Running with the Ward's: plantation island resort

We spent the first day of 2013 lounging on a perfectly sunny beach on Malolo Island. It was a beautiful, still day, hot in the sun but perfect in the shade of a palm tree. The snorkeling off the beach at the resort was really great with clear water, tons of fish, and some coral. The beach was pure sand with no rocks or coral to cut your feet and you just had to swim out less than 100 yards to reach the reef. The resort beach was dotted with lounge chairs and was never crowded. We enjoyed relaxing, reading, and exploring the resort. We had lunch at the snack bar and dinner at the a la carte restaurant at the resort, Black Coral.

View of the main restaurant at the resort at night

Musical entertainment at Black Coral

The next day we headed out early for a 4 hour game fishing trip with 4 other people. I didn't take my camera but the views of the ocean and other islands were beautiful and we enjoyed another perfectly sunny day. We each took 30 minute rotations in 1 of the 2 fishing chairs on the boat. If any of the lines on your side of the boat hooked a fish while you were in the chair, it was your fish and you got to reel it in. Unfortunately, we only hooked 2 fish and it was not when either Justin or I were in the chairs. We did catch a mahi-mahi and it was really cool to watch the fish struggle and ultimately be reeled in, whacked on the head, and stuffed in the cooler (or chilly bin for you kiwis). It was a beautiful, colorful fish! I got rather sea sick once we headed out to the open ocean but found some solace up top with the captain where I could see the horizon and stay in the shade. He taught me how to look for a swarm of birds over the water which means the fish will be nearby. Sure enough, we spotted a swarm of birds and circled around the area for about one minute before snagging the mahi-mahi. He also pointed out the filming spots for the movie Castaway and Survivor Fiji.

We spent the afternoon on the beach and then enjoyed another dinner at Black Coral.

Justin chillaxin on the beach in a hammock

Beautiful view a steps from our bure

Flights to Fiji over the holidays are quite expensive and in an attempt to minimize cost, I booked the 6:30 am flight to Nadi, Fiji on New Year's Eve. Following our 3:45 wake up call, Justin and I traveled to the airport and boarded our 3 hour flight from Auckland to Nadi, Fiji. Upon arrival, we took a taxi from the airport to Port Denarau where we waited for our ferry in the air conditioned Hard Rock Cafe.

We arrived at Plantation Island Resort on Malolo Island around 3 pm after an hour long ferry ride from the mainland. We arrived right as a storm rolled in and as a result our check in was rather chaotic. We finally got settled in our bure and made plans to attend the New Year's Eve dinner celebration at the resort.

The celebration was quite the let down. It started out with us waiting about 45 minutes past our reservation time and finally having to get angry to be seated at our own table (instead of sharing with another family of 4). The buffet was okay but it was the first and last time we dined there on our trip. Plus it seems like the resort imported children just for the occasion. Seriously, we did not see even half the amount of kids that were at the dinner for the next 6 days combined! Not to mention, the resort gave out kazoos to each child so our dinner was set to the background music of loud, continuous honking. We counted our losses and called it an early night.