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Long Beach was a much quieter resort, about at same size as Nabua Lodge, and as the name states, on a longer whiter sandy beach. It was located on a headland between two islands and there was a channel that ran the length of the beach on one side of the resort, then another smaller, west (sunset) facing beach.. It comprised of a main concrete bure, where everyone ate together, drank and booked activities from along with 6 private bures and 1 dorm, all made of concrete with tiled floors and corrugated tin roofs. We had booked 5 nights in a dorm room here, however, when we arrived they said that we, again, could get upgraded to a private room the next night and to spend the first night in the dorm, with only us in; Awesome we thought, 2nd resort, 2nd room upgrade!!
Unlike the last resort there wasn't any 'evening activities', laid on, and after eating dinner, conversations with the other guests continued a while before people generally made their way back to their own bures or to do their own thing
In the daytime, although the 'resort' staff laid on paid activities such as a cave trip or a visit to the blue lagoon or fishing or guided village visits, we generally lazed around, deciding not to spend the jumped up prices for a minimal activity. We did however, do a bit of snorkeling on the head of the channel which was pretty good; there was a 10ft drop off about 50metres out and the fish and coral out there was fantastic and a great introduction for us in the underwater world
We were just settling into the gentle and chilled pace by the second day, when a Brit couple called Brendan and Lorna who were also making their way around the islands similar to us, got off the shuttle boat and arrived at the resort, we chatted and seemed to have a lot in common and so after dinner we continued chatting and in true British fashion continued to chat, play cards and drink……and drink……and drink. This was then the pattern for the next 3 nights then, often continuing until the staff call 'lights out' (due to everything running off generators, lights out is 1030), with their staff then leaving us with a torch to see with!!
Brendan and Lorna left on our day 4 and we then went into detox until it was time for us to leave the following day to our third resort called 'White Sandy'.
White Sandy Resort was a further South by about 10miles and on an island called 'Matacawalevu' (still in the Yasawa Group of islands). It shared its beach with another resort called Korovou which was about 200m down the beach. The resort name is a bit of a con, as is was less of a 'white sandy' beach, and more of a 'dark beige sandy beach with big dollops of green seaweed' but guess they had to hyphenate a little!
The place was run by a few families who all lived about 20metres behind the resort buildings in their own bures with one main bure where they all ate and congregated together. The resort comprised of 2, 8 bed dorm rooms and about 6 private bures, the dorm room we were in was situated above the dining area/bar, we again, booked 5 nights in a dorm, but unlike the last 2 places did not get upgraded to a private!! Boo!!
The resort was run pretty much the same as the last two resorts, with the staff providing the same sort of paid activities; but again we decided not to do them and to chill out or go snorkeling. It was the evenings that things kicked off.
All the staff from the resort arrived at the front of the bar after dinner and proceeded give a traditional Fijian welcome song and dance (I'm not exactly sure of how 'traditional' it is though when they brought out 2 huge speakers and put on big beat dance music, bet they didn't welcome like that in their cannibal days!!) Firstly the whole group would do a song and dance, then all the males would do a song and dance, then all the females would do a song and a dance then the whole group would do a song and dance together again, finishing up with them then getting all the tourists to get up and join them in the whole routine again, followed by a party game of something like 'statues' or 'captains coming'.
The first night it was very much a case of…oh well, we may as well join in as it is for us and our welcoming song, then due to there being new people arriving, and leaving, each day we were 'treated' to the whole shebang each and every night. By the 3rd night we decided to sneak off after dinner and miss out being 'welcomed' again!!
The rest of the stay at White Sandy was a little disappointing as a whole, the resort was a little run down and the visitors were made to feel as if we were intruding into their village life, and that the resort was simply something that they had to do to pass their time!! This as well as the amount of flies, bed bugs and mossies' in the place, all this added together made the resort or least favorite of the 3 we had stayed at, and so by the 5th day we were more than ready to leave and to head to our 4th and final resort of our Yasawa Island visit….Mantaray Island Resort.
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Bubba Manta ray Island resort? Now I want to hear about that one. If you haven't done it yet and get a chance swim with the mantas. I did it last year in the Maldives and it is in my "Top Ten" life experiences! Pure magic! Much love guys x