The stunning Yassawa islands to the north west of mainland Viti Levu are a collection of beautiful Fijian isles that have featured in films such as Castaway and Blue lagoon. Slightly less touristy than the Maramaba islands to the south but still home to some of Fiji’s most expensive resorts its popularity is well founded.

 

During our stay the weather was much better out to the west than the east and we were fortunate to find a homestay on the island of Matacawa, a series of  4 bure chalets had been built on the hill top overlooking the bay in 2008 and the family until this point had been running them through the ferry companies. However, we were their first Airbnb guests. A lovely family Rosa and Jerry who lived with their son, daughter, son in-law, their children Billy aged 4 and little Rosa aged 2. A lovely family who made us feel really at home as we ended up staying with them for over a week in the end.

 

Most days we would take the kayak out and paddle across to the islands opposite the bay or around the corner to some of the other secluded bays of Matacawa and the coral reefs. We also explored the local family farm and climbed Gorilla rock the heights part of the island. On our penultimate day we went out line fishing with Jerry in the morning which was great fun, Carrie catching some beautifully colourful fish all that would be eaten and myself catching a few small ones but also a couple of larger Snappers. We then went around to another bay where the rest of the family had started a fire and we barbequed the fish, then marinated them in lime, saltwater and chilly. A lovely meal accompanied by some cooked Kasava (a potato like root vegetable) on the beach, after the meal we went out spear fishing with the youngest son Tokka. While out spear fishing Carrie spotted a Moray Eel which Tokka tried to capture, however, one spear just wasn’t enough for the giant eel. We also saw a black and white sea snake that day, the spear fishing was particularly difficult only using a rubber band and metal spear.

 

We returned back to the Fijian mainland and the Anchorage hotel just outside Lautoka on Viti Levu before flying on to Australia.