Unhurried days are the reason one comes, but plenty of activities can be arranged: In addition to the snorkeling among giant clams, there are bike or scooter rides to banana and coconut plantations and jeep tours to visit ancient marae (sacred communal spaces) or World War II ruins (the U.S. Army used this as a refueling station). The shallow, gin-clear waters of the lagoon make for some of the Cook Islands’ best bonefishing, and big game like marlin and sailfish can be found farther afield.
Of the several hotels occupying the hilly main island, the finest is the Etu Moana, eight thatch-roofed villas along a dreamy stretch of sand. The only place to stay on a motu is Aitutaki Lagoon Resort & Spa, on Akitua—its 16 Polynesian-style guest accommodations include the only overwater bungalows in the Cook Islands. Indigenous touches abound: The staff at the small but lovely spa can introduce you to a coconut leaf scrub, while dinner might be ika mata, a local dish of marinated raw tuna with coconut sauce. Or enjoy your meal at one of the beachside restaurants where young island dancers perform nightly.
A coral lagoon overflowing with rich marine life surrounds the motus of Aitutaki.
WHERE: 155 miles/249 km north of Rarotonga. ETU MOANA: Tel 682/31-458; www.etumoana.com. Cost: from $375. AITUTAKI LAGOON RESORT: Tel 682/31-201; www.aitutakilagoonresort.com. Cost: garden bungalows from $330. BEST TIME: Apr–Oct when weather is driest.
An Idyllic Island Dedicated to Dance
RAROTONGA
Cook Islands
Often compared to Tahiti, its larger and more famous French Polynesian neighbor to the east (see p. 690), Rarotonga packs more fun into less space than any other Pacific island. Most of the action in this little jewel of an island takes place in the famous Muri Lagoon, which is ideal for swimming, snorkeling, windsurfing, and sailing. Even better snorkeling can be found within the coral head off Titikaveka, on the south coast. Inland, the well-marked 3- to 4-hour Cross-Island Track scales the rugged central mountains, starting in the main town of Avarua and continuing to the south coast, passing along the way the base of the Te Rua Manga, a needlelike rock that is one of Rarotonga’s distinguishing landmarks.
But what really sets the Cook Islands’ capital apart is its lively nightlife, for every day except Sunday sees at least one “island night” feast and dance show. The Cook Islanders are considered the best dancers in the South Pacific, and these events, hosted by local hotels, are authentic displays of tradition and national pride. Like their Tahitian neighbors, they perform the suggestive, hip-twisting tamure, though the enthusiasm of the Cook Islanders will convince you that the dance belongs solely to them. So dazzling are their skills that you may want to consider planning your trip around the Te Mire Kapa (Dancer of the Year Competition) in April or May, when the crème de la crème of the islands’ villages and school dance troupes travel to Rarotonga for a week of song and traditional dance that will leave you breathless.
“Island night” dancers help keep national pride alive.
VISITOR INFO: www.cookislands.travel. WHERE TO STAY: There’s something for everyone at the Rarotongan Beach Resort and Spa, including a wide range of room categories. Tel 682/25-800; www.therarotongan.com. Cost: from $215. BEST TIMES: Apr–May for dance competition; Apr–Oct for dry weather.
A Ghost Fleet in the Graveyard of the Pacific
CHUUK LAGOON
Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia
During World War II, the strategic island group of Chuuk, which was then known as Truk (the name is still commonly used), was the stronghold of the Japanese Imperial fleet and their South Pacific forces. Its 50-mile-wide lagoon served as a natural fortress—outsiders tagged this seemingly impregnable outpost as the Gibraltar of the Pacific. Then in a surprise attack on February 17, 1944, aircraft from the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 58 appeared overhead and dropped more than 500 tons of bombs and torpedoes on Japan’s Fourth Fleet, quickly turning Chuuk Lagoon into the graveyard of the Pacific.
Today Chuuk Lagoon holds the coral-encrusted hulls of 60 Japanese ships, one of the world’s largest concentrations of sunken wrecks, in relatively shallow and calm waters. A combination of unusually warm temperatures, prolific marine life, and gentle lagoon currents has transformed them into a garden of magnificent artificial reefs, with brilliant coral displays that grow to exceptional size. But divers can see more than natural wonders here: The 437-foot Fujikawa Maru is the most famous relic, a Japanese aircraft ferry standing upright in water 90 feet deep. A gaping torpedo hole in her starboard side leads into her cargo hold and its intact fighter planes, while her well-preserved machine shop is still equipped with lathes, compressors, and hand tools. The nearby oil tanker Shinkoku also served as a hospital—the operating room makes for an eerie visit.
