Drawaqa Island - Barefoot Manta Resort

Armed with Steve, Lauren and Seb, we got onto the last speedboat that would take us from the Yasawa flyer to a paradise island. We were all eagerly anticipating the Bare foot manta resort, as it was the island everybody was talking about, and everyone had said they had been lucky enough to see the Manta Rays.

The bonus to the Drawaqa island, was the channel that went straight past the resort, that was teaming with plankton, and therefore became the feeding haven for manta rays during the months of May through  to October. We were a little early for the season, but people were saying sightings of the Manta ray were daily, so we were praying we would be lucky enough to see them.

We pulled up to the island, greeted by a man playing a Ukele. Once again, we were treated like royalty and all of our bags were taken care of for us while we were welcomed in by the manager of the hotel. He told us all about the island, and did a quick tour of everywhere we could go. First stop was the diving school, where we were told about the procedure if Manta Rays were spotted by the on duty look outs. At the sound of drums, you were to run there where you would be geared up and taken out to see the Manta Rays. This instantly caused some confusion as the last few islands we had been too used drums to announce meal times.

After the diving school, he took us to see the two beaches, one faced the sunset the other the sunrise, the volley ball court and the dining area. It was a small island, but very roomy, and we were excited to spend our last days here. As we said, we had to pay a little extra, but we were glad we had not missed the opportunity to come here.

We were even happier when the manager said there had been a mix up with our room, and that we were uprgraded and would be spending the first night in a 3 coconut room!

Steve, Lauren and Seb looked a little gutted as the three of them were staying in a 4 bed dorm, but we promised we would invite them over for a drink on our private deck that evening!

We went and found our luxury room, and were so pleased with what we saw.

It was a canvas lodge nestled in the shade, complete with a deck and hammock, it had a zip up front door so you could look out onto the beach that was just in front of us.

We unzipped the front of our canvas room, and saw a hanging bamboo bed with 'Bula' spelt out in flowers. But the real shock and bonus was when we unzipped the back door, to find our outdoor en suite.

Having an outdoor toilet and shower was a little daunting, but would also be an exhilarating experience!

We spent the day on the beach, and as it started to cool down, the boys went to the volleyball court to have a match with some of the locals. Needless to say the locals were well practiced and thrashed the boys, but they seemed to enjoy having new opponents to beat. That evening, on the way to the dining area, we took a walk along the beach to soak in the absolutely stunning scenery.

this picture has not been enhanced in any way!

We got to the al fresco dining area, and found the tables were numbered for each room. As we were 3 coconut impostors for the evening, we got a table to ourselves and were also served an extra course of food!

Indian was on the menu, so as appetizers we were given poppadoms, and then a chicken satay was delivered for our starter. The main meal was a large lamb curry, and dessert was a kind of rice pudding dish.

We were absolutely stuffed afterwards, but took the time to nestle our bare feet in the sand and take in the burning red sunset.

After dinner, we found Lauren Seb and Steve and had some cocktails while we boasted some more about our extra course of dinner. We were summoned by the activity organiser to play games (Fijians love games!) and everyone in the dining area had to get into a team with everyone else from their country.

We found a group of pretty drunk English guys, and queued to play "throw the ball into the bucket". Needless to say, with the drunk northerners on our team we lost dramatically, as they were probably seeing more than one bucket, but it was a laugh.

Feeling drowsy from our cocktails, we went back to our room and admired the lovely bed with fairy lights on which Steph was exceptionally excited about. We kept the mosquito net down, but left the front of our room open so we could wake up to the sun and hear the lapping waves.

The next morning, we were woken to the sound of drums, and thought it was a little early for breakfast, however we got up and headed towards the food area. We had agreed to meet the others at breakfast, but they were nowhere to be seen so we assumed they slept in.

After breakfast we packed up our stuff from our luxury room, and moved into the basic cabin we should have initially got. It was still nice, but compared to our last accomodation, it was rather dull.

We headed down to the beach where we saw Lauren Seb and Lauren. We joked with them about being lazy and missing breakfast, but to our horror they explained the reason they had missed breakfast, was because they had heard the manta ray drums being banged, so they were out snorkelling with the rays whilst we were oblivious about it munching on our toast.

Gutted wasn't even the word to describe how we felt, and even though the guys had said the visibilty wasn't great, and there had only been one ray, we couldn't believe that we had missed the main attraction to the island! 

There a few local Mata Rays to the island, who have been going there every year for a long time to feed. They all have names and distinguishing features, so they are quite famous on the island. There are two males and one large female who have their own individual personalities.

Despite missing them, this is what you can expect to see if you ever decide to head to Barefoot manta.

