Tavarua - For The Non Surfer - Part I

I am really excited about writing this blog today.  We just got back from a week in Fiji.  Specifically a surf resort on an island in Fiji called Tavarua.  The surf resort is the only thing on the 29 acre island.  I should clarify that it isn’t an island, it is paradise!

There is so much to say about this this place that this review will be more than entry.  This first part I will give my review from the prospective of the no surfer at a resort geared toward surfing.

Tavarua Review, Part I

So what’s there for me to do?  I don’t surf!

After 28 hours of travel from the San Francisco Bay Area which included a 6 hour car drive, a 10 hour red eye flight and a 5 am drop off at a hotel to wait 5 hours before our boat ride to the island, the only thing I could think about was how much I wanted a shower and to change my clothes.  But as our small panga boat left the landing and approached the tiny heart shape island, you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face if you tried.  I was so impressed and touched that almost all of the island staff was there standing on the sandy beach playing guitars and singing Fijian song welcoming us to the island.  That was just the first of the small details that made this a first class resort, not just a surf resort.

While I will go into more details on the numerous blogs I will post about this trip to Tavarua, I will focus today on how awesome this place is for the non-surfer!

The resort itself is beautiful.  It isn’t a hotel resort like you would expect at a Sheraton or Hilton.  The rooms are individual bures.    Most of the bures have two queen size beds and a day bed.  They have a/c, but we never used it.  We had 3 ceiling fans and kept the screen windows open and that kept the room very comfortable.  The bathroom was a good size.  No tub, just a shower.  The hot water didn’t last for a super long shower, but if I wanted a soak or warm water for an extended amount of time, you would find me in the huge hot tub at the pool.  The shampoo/conditioner/soap is Pure Fiji products and smell heavenly.   There are no TV’s or phones, and they weren’t missed.  Some of the families with children brought computers or IPods to keep the kids entertained.  The only ones who really used them were the smaller kids under 5 years old. It helped to keep them occupied during dinner.

One of the things that impressed me the most was the daily flowers we had in our room.  The first day they were tucked in between the two large soft Tavarua beach towels.  (We brought our own beach towels which you don’t need to do.  They just take up extra weight in your luggage).  The rest of the days there would be a beautiful grouping of flowers on our bed.  You could see the staff outside everyday picking the plumeria and hibiscus blossoms from the plants that are all over the island.  Because water used is water collected from rain fall, they don’t change the bed linens or towels out daily.  The beds are made daily and they do a great job attending to the room.  Oh, and this is the first time I have ever had a laundry basket in our room.  They will do your laundry if you take the basket to the front office.  There is a charge, but I don’t know what it is. There is a safe in the closet to lock up any valuables.  I don’t know if there was a lock on our door as never shut the door, just the screen door.  I never once found that leaving the door unlocked was a problem and unsafe.  The only thing valuable we ever put in the safe was our wallets.  I left the jewelry at home.  This isn’t the place if you want a glamorous show off your stuff type of resort and vacation.  I talked about this with the other guests and they never locked their doors either.  There was a fridge/minibar.   A little on the pricey side, but what minibar isn’t.  Feel free to stock it with stuff you bring over.  Ours had Slimfast and Atkins bars in it that we had brought…but never ate them!

All meals are in a communal dining room that is open to the beach on two sides.  The services from the staff are the best!  The staff is made up of Fijians and they know how to take care of their guests.  The serve the proper way, serving on the right and clearing from the left.   Because of the communal dinning, you get to know all of the other 30 or so guests that are staying that week with you.  We hit it off with one of the families on the ride over to the island.  Susy and Craig will be our lifelong friends.

The food there was amazing.  It is served buffet style.  Every day the meals were different included vegetarian dishes.  Desserts were fantastic…and make sure you ask for two of the rolls at dinner.  They were the best I have ever had.  Shorts, Tee shirts and flip flops are the attire.  Most everyone was just coming in from the surf during breakfast and lunch, and sometimes even dinner.  Very casual.  Appetizer from 5-6 and happy hour every night was from 6-7pm.  They had a specialty cocktail ever night.  My favorite was the one on the first night, the Boingo Boingo.

Since I don’t surf I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for a whole week.  I was never bored.  There is a fitness room that had one stationary bike and an elliptical, many of those exercise balls, foam rollers, weight bench, hand weights, yoga matts, a punching bag and plenty of room.  There is a DVD player and number of exercise videos.  There were fresh flowers, fresh towels and Kleenex readily available.  The room was two levels, mirrored, air conditioned and beautiful.  I’ll admit, I peaked in and took notes and photos, but only kind of worked out once!

There is a sand volleyball court and I did see a few games being played.  There is a pool table, ping pong table and dart board in their open game room.  Its open aired and seems to always be occupied.  In the dining room there is a small library with the take a book, leave a book policy.  There were also plenty of board games and of course all the latest additions of popular surf magazines.  I left behind my copy of people magazine.  There were also a couple of guitars in the bar area of the dining room that were available to use.  I heard several impromptu sing alongs during my stay.

The pool area is beautiful.  It is a large pool with a swim up bar with seats in the water, although the bar in the pool isn’t used.  There is a waterfall into the pool which had seating so you could cool off with the water falling on you.  There was also a lounge deck in the pool so you could lie out in the water and just relax. Next to the pool was a large Jacuzzi hot tub that was always occupied.  Space in it was never an issue.    There were several shallow pools leading to the pool and Jacuzzi where you would step into to rinse the sand off your feet before getting into the pool. There was plenty of lounge chairs and seating.

So what did I do?  After breakfast I generally head out to the pool and hang out with the other non-surfers and surfers.  It is a great social scene.  I love to read and finished a couple of books while I was there (get a Kindle!  You don’t want to the extra weight of books in your luggage!).   At some point during the day I would do the walk around the island.  You could probably do the walk around the entire island in about 15 minutes.  But it would take us longer.  You wouldn’t want to hurry it.  The views are unbelievable.  Hermit crabs are everywhere and if you are a shell collector, this is the place to be.

I did go stand up paddle boarding.  The conditions weren’t the best the day I went out and it was a bit of a struggle, but it won’t stop me from trying it again.  They were kayaks and lots of snorkeling.  The island has a beautiful coral reef around it and is full of fish, one more colorful than the next.  They have 3 boats that go out daily for fishing.  I know that more than one of our dinners was what someone had caught that day.  If you didn’t fish, you could still go out on the fishing boats just for the ride. All the equipment have mentioned was included so there wasn’t an extra charge on your bill for it.  Scuba diving or site seeing trips were not included.  If a nap was in order, there were hammocks all over the island to crawl into and close your eyes.

If you have to shop, there is a boutique on the island.  There is internet available for a fee, but we didn’t use it.  There are two computers for use in the office or you could bring our own laptop and pay the weekly internet fee.  We didn’t bring ours.  We were off the grid for a week!

I was not bored once.  There was always something to do.  Would I go back.?  In a heartbeat!