Matamanoa Island Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

Woke up at 615am to check out the sunrise. The wind was still blowing quite strongly and it was a little chilly. The sun hasn’t really come to the horizon yet and so I tried to hide from the wind by viewing from the restaurant. After a while, the sun started to peek out from the horizon. Took some shots and went back to bed.

Woke up again at 930am, so we freshened up and proceeded to breakfast. Continental breakfast was included, consisting of mostly pastries and cereals. As we arrived nearly close to closing time, the waiter helped us get some fruits so that we could quickly grabbed some pastries, how thoughtful.

After breakfast, went to the dive shop to inform of the snorkel that I didn’t return the day before and also at the same time, booked the Modriki trip for myself, cause my wife wasn’t really feeling great to go out to sea. Visited the reception again to confirm with Seaspray on my cancellation and full refund and it was confirmed and they would write me an email on that.

Went back to the room first before I headed out to snorkel. It was high tide going to low and thus it was a little difficult to swim against the current back to shore. Seen quite a number of fishes and some amount of corals, all of which were very close to water surface. Also getting used to the waterproof camera bags to shoot underwater pictures.

With the sun shining through, the amateurish photos looked brighter.

Went back to the room quite exhausted and took a quick shower and fell asleep till 1pm, and proceeded to lunch.

Ordered a club sandwich for myself and it was mighty huge! I couldn’t finish all of the bread as it was simply too much. Stayed awhile to enjoy the sea view.

We went for a walk on the beach at the opposite side to our resort. Again, a long stretch of white sand and turquoise waters welcomed us. We strolled till we reached the near end of the beach where rocks continued. Didn’t want to risk slipping on these rocks since we were in slippers, made a u-turn back to our room. Lazed around till we fell asleep on the day bed.

Woke up at 5pm and I went to explore the island by myself. There was a road that led to a fork, one dirt road going up the hill while the other connected to a bridge, which I took that sent me to the other side of the island. The villas with private dip pools lined that side of the island, with a direction that faced the sunrise view (ours had the sunset view). Went past the villas onto the beach and there was where we left off in the afternoon walk.

Wooden bridge that linked to the other side of the island.

I continued onto the rock areas in an attempt to circle around this smaller island. Managed to go to the furtherest point that had a clear view ahead but couldn’t go further since there was a split in the rocks that I felt was too difficult to cross.

Villa with private pool. — Villa with private pool on the other side of the island.

Went back around the same way and soon enough I got back to our bure. Immediately I dressed for snorkel round two.

At low tide it was much easier to to swim in the water but difficult too as I was closer to the corals. Saw just as much fishes as in the morning but because it was nearing sunset, there wasn’t much illumination through the water surface. But it was a great trip out nonetheless.

That looked like an eel somewhere in the middle.

Sunset was close and got some shots of it before heading back. The view was kinda disappointing compared to the view the day before as there were clouds at the horizon getting in the way of the view. Got back for a shower before we proceeded for dinner.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Sunset, but a really cloudy day.

At dinner, pretty much was similar to the nite before. Ordered fish for myself and my wife had curry vegetables. Didn’t had the fanciful desert with live demo as we weren’t in the mood of having deserts since the mains were pretty filling.

We left after finishing dinner and went back to the room to rest. Spent the night naming photos, as we were almost halfway through our holiday and my wife watched drama on her phone since there weren’t internet or tv in the room at all. But it was ok.

Woke up early as we were going to be transferred to the Matamanoa island. Ate the cereals we bought yesterday so that we didn’t have to pay for breakfast which wasn’t that tasty. Checked out the room at 730am and waited for the bus to arrive, which came pretty promptly at 745am. We left the main luggage at the hotel, knowing that we would return on the last day before flying back to Australia, and packed a haversack full of stuff for the two days away.