After a disappointing morning, we decided we wouldn't let it ruin our day, we spent most of the morning hovering by the diving school in hope of hearing the drums bang, but alas, nothing. There had been sightings of the manta rays daily for the last week, and we didn't want to be the unlucky ones who hadn't seen them.

As the day went on, we decided we didn't want to waste our day, and ourselves along with Steve and Seb had challenged ourselves the task of kayaking around the whole island at some point. Lauren had actually set out to do her diving PADI course in Fiji as it is really cheap to do there, so she was getting all the lessons she could get in before her exam that afternoon. This was going to be the day for us all to achieve our goals, and we thought maybe if we went to some open areas, we could catch a glimpse of some other great sea life delights.

We rented the kayaks out, and started the huge workout that would be kayaking against the current and in the midday heat. Lauren had gone off to do her diving exam, so we were determined to get back for when she finished so we could hear the verdict.

As soon as we kayaked round the corner of the island, the coral was bright beneath us, and we all dived in to have a look at what was below. The boys had great fun playing with some life form on the rocks that would hide away whenever you went close.

We came round to the last stretch of water that would take us home, and the water was so clear you could see the edge of the reef that we teetered on the surface of, in case we saw a turtle or god forbid, a shark. As we approached the island, we saw some divers pop up to the surface, only to see it was Lauren, who had just passed her diving course. After a day of achievements, we agreed to book a private table at the dining area that night so we could spent our last night on the Fijian islands together, as our room numbers were different.

That evening we met them once again as the sun was setting, and our table was right at the waters edge.

Once again, these photos have not been tampered with!

We enjoyed a lovely dinner of fresh fish, and a tasty slice of cake for desert, and washed it all down with some fruity cocktails and some card games.

Our final day in Fiji meant it was our last opportunity to see the Manta Rays, so we decided to stick close to the beach next to the diving school in case we heard the drums. The other guys were slightly disappointed with the sighting they had had, so would have liked another go again. Our boat to the Yasawa flyer would be leaving at 3pm, so we had ample time to see the Manta Rays on the off chance they showed up, besides lounging around on a beach all day was hardly a difficult task. Lazing in tubes was something we had both wanted to do when making our travelling bucket list, so this was a great opportunity to take lots of pictures.

The boys played games in the water, making a floating goal post out of tubes and attempting to throw a frisbee through the hole, whilst Steph and Lauren basked in the sun on the beach getting the last bit of tanning in before we left.

Unfortunately lunch time came and went, and there was still no sign of the Manta Rays, and even at 2:30 we were waiting in the dive shack in the hope it would come. At this point we were willing to miss our flight to New Zealand the next day if they came along just as the Yasawa flyer turned up. Unfortunately there was nothing, and it wasn't meant to be this time around, however we were all cheered up by the lovely goodbye ceremony the staff at Bare foot Manta put on for us. One man would start singing, and all the staff all over the island would drop whatever they were doing, and come and join in the songs that wished us goodbye and safe travels.

Although we didn't see the Manta Rays, barefoot manta was our favorite resort, and not seeing the mantas has now given us an excuse to go back at least!

We said goodbye to our buddies as they were spending their last days on the 'Beachcomber Island' the main party island, and after a quick goodbye and Facebook add, (note that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WIFI ANYWHERE in Fiji, you have to use the WiFi on the Yasawa flyer in between islands) we were bouncing along on our way back to Nadi.

We got to the port at night, and got another free transfer to our hotel 'The Nadi Bay' hotel. Here, we had some dinner at the hotel, restaurant, Tom having some pasta, and Steph a very strange spicy pizza and headed to bed. The evening felt very quiet after our last few days, and we may have even been sad after the disappointment of no Manta rays, and to be leaving beautiful Fiji, however the next day we would fly to New Zealand, and we were both buzzing with excitement as we would finally be reunited with our best friend from home, Mark!

Nacula Island - Nabua Lodge

From Long Beach, we travelled on the yellow Yasawa flyer for only about half an hour. From here we got onto the mini speed boat sent from Nabua Lodge, and got to know everyone on board. There were a lot of people our age, and it seemed like our time on Nacula Island would be a bit more lively, compared to the laid back time we'd had on Long Beach.

We arrived on a beach to a group of women who shouted "Bula!" as we got off the boat, we were helped with our bags, and welcomed into the dining area which was a bright red deck that looked out onto the  beach and across the ocean.

We ate some delicious food, a light curry as well as a tasty dessert. We were greeted by the events organiser here, and told about the evening set up. There would be dinner, and shortly followed by that, we would have 'Bula time', which consisted of a few games, with alcoholic prizes to win. We were then told about the activities we could do on the island, and both of our ears pricked up when we heard about the blue lagoon, a trip that took you to a wide area of reef teaming with fish! We decided we would do that the following day, and spend the rest of the day getting to know the island.

After this, we were shown to our room. a cute little self contained cabin that again, looked over the ocean, and we also had a deck area to sit and look over it.

We relaxed on the beach all afternoon, and hired out some snorkels as the workers at the resort said the snorkeling was good here. We swam out as far as we could, and saw really colourful coral and a few fish too! There were no stingray to look out for here, so we could swim feeling a bit more relaxed.

That evening we joined the group again and had dinner. We got talking to a couple of German girls, as well as an English couple, a german guy and some French Canadian friends. We ate our food, and were summoned for Bula time. We learnt a dance, and played some games, including one where we had to dance creatively with a big stick. We also played suck and blow the card game. For those of you who don't know the game, you have to place a card between two peoples mouths whilst one sucks in air to hold it there, and the other blows to force it onto the other person. You have to pass it round a circle in this fashion so if it slips you end up having a smooch with someone. Considering we only met these people that day, it was a bit awkward, and Steph ended up having a little moment with a Norweigan girl who was there with her boyfriend. Funnily enough, the workers hadn't played any games up until this point, and they conveniently nestled themselves in between a few of the girls in the group! We did all this with the women who worked in the resort, so it was nice to get everyone involved!

The next morning was the morning of the blue lagoon. Ourselves, along with a few others, got up early and were ready to leave for 9am. We went on the speed boat and went to another beach about 10 minutes away. Tom accidentally sat on the drivers sandwich, and felt a little bad about leaving a bum print in his lunch. We were relieved when we found out the bread was for the fish and not the driver! We stopped just of the shore of a beach where the water was azure blue. We broke up the bread and threw it in the water, and the sea was suddenly alive with movement.

Zebra striped fish came out from nowhere and started a feeding frenzy. Whilst they were busy munching away, the driver told us to jump in the water and start swimming around.

There were fish every way you looked, and they wern't too bothered if you swam amongst their schoal. They would swim right up to your face, and the coral was bright and vibrant. The current was really strong so you'd have to swim against the current for about 5 minutes and then relax and glide over the fish.

Once we'd had enough, we went up on to the beach to dry off and warm up again. Steph was lying there peacefully when a sloppy kiss was planted on her. She woke up to the shock of a dog licking her face, and was a little startled as the beach had been deserted before. This was the second kiss from a stranger she'd had at Nabua Lodge!

The water was beautiful and we sat on the beach and took it all in, before getting the speed boat back to the resort.

That afternoon we lazed on the beach again until the sun started to set. We had been told there was a tea room just up a ten minute walk from the beach, so we decided with the two German girls we spoke to the night before, we would go up and explore.

We wandered up the beach, and happened to stumble across the tea room, which was lucky as we were looking for an actual building. In fact, it was an open aired seating area with a bamboo roof and not much else.

The woman working was a really lovely lady, and she was also selling hand made jewellry, complete with shells and shark teeth! She was also selling pure coconut oil which Steph eyed up instantly! As you may know, Steph has a love for natural products, and coconut oil is rather expensive in its pure kind. The lady had prepared it all herself and was selling it for so cheap, so Steph snapped it up, and has done a review of it over on her beauty blog if you want to read it here!

After making our purchase, we sat down and had fresh lemonade and chocolate cake. It was so tasty and we wanted to have another bit! We relaxed with our snacks and enjoyed the beautiful view.

That evening at dinner we sat down with the English couple, Lauren and Steve, and they're adopted German travel buddy, Seb. They hadn't been travelling together, but had met in Fiji and been inseparable ever since! They had all been to New Zealand though, so that evening we brought out a map and they told us all the places in New Zealand they had loved which was really kind and helpful of them!

After dinner we played more games, and Steph and Seb managed to win a couple and earn a free beer each! We were delighted to discover that the five of us were all going to the same resort the following day, so they could tell us more of their New Zealand recommendations, and also have some more laughs with them.

The next day, along with Steve, Seb and Lauren and the two french Canadian girls, Claudine and Caroline,  we decided to spend our last morning on a fishing trip, in an attempt to catch our own lunch and eat it before we had to leave for the next island.

We got onto the boat, and made our way to a desolate island where we would need to catch the bait to fish. Our driver said the best bait for the bigger fish, was crab. We anchored about a 3 minute walk from the shore, where the water was murky and full of seaweed. The man told us to follow his steps exactly so we didn't step on sting rays! This freaked a few of us, and it made for a very screechy journey to the shore! 