These remarkable war ruins, left with their guns, trucks, silverware, and sake bottles undisturbed, were brought to light by Jacques Cousteau in the 1960s, and in the 1970s a fledgling dive industry sprang up around them. One of the oldest dive operators is the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop, which is located in the Truk Blue Lagoon Resort on the largest of Chuuk’s 40 islands. Divers occupy 54 rooms, surrounded by coconut palms and overlooking the lagoon.
WHERE: 600 miles/966 km southeast of Guam. BLUE LAGOON DIVE SHOP: Tel 691/330-2796; www.truk-lagoon-dive.com. Cost: 2-dive boat trip $105. TRUK BLUE LAGOON RESORT: Tel 691/330-2727; www.bluelagoondiveresort.com. Cost: from $150. BEST TIME: Jan–Apr for best underwater visibility.
Grass Skirts, Stone Money, and Manta Rays
YAP
Federated States of Micronesia
The most traditional of the Federated States of Micronesia, Yap is home to one of the Pacific’s last island cultures that is still resistant to modern Western ways. As in the time before Europeans discovered this group of 19 islands in the 16th century, bare-breasted women wear traditional grass skirts, and men and women alike chew betel nut, a subtle narcotic that produces stained red lips and a mild high. Other than the topless islanders, the most oft-photographed sights are rai, the wheel-shaped stone money units that line the roads and measure up to 10 feet in diameter. Their value is determined by size, shape, and the difficulty of acquisition.
Modern money is also used, but it is not of the utmost importance to the Yapese, who have rejected Japanese overtures to build first-class resorts and thus attract more tourists—and profits—to their languid islands. Most of the few visitors who do come are divers. They head straight underwater, for Yap is one of the world’s top dive destinations, providing incredible visibility for swimming with 1,000-pound manta rays in their natural habitat. With wingspans of 10 to 20 feet, these fearsome-looking giants pose no threat to divers (unlike stingrays). They commonly return to the same spot every day, oblivious to the divers’ presence. In mating season (late November through March) females pirouette and soar through the waters, leading trains that can include 15 or more males.
To discover the rays and other underwater creatures, contact Bill Acker, a Texas-born Peace Corps worker who came to Yap in the 1980s and stayed to pioneer the local dive industry. He built the harbor-front Manta Ray Bay Hotel, which has its own microbrewer, and is the best dive operation in the islands.
A traditional currency, rai stones change hands but generally are not moved.
WHERE: 530 miles/850 km southwest of Guam. MANTA RAY BAY HOTEL: Tel 691/350-2300; www.mantaray.com. Cost: from $260; dive packages available. BEST TIMES: Nov–Mar for dry season, when mantas mate and underwater visibility is best; Mar 1–2 for Yap Day dance celebrations.
Kaleidoscopic Marine Life
BEQA LAGOON
Beqa Island, Fiji
Just off the south coast of Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island, the legendary Beqa Lagoon lies enclosed by one of the world’s longest barrier reefs—90 miles of dazzling coral where the kaleidoscopic marine life makes for one of the Pacific’s premier diving and snorkeling sites. The larger sea creatures—including blue marlin, wahoo, swordfish, and black marlin—beckon big-game fishermen here, while the surf break known as Frigate Passage
offers world-class waves for experienced surfers. A few miles away lies Shark Reef Marine Reserve, a top shark-diving venue, providing adrenaline-pumping encounters with bull, tiger, and five other species of shark.
As for action beyond the water, there isn’t much: The sparsely populated 14-square-mile Beqa Island itself gives visitors a glimpse into Melanesian life, which has been barely touched by modern development. Because there are no roads, boats are the only way to travel between the traditional Fijian villages situated along a shoreline serrated by small bays. Those who live there are famous in Fiji for fire-walking across 1,200°F stones, but nowadays that skill is mostly on display at Viti Levu’s big resort hotels.
