Day 5: Magnificent Malolo
Don’t know if it was the king-sized bed or pre-dawn quiet or the two hours of snorkelling I’d done the day before but I awoke for day 5 of the ‘Fiji for the Holidays’ tour feeling especially refreshed. Relished a quiet dip in the pool before breakfast and took advantage of Musket Cove Resort’s internet access to do work. (Try telling friends and family you’re traveling throughout the Fiji Islands for ‘work’, especially when those friends and family are buried beneath two feet of snow in the US Northeast. I can inform you right now the most common response will be ‘I hate you’.)
Pray met me for breakfast and we walked to the Musket Cove Marina, where a skiff awaited us for transport to Funky Fish Beach Resort on neighbouring Malolo island. The marina is a marvel. It was all mangrove swamp when Dick Smith and his family began to build what is now one of the premier resorts in the Mamanuca Group. The marina includes the usual marina berths and moorings but also features ‘The Trader’, a general store that’s well-stocked with provisions for those wishing to cook a gourmet meal or merely prepare an afternoon snack. Around the corner, the Mandara Spa features a full range of beauty treatments and massages for those who’ve overdone it just a bit. Next door to the spa is the Subsurface Fiji dive shop, where you can enrol in a full range of Padi dive courses and partake in a daily schedule of dives.
Our skiff set off over aquamarine water so bright we seemed to be floating over a neon sea. A small strait of shallow water separates Malololailai Island from Malolo island, which is the largest of the Mamanuca Group. After clearing the reef that surrounds the lagoon the water below us became, excuse the pun, true blue. In ten minutes we were slowing to enter the small marina that services guests at Funky Fish Beach Resort.
After the family-friendly majesty of Plantation Island and breathtaking country-club-with-tall-palms feel of Musket Cove, Funky Fish offered a radically different Mamanuca Group experience. Not to say better, not to say worse … just different.
The skiff dropped us at a jetty and as we walked along a beach towards the resort we were greeted by Funky Fish staff who insisted on grabbing our gear before showing us to poolside ‘Rock Lobster’ bures.
Talk about funky. Perfect for one or two people and steps away from a shimmering pool, my bure felt like a surfer’s dream digs. Each of the ten ‘Rock Lobster’ bures has a bedroom and private bathroom with outdoor shower; ‘Grand Grouper’ units have two bedrooms and a private bathroom, also with outdoor shower; and a regular dorm (the coed, 12-bunk ‘Octopussy Lodge’) that includes five ‘Thorny Oyster’ private dorm rooms with ceiling fans.
I could easily imagine a guy or girl standing in the bure’s doorway, looking out over the amazing sea towards the best surf breaks in the Fiji Islands, itching to test his or her mettle. Some background: In July 2010 the Fijian gov’t passed a decree that opened all of Fiji’s surf breaks to the general public. That immediately made Funky Fish one of the few resorts catering to surfers so close to sites like Wilkes Passage, Namotu Left, and Swimming Pools, which are only 12 minutes away by skiff; tack on an extra ten minutes to reach world-famous Cloudbreak and Restaurants.
To put it in perspective: Imagine you’re a planetologist (it’s a word – I looked it up) who’s obsessed with Jupiter. One day you discover someone’s built an affordable, comfortable and friendly resort on your favourite planet. And they’d love to meet you and hear your stories and give you the time of your life. You, my friend, would be on the first rocket to Jupiter.
Luckily for surfers in search of legendary breaks, Funky Fish Beach Resort doesn’t require interplanetary travel. It’s just a mellow ferry ride from Port Denerau or short flight from Nadi Int’l Airport.
After settling in, Pray and I headed to the restaurant/bar/reception area that’s perched on a hillside overlooking the resort. With sand between the toes and reggae in the ears and a sea view to die for we met the owners of Funky Fish, Brad and Rosemary Johnstone. Beside them was ‘assistant manager’ Simba, a gentle gargantuan of a dog who spends his days laying across the sand and having his head scratched. Brad’s a former New Zealand All Black rugby star and coach of the Fijian and Italian national teams. He’s also a local hero of sorts (though you’d never hear him say that) as the New Zealand native coached some of Fiji’s most successful rugby teams in a country passionate about its rugby and then invested in the country that he and Rosemary – and Simba – call home.
A girl from Malaysia named Sasha who lives in Hawaii for the surf arrived at the resort just after Pray and I. Brad told us she was at the end of a 5-month, worldwide backpacking trip and wanted to ride a few waves before returning home to Hawaii. We gladly tagged along for the boat ride to Cloudbreak, where a judge’s/camera platform stands as a testament to the break’s international fame. Finding Cloudbreak slightly intimidating, we headed for nearby Wilkes Passage, where Sasha caught about a dozen waves and returned to the boat like a kid on Christmas morning. We stopped at a sand bar to snorkel a while in remarkably clear water alive with fish of every shape and colour. By the time we returned to the marina we’d all experienced the kind of afternoon that’s possible only at the Funky Fish.
And the day wasn’t over.
The mood at the bar/restaurant was lively as everyone gathered for drinks and dinner. Big, burly Brad was engaged in conversation with one of Malolo Island’s residents, who’s in the process of building a small resort and marina. A multi-cultural mix of visitors ate at the restaurant’s perfectly appropriate picnic tables. I called it an early night but Pray stuck around for a fire twirler performance that, he said, absolutely delighted the kids. Pray was invited by Funky Fish staff to sit with them and enjoy a few cold beverages. Little did Pray know he was in for a shock the next morning.
Read More: Link: http://www.fijime.com/fiji_vacation/ Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/fijifortheholidays