Fun to see the Dash-8 planes going back from the small airport to Nadi international airport:

The flight home had to go through Nadi and I figured it would make sense to spend most of the day to visit the main island. There were a few things to see, but in hindsight it was not that great. Still, there were a few things to see. The guide/driver I had booked did not take his job seriously and didn't show up on time. When it was clear he was going to be 45mn late or more, I just picked another cab at the airport that was happy to be a driver for the day. I had to scramble last minute to figure out what was worth seeing, closing and driving times, but figured out something that made sense. We started with a botanical garden, Garden of the Sleeping Giant:

Then drove all the way down south to the Kula Wild Adventure Park, which was decent but a long-ish drive away:

After that, the Sand Dunes National Park was next door. It was already a bit too late in the day and we only had time to do a 30mn loop, but the ranger nicely gave us a place to drive to get to the sand dunes without doing a 2h hike:

On the drive back, there was time to go to the temple:

Then there was a bit of time left for shopping and time to go back to the airport:

With help from Google Gemini, I got a recommendation for switching islands, and good recommdnations for Savasi Island. The Island itself was great, much bigger and many more activities, but diving was done by a 3rd party company with a small boat with basic gear, and only 2 dives a day. I ended up taking daily rides to Jean MIchel Cousteau Resort, around 30mn away, which wasn't so great, but that dive center was great, while the reosrt they were based at was a very overpriced family oriented resort, and therefore not a great place to stay at, which is why I had not kept them as an option after my first search and hearing they wanted more $10,000 or more per week to stay there.

After arriving early in the morning, there was time for a city market tour:

get your kava

more kava roots

Right after that, a tour to a nearby mudpool:

Then back at the reort to enjoy the view and a nice dinner cooked in the earth:

The next day, after missing out on the local diveboat that left without even knowing I was there wanting to dive, I had to go to JMCDC:

small boat, very sad it left without me to their best trip of the week

not worth staying there, but the dive center was world class

Got to go to another village visit, which was unique and worth it:

Savasi Island was big, so there was a lot to explore on foot:

Very cool to see the small fishes, including eels hunting:

One day, went to a chocolate tour

instantly made a new friend :)

Also, the pearl tour was quite good:

serious business

small shells are bred and fed carefully

until they can go in the ocean

so I went to find them :)

had some to eat, they were ok but actually not the best for eating in my opinion

And that was it, a nice week at Savasi had gone by. Very nice place, and more nearby attractions to do.

It had been 18 years since my last time in Fiji, back then it was at Bega Island, all the way in the South. This time around, with help of google searches and gemini AI for some suggestions that were not full of commercials, or as biased, it suggested Taveuni as one Island that a mix of land activities and world class diving. Within that, Paradise Taveuni came well recommended. The resort was indeed quite nice, although its non diving activities were somewhat limited and the resort itself was very small with nothing walking distance, so I would not recommend it for someone not snorkeling or diving daily.
With that being said, the staff was lovely, so were the accomodations, and outside of totally screwing up our airport pickup and having no one to contact or any phone number that was answered, the staff was absolutely lovely on all levels.

Flying to Fiji not in coach turns out to be quite expensive since Fiji Airways is indeed the only way to get there, and while LAX has daily flights, SFO is not every day (and in a lesser plane as I found out later). So while I hate connections that can be skipped, about as much as I dislike connecting through LAX, after 20 years, LAX finally connected terminals on the secure side, so putting aside that it was a long ass walk, at least it was without doing security again

nicer plane from LAX to Nadi, just quite expensive

Once in Nadi, our plane was just a tiny bit late, and retrieving luggage took so long that it was 5mn too late for the connecting plane to Taveuni that was still there but boarding had closed. Thankfully the one 1h later had room, so not too bad except for Paradise Taveuni not reading or answering any messages and not being aware of the plane change. There was no one there to wait for us or anyone who tried to call me, or anyone to call. I managed to find a random driver for another company that new the driver I Was supposed to be with, and called him on the road to turn around and come back:

small plane :)

second smallest commercial plane I've flown in, but thankfully they were nice with luggage weight

After a snafu with pickup and a longish car ride around the island (over 1h ending on a crappy dirt road), welcome to paradise:

onsite farm for food

food was pretty good

made my own coconut juice :)

made a little friend :)

onsite activities included making fans and baskets:

nice dinner made the traditional way

still no complaints about food :)

They did have a nearby village visit as well as a nearby farm, which were both interesting:

And after 8 days and a bunch of dives, it was time to leave paradise. Thanks to all the staff that took great care of us.

So long: