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Published: June 20th 2018
Bula!
When planning our trip this year and having decided on New Zealand, we figured as it was such a long way to travel to that we had better include Fiji in our plans, having wanted to see this country as well and not knowing if we would ever be back in this part of the world...plus as we always like to end on a beach it seemed the perfect combo; three weeks of on-the-move travel and finishing with butt-in-hammock relaxation....oh yeah...
Made the three hour flight from Christchurch to Nadi, but as the flights and ferries are not well sync'd we had to stay on the main island for a night at both the beginning and end, no big deal really...as we arrived at our backpacker hotel around 8 pm it wasn't going to be a long stay, a few pints on the beach enjoying the warmer weather and then off to bed...
Up early the next day to catch the shuttle to the ferry; we had decided to take the island-hopping Yasawa Flyer to get to our destination, and as our island of Tavewa was the last stop we treated this segment as a tour and
settled in for the 5 and half hour journey...fortunately it was a beautiful day, and didn't take long to arrive at the first island where folks got off the boat and some got on to continue to another resort, really cool...all the resorts looked great: beautiful beaches with aquamarine waters, huts and palm trees, idyllic really...so we bopped along like this for hours, it was great but after about 3 or 4 I had had enough, get me off this boat! A young German dude sitting beside me was feeling the same; after about 2 hours he had packed it in and was sitting with this head in his hands, every now and then looking at my map to see where they were in relation to where they were going...he and his gal were getting off at the 4 hour mark, when he found out we still had another hour and a half to go the look of horror/sympathy on his face was pretty funny...
At any rate we survived, made it to the final stop among several islands and the smaller shuttle boats all started coming in from a variety of resorts in the area...there was some mix-up
that I never really sorted that put us farther from our destination than usual but not a big deal, we were now mere minutes away from shorts/sandals/hammocks/cold beer, giddy up!
We had settled on Coralview Island Resort in the Yasawa island chain; it was one of the cheaper places to stay and one of the few that didn't require purchasing a meal plan (we could go a la carte which would also prove to be much cheaper)...accommodations in Fiji are fairly expensive, and when you tack on $80 a day per person for meal plans it really drives the price up...
Coralview certainly doesn't have the curb appeal of other resorts we saw on our way there; no big sand beach greeting you when you arrived, however after settling in and having a proper look around it had a decent beach protected by a man-made reef, which came in handy when the wind picked up and sheltered the beach from the larger waves...Overall the resort is what I would call "rustic"; the bures and facilities could stand a bit of a facelift but frankly I thought it added to the charm of the place, really enjoyed our time
Starfish
...cool blue at the Blue Lagoon...here...the grounds were well maintained and the food was really good (with a surprising amount of variety) but first and foremost it was the staff that really left an impression on me; they were so friendly and accommodating, amazing folks...from the first Bula! when we arrived from the ferry, to chatting and learning about Fijian culture and joking around with them it was a really fun experience...Fijians rock! Special shout-out to the manager Dave and the lovely Miss Anna who both took good care of us...
Not a lot of plans here: after being constantly on the move the previous three weeks this was all about relaxation...we managed a couple of tours, the first being a morning snorkel at the famous Blue Lagoon, but unfortunately most of the coral was dead due to a violent typhoon a couple of years ago so not really much to see nor were there many fish...the second outing was to the sacred Sawa-I-Lau caves, really cool...myths and legends abound for this place; it is basically a cave you climb down into to swim, and with openings in the roof allowing light to filter through it was quite stunning...after waiting for another group to
Fijian atop a rock...
...welcoming guests to one of the resorts we passed along the way... clear the area we then proceeded to the second cave which required a swim through an underwater passage, awesome! Our guide got us through safely and we explored this darker cave, complete with ancient carvings on the walls and bio-luminescent algae that would begin to glow at the sound of noise, fantastic...
Beyond that it was hammocking, reading, relaxing and basically just hanging out, absolutely loved it...unfortunately with only 3 to 4 days at the resort the time really flew by and suddenly it was time to return to the mainland and finally home...Fiji is awesome, would love to return someday to explore some of the other islands/resorts and check out more of the north (based on recommendations from the locals)...as I write this several weeks after our visit, and back into the daily routine here at home, I can assure you I am really missing Fiji Time at this point...lol...
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Fiji
Nice shot