Of the lagoon’s few modern hotels, Lalati Resort & Spa, at the mouth of scenic Malumu Bay, affords an enviable vista, extending from a narrow, mountain-edged bay across the shimmering lagoon to the southern shore of Viti Levu, where the nighttime lights of Suva, the country’s vibrant capital city, twinkle on the horizon. With snorkeling a short walk from the resort’s 12 guest bures (bungalows) and three private villas, and with more than 100 dive sites just 5 to 20 minutes away by boat, the location is superb. New owners gave Lalati a facelift after taking over in 2009, including the addition of two honeymoon bungalows with their own plunge pools. While guests are drawn here first by the lagoon’s fame, they’re apt to return for the food, hospitality, and pampering. The small Loloma Spa features treatments using warm seashells, coconut oil, and raw sugarcane, as well as sea-salt scrubs.
Beqa Lagoon’s nutrient-rich waters produce forests of coral.
WHERE: 9 miles/15 km off the southern coast of Viti Levu. VISITOR INFO: www.fijime.com. LALATI RESORT: Tel 679/368-0453; www.lalatifiji.com. Cost: bures from $400, inclusive. BEST TIMES: May–Sep for nicest weather; May–Dec for ideal diving conditions.
Overwater Bungalows, Fiji Style
LIKULIKU LAGOON RESORT
Malolo Island, Fiji
Tourists have been flocking to the Mamanuca Islands since jet airliners first began landing at the airport on the nearby island of Viti Levu in the 1960s. Fringed by fine beaches (think Castaway, with Tom Hanks, which was filmed here), the Mamanucas enjoy Fiji’s driest climate. The original Mamanuca resorts were eclipsed in the 1990s and early 2000s by high-end luxury hotels that cropped up elsewhere on the island-dotted map of Fiji. But the limelight returned to this graceful arc of islands when Likuliku Lagoon Resort opened in 2007, bringing the country’s first romantic, over-the-water guest bungalows.
Situated beside a half-moon bay at the northern end of hilly Malolo Island, the largest of the Mamanucas, Likuliku is the pet project of the local Whitten family, which has long owned Malolo Island Fiji, a more modest, family-friendly resort on the bay next door. Authentic Fijian style can be seen in everything from Likuliku’s furnishings, hewn of native hardwood, to its handmade masi (tapa cloth) accents.
The resort’s restaurant serves excellent Pacific Rim fare and occupies the second floor of a large, thatch-roofed central building, which overlooks the cobalt blue lagoon and opens onto a large outdoor swimming pool. Nine of the ten spacious, overwater bures (bungalows) are built near the edge of the fringing reef and have a private platform from which guests can step into the lagoon and easily reach deep water at all tides. On land, another 26 bures line the beach; all are large and breezy and a few have small plunge pools.
WHERE: 15 miles/25 km west of Nadi, Viti Levu. LIKULIKU LAGOON RESORT: Tel 679/672-0978; www.likulikulagoon.com. Cost: from $775, inclusive. MALOLO ISLAND FIJI: Tel 679/666-9192; www.maloloisland.com. Cost: from $320. BEST TIME: May–Sep when weather is driest.
Deserted Beaches on Horseshoe Bay
MATANGI ISLAND
Fiji
A gorgeous, horseshoe-shaped island, Matangi is all that remains of an ancient volcano, half of which fell away into the sea, leaving behind two of the finest beaches in Fiji. Palms fringe the submerged crater, now filled with deep sapphire waters, whose only visitors are guests of the 240-acre island’s single accommodation, Matangi Private Island Resort. Owned by the Douglas family, which has been on the island for five generations, it has ten Polynesian-influenced bures (bungalows) at sea level and three Honeymoon Tree Houses, one actually perched in an enormous almond tree, two others chiseled into the side of a cliff, with superb views through the branches to the Tasman Straits separating Matangi from Taveuni (see next page).
Guests who head to Horseshoe Bay beach will find it one of the loveliest in Fiji; they can also have the staff arrange for hikes across the crater’s rim or for boat rides to take them picnicking on farther-flung beaches. Back at the resort, fresh-air dining takes place under a soaring roof and beside a freshwater swimming pool. Because the owners live here and are actively engaged in the day-to-day operations, Matangi has more of a family feel than that of most other resorts in Fiji.
