Island Hopping to the Bula Tune
Trip Start
Jan 15, 2005
1
38
41
Trip End
Apr 22, 2005
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The Yasawa Islands, Fiji
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Naviti - Korovou Eco Tour Resort
Hammocks, a deck with shaded picnic tables, and beautiful snorkeling! We went snorkeling at the Coral Gardens and Manta Ray Bay, and the colors of the coral are so beautiful. They honestly run the entire rainbow of color from deep reds to purple to black. My personal favorite are the electric blue coral with the white on the edges - the colors are like something an imaginative child would do with a huge box of crayons.
Tavewa - Coral View Resort
The night I was there we had a Fijian Dinner called lovo, which is food cooked in an underground oven in palm leaf baskets. Very primitive and I doubt you could ever do it in the US because someone would get food poisoning from inadequately cooked food and the resulting lawsuit would end all of the fun. Everything came out tasting smoked, and the taro root was great. Supposedly if they don't cook the taro root properly eating it can give you a psychedelic experience, but that's either a traveler's myth or they know how to cook it correctly. There was a huge family reunion group staying in the big dorm there, so I actually ended up in a bure with 5 other people complete with mosquito nets and everything. The beach at this resort was small but idyllic, and a great place to chill with my British bure-mates.
Nacula - Oarsman's Bay Resort
Hands down the best resort that I stayed at in the Yasawas, Oarsman had the friendliest staff, best food and nicest beach, dorms and showers. Also the fewest mosquitoes - paradise! It was the only place that I stayed where you can really swim during low tide. The tide goes out so far that it leaves only a tiny bit of water over the top of the coral in most places, making it impossible to swim mid afternoon, at least while I was there. The weather held out every day until about 4 when some days it would suddenly downpour. One day we got to watch a storm roll in over the horizon and when it hit it was like a river pouring from the sky.
I met some fantastic people at Oarsman - Jo and Annabell in particular. There was also a family that we hung out with a lot. They're British, but living in Fiji with their two youngest children who both seemed far to old for their young ages. We all hung out - snorkeling off the beach or at the blue lagoon or diving during the day and just chilling at dinner and enjoying the dancing and singing entertainment afterwards. The Yasawas are just so laid back that all there is to do is enjoy the beach and the ocean, and hopefully find some great people to hang out with at night so you have something to do. I was so lucky in that respect and loved every day I spent here.
Sent off with song and more than a few hugs from substantial and friendly Fijians, we set out on the water taxi dinghy, picked up a few more passengers at some other resorts and sat out in the bay between all of the northern Yasawa islands with a flotilla of little boats from all of the nearby resorts. There was an entire New Zealand class trip of 12 year olds heading from one island to another - wouldn't it have been nice to take a class trip to island hop in Fiji?? I used to think that Springfield, Illinois, capital of my home state and home of Abe Lincoln, was a decent class trip ;-)
It seemed like almost as soon as the catamaran set off, having traded passengers with each of the small boats, it became the true rainy season. The rest of the ride we plowed over the swells and all of the people hopping on the boat were soaked in the downpour. All I have to say is thank God for motion sickness tablets - they are the one thing that will never be missing from my traveling bag.