Once there, it was time to catch the crabs. The man dove straight in and started raking out sand from the ground with his bare hands, unafraid of being nipped by any crabs. He would move onto to another spot, and all of sudden, the crabs would pop out, and run away. Some of them were really big, and the man would just pick them up, and rip of their claws and legs. It was a little brutal, so the girls tended to be on the look out whilst the boys did the savage deed. This was time for Tom to get his own back on the crab that pinched him in Illha Grande in Brazil, and filled with rage, he and the boys went on a mad crab rampage. Steve even got so excited, he hit one with a stick and it exploded leaving a gooey orange mess on the beach.

After this traumatic but neccessary step, we were finally ready to fish. Cautiously making our way back to the boat still on edge about Sting rays, we headed out to some open water. On our way there, Seb took a few pictures, and we noticed a little toy in a waterproof case was the main feature in his picture. We asked Seb what he was doing, and he explained that his girlfriend was unable to join him on this part of travels, so she bought him the toy as a little substitute. This toys name was Kwasi, and he would feature in all of the fun parts of Seb's trip, so we made sure he featured in our fishing expedition.

From left to right: Lauren, Claudine, Caroline, Kwasi, Seb and Steve

We got to a good spot for fishing, and the man broke up the crabs and set up our lines which were just pieces of string on what looked like crabbing equipment.

Then came the long wait, for one of us to get a bite...

We could feel them taking the bait, but by the time we reeled up, the fish had got away.

We waited and waited, and we were on a tight schedule as most of us were leaving the island for Bare foot manta that afternoon.

We had nothing, and it looked as though we were going to have to turn back. 

Until suddenly!

Claudine let out a squeal as she reeled in a colourful looking fish, and we all started shouting for her to get it in the boat!

The fish came in safely, and the driver prepared it there and then, descaling it so it was ready to be eaten, as we had to speed off back to Nabua lodge for our lunch

We got back just as they were setting up for lunch, and after a quick packing session, we were ready for food. The chefs cooked up Claudine's fish specially for her, but unfortunately after all of our waiting it didn't actually taste too good! The girls were going to a different island that afternoon, so we said goodbye to them, and then got on board the speed boat to head to our third and final Fiji destination.

Matacawalevu Island - Long Beach Resort

From the Yasawa flyer, we jumped onto a small speed boat with another British couple, and made our way to the Matacawalevu Island. The ride was bumpy against the lapping waves, but we finally pulled up on to the most stunning beach.

It was exactly what we had wanted, miles and miles of deserted beach just for us, with crystal clear waters and never ending sunshine. We got our bags brought up to shore for us, and we entered into a small room where lunch was there waiting for us.

We ate our food whilst talking to the other couple, who were both teachers from up north. 

After our food, we were taken to our rooms. It was bright and airy, and despite our pass covering potentially shared facilities, there was a large bathroom and we were in a small lodge that we had to ourselves.

 In this resort they were strict with electricity though due to it being a small island, so the electricity and hot water were only on for certain hours of the day. Regardless of this, we still had the most amazing view from our front door, plus really friendly neighbours.

We unpacked and wasted no time grabbing a beer and lazing in a hammock for the afternoon.







That evening we went back to the dining area, where we saw Bea and Luke again (British couple), and we sat down to a small dining table. A German couple sat down, a British guy, and two Swedish model looking girls... and us. We were the only nine people in the whole resort, and we spent the evening chatting to them, in particular the lone English guy, as he had just come from New Zealand doing the Kiwi Experience which we were due to do next
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The next day would be Sunday, so there would be no activities to do on the island. The resort was family owned, and they invited us to attend church with them the following day which was kind, but we didn't want to intrude on their day off. Instead, they said to listen our for drums in the morning, which would mark breakfast time.

That night we went to bed and slept peacefully to the sounds of the ocean.

The next morning we heard the drums, and to Steph's delight, pancakes were on the menu for breakfast, with fresh strawberries and chocolate spread! We dressed up for the beach before we left, and headed straight down to the beach to take it all in.

Apart from a few people fishing and getting on and off the boat transfer to theYasawa flyer, we were the only people on the beach for the whole day!

After about 5 minutes of getting too hot in the sun, Tom decided to rent out some snorkels, and explore the beautiful water. It cost 5 Fijian dollars to rent the stuff for the whole day, along with a word of warning from the guy at the kiosk, to watch out for sting ray in the shallows!

There wasn't much to see in the channel, but we both took the opportunity to swim in the crystal clear waters too cool off.

After lunch we explored a different part of the island, where the snorkelling was meant to be better. We headed round to a small beach that was alive with small crabs! We walked around the rocky parts of the island and found a coral graveyard, and also a coconut which we attempted to crack open with no luck.

