Fiji

The main purpose of this Fiji trip was to surf the incredible waves of Tavarua. This place is home to three world-class surf breaks : Restaurants, Tavarua Rights, and Cloudbreak. All of these breaks have been featured in the pages of Surfer magazines over the years, and we always salivated over the thought of ever getting to surf them but it all seemed so out of reach. It's not an easy place to visit. First, it's a tiny private island off the Fiji 'mainland' of Viti Levu and the number of guests allowed on Tavarua is very limited. It's expensive. It's a very long flight from the US east coast. And here's the hard part : they prefer couples, with one person per couple being a non-surfer. That keeps the waves less crowded. So. Unwilling to bring a non-surfing companion halfway around the world to such a pricey place just to sit around the pool, I put my name on a waiting list and waited. Two years later a spot opened up and I got my chance. It was worth the wait!

Tavarua, Fiji. In 2008 this was the closest you could come on planet Earth to a privately-owned, invitation-only perfect wave; trespassers not allowed. Kind of like an exclusive country club, surfing style. In 2008 local Fijian law kept all 'outsiders' out of these waters; surfing here was by invitation only. And you got that invitation by staying at the Tavarua Surf Camp. Fiji has since adopted international maritime law which opens the area up to anyone who can get out there. Kinda sad really - it was nice having a 'private' wave free of crowds - even if you had to pay for the privilege.

Tavarua, Fiji. Apart from the world-class surf, this is a beautiful little island. As seen from the air it's heart-shaped, which is just part of the reason it was a honeymoon destination for 3 couples in our group (I suspect the real reason was that all 3 of the new husbands were great surfers). As a follow-up from our group emails several months afterwards, one of the couples ended up getting pregnant on this trip; they named the daughter-to-be "Tavvy", the shortened local name for Tavarua.

Tavarua, Fiji. Here are a few scenes from around this tiny (about 20 acres) little island. Upper : stone footpaths landscaped with local greenery crisscross the resort and sand paths lead deeper into the woodsy interior. It's not a very long walk till you pop out the other side. Lower : the main lodge, which is also the open-air dining area & bar. The excellent surf break directly out front is appropriately named "Restaurants".

"Restaurants", Tavarua. This is Restaurants on a really good day. Perfect waves, light winds, the right tide, just a nice day. It's a fun, fast, and hollow wave when everything comes together.

"Restaurants", Tavarua. Some of the locals that work here at the resort get to surf here in their time off, and have gotten this place totally wired. Near low tide (pictured) it's only 2-3 feet deep over this jagged coral reef and can get quite dangerous. That didn't bother this local, whose name I forget. We surfed here most of this day and I was worn out by mid afternoon, content just to walk out in about 2 feet of water and shoot these pictures of nice overhead waves breaking only about 20 yards away.

Cloudbreak, Tavarua. To surf the wave at Restaurants all you have to do is paddle straight out from the resort. But to access the biggest/baddest wave at Tavarua, Cloudbreak, you need a boat. It's about a 3-mile trip each way out to this amazing wave, which breaks on the next reef over. They make the trip a few times a day using these small panga boats. Cloudbreak is a no-nonsense wave and can get very big and very dangerous. On the biggest day of this trip it got up to 4 times overhead - about 20-25 feet. The resort owners weren't letting us mere mortals surf there on that day (most of us didn't even want to) - especially after one of the 'pro's' got wiped out so badly he lost his board - and his shorts!

Inset : My cabin-mate's board, driven right into the shallow reef at Cloudbreak on a smaller day, with him still on it. That's a chunk of coral imbedded in the board below the "R" logo. Better the board than his feet!

Sometimes after a long day on the water it's great just to sit back under a nice shady tree, relax, and enjoy the action with a cold beverage.

There are other things to do on Tavarua besides surfing. So I hear, but I never got around to many of them.

Above: These two guys in our group went out fishing most days, and they never came back empty-handed. Their catch usually ended up as part of our dinner that night, which the rest of us greatly appreciated.

Left: Some friendly locals, learning to act like gangsta's.

Tavarua, Fiji. On the last night of the trip it's traditional to have a native Fijian party for the visitors (us). The locals perform native song and dance routines, serve up Fijian food, and dish out some kind of local grog which was awful but provided a mild buzz. It's their way of making sure you feel like crap when you leave the next day.

Pirate-Party Night !! Everyone dresses in their best pirate attire, lots of rum is consumed, and everyone acts like total savages. These are some of the wenches. It's rated Aaarrrgghh!!!