to the airport.
I booked in for my flight and then had to wait for two hours (working on Fiji time) before I boarded the smallest, oldest plane I have ever been on. The plane must have been twice as old as I was and sat maybe 6 people. On this day it was just me and my stuff. My board bag was strapped on top of the seats behind me and I say right behind the pilots. It was a 45 minute flight down to Kadavu. Kadavu is a very primitive looking island where they filmed the original King Kong. We landed at the airport (I thought we were going to completely miss the runway but
we just made it) and I walked across the road and right onto the beach where I boarded my boat for Nagigia Surf Camp.
It was a 40 minute boat ride to the west coast of Kadavu and the small island of Nagigia where the surf camp is. I arrived at one of the boat docks and my stuff was shuffled up the stairs to my bure. The bure was right on the water looking towards Kadavu which is about 200-300 meters away across a channel. I walked around the island some and talked to some of the other guys (all 3 of them) about the surf. That evening we had a relaxing meal followed by a kava ceremony to welcome me.
The next day myself and two guys from Tasmania got a boat ride out to King Kong Lefts and surfed there for 2 hours before they had to leave. The wave is a great left hander that was breaking at about 4’-6’ with some bigger sets coming through. We all got some great waves with the two Tazi boys getting 2-3 good barrels each. I spotted a turtle outside of the break while we were surfing.
Later that day the couple from San Francisco that I had met at Seashell, Jordan and Dana, showed up and we headed over to mellow surf spot in a cove off of Kadavu. We surfed there in the afternoon and then headed back for dinner.
The next day had heavy winds and some rain that came in so we didn’t surf at all. We snorkeled around Kadavu some and saw butterflies, parrot fish, angels, tangs, blennies, wrasses, and a banded sea snake. We also saw some larger deep water fish just off the reef. There were many deep coral heads that extended 30-40 feet down from the surface of the water. We spent a good bit of time checking these out and then boated back to Nagigia. On our way back we say a pod of what I think were Indo-Pacific Dolphins. They were jumping around out of the water in between the two islands.
The next day the winds and swell direction were still bad so again no surf. Since it was Sunday we went over to the local village on Kadavu and joined the locals for church. I was not quite prepared for a 2 hour
service in a language I don’t understand, but I did enjoy the singing. The Fijians love to sing and all of the hymns were sung in 4-5 and sometimes 6 or 7 part harmony without any accompaniment. The music was great to listen to. The chief of the village welcomed us and went out of his way to let us know that, even with the coup going on, we were still safe. After church we had lunch with some of the local villagers and then headed back to the camp to snorkel and relax more.
On the fourth day the winds calmed down again and we were able to surf King Kong Lefts again. I headed out there with Jason, one of the managers, and a guy from France- Nick. We all surfed for about an hour and half. The swell was a little mixed from the south west and west but there were a few good ones to be had. It was 5’-7’ and fairly clean. You had to make sure you got on the right wave at the right time or else the westerly swells would wrap in and eat you up. I got caught by one
of these and got rag-dolled and pushed into the reef some. I was able to get back out and enjoy several more lefts. That afternoon/ evening we snorkeled more and watched a movie.
The last day I went with Jordan and Dana back to the cove off of Kadavu for some mellow 3’-5’ waves in the cove. I took the fish over and got a few good waves before the tide got too low and the waves stared dumping on the reef. Once I got back I packed up my things and got a boat ride back to the Kadavu airport and then the plane ride back to Nadi. Once in Nadi I got a transfer over to the Nadi Bay Hotel and relaxed the rest of the day there. I repacked my bags in preparation for going out to the Yasawa Islands on the Yasawa Flyer.
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Firouzeh
non-member comment
Hi
Hi Rich, I'm following you and sometimes I feel I'm in your trip. have fun and thanks for sending details.