October 22, 2015
The theme of this particular round of cruising is second chances. The season is changing and soon we’ll need to head south, but for now we’re taking advantage of some nice weather to get out and see a few things we missed during the season.
Or in the case of Mantaray Island Resort, retake some photos. We stopped here early in the season, anchoring off Drawaqa island. We came in for lunch, but somehow lost those pictures in the transfer from camera to computer. Our plan: go ashore and take more photos of the resort, then hopefully get a second swim with the mantas (thankfully those pictures were on another camera).
Mantaray Island Resort is located in the middle of a string of small islands that spill off the south tip of larger Naviti island. The best anchorage is at little Drawaqa island, halfway between the channel where the mantas swim and Nanuya Balavu island, where Mantaray Island Resort is located. Everything is so close together it’s an easy dinghy ride to any given place.
The resort itself is a bit rustic, geared toward the young backpacker crowd. In the evening, they fire up their pizza oven at the bar and everyone is welcome to come in and enjoy a slice with their happy hour drinks. It’s not the most beautiful setting in Fiji: these islands are very dry, and the beach is a combination of sand and coral rubble. But it’s pretty festive and a popular destination for the party crowd.
As far as swimming with the mantas, it’s been a bit shrouded in mystery, but I think we’ve figured it out. (see blog post). The answer to “When are they here?” varies depending on who you ask. The resort will tell you they’re here until November, but I think the more honest answer comes from the Lonely Planet guide: “June thru August, but sometimes as early as May or as late as September.” We’d heard of people swimming with them in September this year, but we knew October was a long shot. When we got to the resort, they said they hadn’t seen them for two weeks. With no boats even scheduled to take people out, the writing was on the wall: they’re gone.
We thought about coming back for the pizza, but the anchorage was getting pretty rolly. We decided to head on to an anchorage a few miles north on Naviti Island. Above, a few photos of Mantaray Island Resort on Nanuya Balavu island just across the channel from us.–Cyndi
Note: our anchor waypoint can be found in our Western Fiji Routes and Waypoints on our Fiji Cruising info page.