The bus was going its rounds to pick up customers from all over the resorts on the same side of the island. I fell asleep and woke up when the bus was arriving at the terminal about 45mins later. We proceeded to the South Sea Cruises counter to check in and get our boarding passes at the counter. Those who had brought luggage had to check in their luggage first before doing the same thing.

Check in counters for the cruise to islands.

We went to the nearby supermarket to buy a huge 1.5l water, knowing the island probably was going to cost us more.

The boarding time was 9am with the catamaran leaving 15mins later. There were 3 decks on this fast-craft and we were initially seated on the top deck, enjoying the sea breeze and the view of the surroundings until we couldn’t stand baking in the sun, then we retreated to the bottom most deck, air-conditioned.

45mins later, we arrived at the first stop of Tokoriki, a super luxurious island housing Sheraton and Tokoriki resort. While people were boarding and alighting from smaller transfer boats, we just took the opportunity to snap some photos.

After we were on the move again, about 10mins later, we arrived at our destination, Matamanoa island. We were already in awe, the single round island that had a perimeter of white sand surrounded by turquoise waters. What a beautiful place! Transferred to the smaller transfer boats and arrived on the island itself.

Check in with a welcome drink was done in a group. With their strict on-time check out, our rooms were already ready after we completed all the necessary registration. The island bure was huge and with the front facing the sea, we immediately fell in love with this island.

There was only one restaurant on the island and we tried going for the lunch and dinner ala-carte first to get a feel of the quantity and if it was worth it to get the half board and full board options. The lunch was really tasty and of good quality and the corresponding price was expected but value for money.

Everything good came with a price, especially in islands far away from civilization. The internet cost 30Fjd per 24hrs usage and had to be purchased where a voucher with a password would be given for us to log in at a certain web page. However signal wasn’t strong and we had issues initially that we got disconnected and couldn’t get back into the same session. That’s when we had to approach the reception for help to reset the system.

We received a call from South Sea Cruises regarding our trip to Modriki island, where the film Castaway starring Tom Hanks was filmed. They informed that it wouldn’t be safe for my pregnant wife to visit the island. But they only offered for us to change to another program which we couldn’t do so since we didn’t have time. Since I have already posed this question right at the start when I booked this itinerary, there wasn’t any response from them but a confirmation email instead, I had assumed all was fine. Now it was unfair that I had to either forced to go on a trip where we have concerns or give up 25% of the amount for the trip, which was quite substantial.

After much argument and waiting on the phone, they finally agreed to refund the full amount to my credit card which was a relief for us.

Since we loved the island so much, we extended another night stay and applied to postpone the last night stay at Tokatoka to the next night.

There was a “water activities” store that had free hire of kayaks and snorkeling gear and also Padi certification diving courses and other day trips available for booking, inclusive of one that goes to Modriki island. I borrowed some snorkeling gear and went back to our room.

After all the arrangements and changing of accommodation bookings, it was almost sun set at 6pm. I went out to test my waterproof camera Dicapac bag at the shallow depths in front of our resort and it seemed to work perfectly.

Bluish something-that-look-like-a-starfish thing.

Went to the beach again after changing out of the wet shorts, and together with my wife, we watched the sun set in the horizon. It was a very pretty sight, since the day was really clear of clouds.

Not long after, we went for dinner after taking a bath. The wind was getting strong but the restaurant now was enclosed to keep the wind out. Ordered the food and we confirmed that we didn’t require full board, ala-carte was a cheaper, more practical option for us.

Dining in the restaurant was amusing with the lively singing by a band of 3 guitar players that walked table to table, singing songs that were dedicated by the customers at the table. There was even a prize giving ceremony and a welcome song for the newcomers to the island. The dessert Crepe Suvette was prepared on the spot with a chef on a portable stove, and what a show that was!

Filling and satisfied, went back to the room to rest. There was no TV and thus the internet was our only form of entertainment. But the feeling of staying in this resort was just pure enjoyment.

Fiji 2014 Day 8 – Matamanoa Island

Fiji 2014 Day 7 – Arrival at Matamanoa Island