Scuba divers and snorkelers will discover why northern Fiji is known as the soft coral capital of the world: Swift currents bring rich nutrients upon which these colorful creatures feed, resulting in a huge, easily viewed abundance of them. Matangi is close to numerous dive sites, including the Purple Wall, which has a 200-foot drop and is covered with purple soft corals, sea whips, and large gorgonian fans. The nearby Somosomo Strait is world-famous among divers for the aptly named Rainbow Reef and for its Great White Wall, first-class diving sites that are also easily accessed from Taveuni Island.
Occupied by a private resort, Matangi Island has a distinctive horseshoe shape that makes it easy to spot by air.
WHERE: 6 miles/10 km east of Taveuni Island. Tel 679/880-0260; www.matangiisland.com. Cost: from $610, inclusive; diving extra. BEST TIME: May–Oct for perfect weather and diving conditions.
Colorful Coral Around a Garden Island
TAVEUNI ISLAND
Fiji
With the largest population of indigenous plants and animals in the South Pacific, lush Taveuni earns its nickname as the Garden Island. The fertile volcanic soil is responsible for the densely growing tropical flora, including the tagimaucia, a flower found only at the very highest elevations—the mountains here rise up to nearly 4,000 feet.
Flying here from Fiji’s more populated and developed island of Viti Levu is like traveling back half a century. A string of small, traditional villages along the western side of the island is home to easygoing, friendly Fijians, who offer a warm welcome to Westerners (no longer a novelty since many have built retirement homes here).
Here and there the rocky shore is dotted with some of Fiji’s finest white sand beaches, while on the island’s northern end, hikers can refresh under rushing, three-level Bouma Falls, explore the jungle-clad Vidawa Rainforest Hike, and discover even more pristine beaches along the Lavena Coastal Walk. All are part of Bouma Falls National Heritage Park, which covers four-fifths of the island.
But it’s the dive sites in the narrow Somosomo Straits, separating the islands of Taveuni and Vanua Levu (and also accessible from Matangi Island; see previous page), that have put this area of Fiji on the travel map. Premier among them is the 20-mile-long Rainbow Reef and its stunning Great White Wall—Taveuni’s Mount Everest of reefs—but dive operators will also whisk you off to Purple Wall, Rainbow Passage, Vuna Reef, and farther afield to nameless sites where the profusion of dazzling marine life can be even more magnificent.
Taveuni Island Resort offers the most luxurious accommodations around. Sitting atop a bluff, its 12 bures and infinity pool command magnificent views of the straits. At Coconut Grove Beachfront Cottages, you’ll find just three simple waterfront bungalows as well as one of the best places to eat on Taveuni. The laid-back resort’s restaurant prides itself on its fresh and simple food served on a breezy, open-air veranda, where local singers sometimes perform to the accompaniment of ukeleles.
WHERE: 44 miles/70 km north of Nadi, Viti Levu. BOUMA FALLS NATIONAL HERITAGE PARK: www.bnhp.org. TAVEUNI ISLAND RESORT: Tel 679/888-0441; www.taveuniislandresort.com. Cost: bures from $830, inclusive. COCONUT GROVE: Tel
679/888-0328; www.coconutgrovefiji.com. Cost: from $175; dinner: $40. BEST TIMES: May–Sep for driest weather; May–Dec for diving.
Heaven for Kids and Grown-ups
JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU FIJI ISLANDS RESORT
Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji
It’s difficult for a small, intimate resort to successfully host both couples seeking a romantic escape and families with small children. But Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort, set within a 17-acre oceanfront coconut grove on the wedge-shaped island of northern Vanua Levu and resembling a traditional local village, manages to do both. Guests occasionally run into Cousteau, son of the late oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and owner of this award-winning resort and scuba operation. He designed the eco-resort’s 37-foot state-of-the-art dive boat, L’Aventure, and staffs it with a crew that includes marine biologists who guarantee you the most informative dive experience possible in one of the most diverse and populous marine habitats on earth. One don’t-miss destination is Namena Marine Reserve. An hour’s ride away, this 44-square-mile home to endemic and rare species is regarded as one of the world’s best dive sites.
Those not interested in diving will find plenty to love about this place too, including snorkeling, kayaking, nature hikes, yoga classes, village visits and cultural trips, windsurfing, and bird-watching. Parents will appreciate the resort’s Bula Camp (bula means “hello” in Fijian and is as ubiquitous as “aloha” is in Hawaii). Guests younger than 13 are free to disappear here from early morning until evening to swim and play as well as learn about the local environment and Fijian customs.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 107