Fiji
Yasawa Islands
From July 31st to August 7th 2025
Day 1
We left Nauru and landed in Fiji, checked into Sofitel around midnight. Tired!
Day 2
Woke up at the Sofitel on Nadi and got ready for our seaplane transport to Turtle Islands in the Yasawa Islands. We went to the gym in the morning and were surprised at how many people were there. The breakfast spread was also massive and that hotel hosts many vacationers with families.
After the most beautiful and scenic flight to Turtle Island - we landed on the dock at the hotel and Hailey was carried off the seaplane by “Fijian warriors” to the beach where another large group of Fijians were dressed in colorful clothing, singing welcome songs, and placing welcome flowers and beads around our necks.
Lunch and white wine was served shortly after just out in front of our burre (room).
At 5:30pm a jolly group of Fijians came to our entry way path to sing more songs, but also served as an announcement that cocktail hour would begin shortly. (Message: wake up from your nap and come be social).
We went for cocktails and had dinner at the grill that evening. It was Japanese teppan style cooking and the food was delicious! We had missed having normal food. The dinner company was great as well, we made new friends from the US (Palos Verdes) and also from New Zealand (Christchurch).
That evening after dinner we had a Bula with the Turtle Island staff, where we danced, sang, and sat on the floor and drank kava.
Day 3
We left the hotel at 8:15am to catch a boat ride over to a neighboring island to get a few dives in. The coral was some of the best maintained and pristine we’ve seen in the world and we dove at the Whiskey’s Reef dive spot. After 1 dive Hailey was cold, so we waited a little while at the Blue Lagoon Lodge and went back to our hotel where we had lunch in front of our burre again.
At around 2:30 village children from a neighboring island came over to sing songs, dance, and claim their ice cream treat at the end (an incentive). This particular village makes it over to Turtle Island once a month. Once their ‘show’ was over, we sat with the kids for a while to watch them eat their vanilla ice cream and feed their ice cream cones to the fish off the dock. We saw an octopus as well, which was the highlight. They took food and other provisions back to their village, all loaded up into 1 small boat, and were on their way back to their home.
That night we had a group dinner at the top of the island where we saw the most amazing shooting star that lasted almost 10 seconds long. Kava was offered again that evening and we indulged. Groups of frogs greeted us in the basin of our outdoor shower every night when returning home.
Day 4
We woke up, exercised, skipped breakfast, and headed to lunch at Cliff Point where we had beautiful views and a pool to ourselves.
We napped that afternoon, then made it to church service at 5pm that evening. By 6:15 the whole Turtle Island staff was in front of us at the chapel and sang hymns for us.
We had dinner on the pontoon (floating dock) that evening and Hailey looked for bioluminescence in the water to no avail.
Day 5
We left around 9:30 for the cave tour to the Sawa-I-Lau Cave, just a 40 minute boat ride to another one of the Yasawa Islands. This cave once was very sacred and admission to it was only granted by local villagers. Ceremonies were conducted prior to entrance to the cave. Eventually the cave was used as a film location for the movie The Blue Lagoon. Max brought his Go-Pro and Hailey jumped from one of the cliffs inside the cave.
Outside the cave local villager women were selling their handmade goods; Hailey bought a beautiful red-orange coral necklace.
Lunch was at Honeymoon Beach and we enjoyed a windy nap after lunchtime.
That evening we went out for a sunset cruise on the boat with the rest of the hotel guests and Max even picked up the guitar to strum alongside the island musicians (who were also the island pastor, plumber, and cart driver)
Dinner was Mongolian BBQ - yummmm!!!
Day 6
We set out again in the morning to dive and made it to the Wonderland dive spot. Again, Hailey was cold in the water so we only got 1 dive in. We went back to the hotel after and took a lazy rest of the day
After dinner kava was served, and Hailey sang karaoke this evening (“Friends in Low Places”) while Max hid from embarrassment in the room
Day 7
Our last evening on the island was Fiji Night where the staff of the hotel dressed in traditional clothing and performed traditional songs and dances for us. We were then shown how they cooked underground, and had a final evening of cava.
We flew out on a seaplane around 10am, hugged our new friends goodbye, then took off for the mainland. We had a cheese quesadilla before going through security, and then found even more good food inside the Fiji Airport lounge. Off to the Solomon Islands we went!
BULA!