We spent the afternoon sunbathing until sunset, and made our way to dinner. That day the Swedish girls had left, and been swapped with a nice Italian guy called Giuseppe. The company was good, and we played a few games of cards after dinner. The food at Long Beach was slightly hit and miss, sometimes being really tasty, and other times being a little strange. We were often served meat on the bone, and as it was a family run resort, there was only one choice of meal made with sides such as rice or salad, so vegetarians may find the food a little samey. After dinner, a really tall man sauntered in who was Fijian Chris. He was a laid back cool dude who was the activities organiser on the island, and he gave us a brief, half made up history of Fiji. He taught us a few Fijian words and gave us options of what to do the following day.

With Bea and Luke being teachers, they wanted to go to the local village in land to see the school. Although the following day was our last on Long Beach, so we would have rather been shown how to open coconuts (which we obviously needed practice in) and make palm leaf baskets, but we went with the majority vote to go to the village.

The next day we packed up our bags to get ready to leave the island. We met everyone at breakfast, and walked up the beach to the opening into the forest. As we walked in, the sand slowly vanished and rocks started to appear underfoot. Chris told us due to a Tsunami a few years ago, you would often find jagged shells in the main land. He told us this whilst he wandered through the forest with no shoes on whatsoever! The further we walked in, the more and more palm trees would surround us, making the blue skies look particularly tropical.

We walked through various bits of farmland, and we saw coconuts starting to sprout into palm trees which was interesting!

After about half an hour of walking through mixed terrain, we reached the outskirts of the village. Chris gave us some sarongs to wear, to cover up any flesh that may have been disrespectuful to the villagers.



We walked into the village where everyone was really friendly and welcoming. It was a small and family orientated village with only about 100 people living there. Chris even stopped in to see his Aunt, who was making a traditional palm rug. She invited us in and welcomed photographs to be taken.



It was also here that Chris noticed the children running around, and suddenly came to the realisation that the school was shut for half term! Everyone was slightly disappointed as the school we had come to see would be deserted, but we agreed we would go and see it anyway.

We walked to the top of the hill where the school was, and had a look around. It was incredibly clean and there had been a new building open in the last week that the community was particularly proud of.

We went into various classrooms to see what they learned about, to find it looked exactly like the normal curriculum we were used to as kids. The only difference in this school however,  was the fantastic views out of the windows.

We almost felt sorry for the poor children who would have to look out onto the tempting images of the sea whilst being stuck inside at school!

We walked around the school and bumped into one of the teachers who didn't look much older than ourselves, and he explained how there were still some students around despite it being half term. He was running a holiday club for students who felt they were struggling. He brought us round to see them, and they were all sitting around on a terrace.

We sat down with them and introduced ourselves and told them where we were from. They all seemed very interested, and asked us questions about London and liked posing for our pictures. The teacher also showed us the staff room, and we sat in there whilst he told us a little bit about Fijan education.

In Fiji, unfortunately up until only 2012, corporal punishment was still legal and encouraged, but the teacher said it's recent abolition has caused some problems, as the children can be more disobediant as they know they can't be punished now. He said the week before, a child had touched his hair which is a sign of huge disrespect in Fiji culture, and he explained that even though he disagreed with corporal punishment, he had trouble trying to discipline the child because of it, as the threat of physical punishment could not scare the children anymore. 

He also said that whilst at school, the students are encouraged to speak English the whole time, and they can be told off if they do not. Each of the Fijian Islands community dialect is slightly different, so they encourage English to be spoken to create a common language. It was very interesting to hear about  the education system, and we were glad we ended up going on the trip.

 As we left the school, an old white man in a beige suit  teamed with a hawaiian shirt shouted in the voice of Michael Caine "hey Chris are you going to the beach? May I join you?" We were a little confused as to what he was doing there, but on the walk back he told us how he was a teacher at the school.

He had been an air force pilot but unfortunately had to leave due to being diabetic. His wife had died a few years before and he decided to up sticks, do something crazy, and teach at a small school in the back of beyond. He was a really interesting man, and we enjoyed talking to him, and did so the whole way back to the beach. However, our conversation was cut short, and a man from the resort specifically called to us, to say the Yasawa flyer would be passing through at any moment so we had to leave Long Beach on the speed boat.

We thanked Chris for his educational trip into the village (tipping is unheard of in Fiji) and ran up the beach and got on the speed boat. We sped off into the distance and waved good bye to everyone on the island.

We had had a lovely couple of restful days on the Long Beach resort, but little did we know it was only going to get better!