August 3, 2013
We woke early to another calm, still morning. By now, a few small squid had started hanging around our boat along with the spade fish. It’s amazing how fast we get attached to the critters that choose to hang out under our boat, and how sad we feel to leave them. But we had one more stop to make while the weather was good, then we’d head back to Savusavu before the trade winds picked up again.
Paradise Resort is on Taveuni Island, but at the west end about 20 miles away from Matei. It’s right on a rocky coastline and not a good anchorage, but they have a mooring for visiting yachts to use. You just need to call ahead and reserve it. There’s no charge, but it’s assumed you’ll come in for drinks or a meal. We chose to make a dinner reservation when we called to reserve the mooring.
The trip took about 4 hours, and we were very grateful for the arrival of mid-afternoon clouds which gave us some shade.
The sight of Paradise Resort as we arrived by water was impressive. It’s a tropical oasis atop a black volcanic rock wall shoreline, the kind of place you’d gawk at in a travel magazine. They’ve built a stone platform seating area right over the water, with stairs going up the wall. Another thatched-roof platform serves as a small boat landing area. The black rock walls are draped with green vines, and blue-green water laps at their base. Along the top are the thatched roofs of the bungalows amid a sea of palm trees. It’s all quite stunning.
We decided to head ashore for an umbrella drink and go use the pool as they’d welcomed us to do. We realized we should have brought our dinghy anchor to hold it off the rocks after we tied up to their dock, and would have to go back and get it if we wanted to use the pool. We decided to continue on and just get the drinks, which wouldn’t take very long.
“Wow!” was the first word that came to mind when we got to the top of the ramp. The grounds were beautiful under the swaying palm trees. On the cliff edge was an open-air dining area and a pool that looked out over the ocean. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. We headed up to the bar and ordered some tropical cocktails to celebrate our arrival, then headed outside to enjoy them. There are a lot of very nice places to stay in Fiji, but I can’t imagine any get much better than this.
Below, a gallery of our afternoon at the Paradise Resort. Yes, I put in more pictures of the drinks than anyone needs to see, but I wanted to put in the somewhat blurry photo with Rich drinking from the straw because of the smiling Fijian faces behind him. It kind of sums up the spirit of this resort, and the spirit of Fiji. –Cyndi
(You can click to enlarge and scroll through gallery above.)
