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Within the early ’70s an eccentric American millionaire flew over Wakaya Island and preferred what he noticed under. He was trying to find a spot removed from the world, someplace he might disappear for weeks at a time.
Wakaya Island had been uninhabited for over a century by then: ever for the reason that island’s chief and his loyal warriors leapt to their deaths to keep away from seize by a warfare celebration from a neighbouring island.
David Gilmour constructed an 1100-square-metre villa overlooking the ocean and the island’s longest white-sand seaside. He known as it Vale O – or Home within the Clouds – and lived right here together with his spouse.
In 1990, he opened one of many South Pacific’s most unique resorts, Wakaya Membership & Spa, with room for less than six {couples}, bunked down in monumental thatch-roofed bures beside a non-public seaside with double hammocks tied between coconut bushes.
I arrive three decades-or-so later, one among few Australians to set foot on Wakaya Island the place Individuals are the goal market. Russell Crowe beat me right here however his nationality is contentious. In a rustic well-known for its personal island resorts, Wakaya Island has flown utterly underneath our collective journey radars.
Situated within the Lomaiviti Archipelago east of Fiji’s primary island, Viti Levu, the one approach to get to Wakaya Island is on board a 60-minute propeller airplane switch from Nadi Airport.
Whereas this hardly makes the resort as handy as one positioned on Denarau Island, it certain makes for a hell of an entrance. I contact down at what the pilot jokingly refers to as Wakaya Worldwide Airport, a gravel airstrip reduce between the thick forest which covers nearly all of the island.
The island is barely 900 hectares in dimension. It is 10 kilometres lengthy, and not more than a-kilometre-and-a-half extensive. Many of the island is protected inside a nature protect, whereas the ocean that surrounds it’s a part of a marine safety space, well-known for its coral and marine life.
I am met by a neighborhood host and pushed via the forest to a resort set beside the ocean the place flamboyant bushes blossom between hedges and meticulously trimmed garden. I order a welcome drink – a Hibiscus Margarita appears applicable – at a bar sunken to seaside stage inside an open-plan restaurant constructed a couple of metres from a protracted white sand seaside. Past that, the ocean glows blue and as I stare throughout it, one thing big – a manta ray, maybe, this a part of Fiji is legendary for them – jumps clear out of the water.
I am led to a room set beside the seaside, the plush landscaping round it makes me really feel like I am the one one right here. Although, I quickly suspect: that is the entire level of this place. There are two eating places and beside-the-pool eating regardless of there being a most of 12 company. Even then, many company favor to picnic on their very own part of a seaside throughout the bay from the resort, the place two chaise lounges are set beneath an umbrella they usually’re given a two-way radio to name in on when they need a pick-up.
There’s a lot to do on the island, another excuse why I will not see one other visitor in three days. It is one among Fiji’s greatest dive resorts, for one. Room charges embody dives every day, with 11 of Fiji’s greatest dive areas a couple of minutes away by boat. Via the winter months, manta rays are frequent guests. Humpback whales additionally go shut by. Fishing charters are additionally out there and sail boats I can take out past the bay for a greater have a look at Gilmour’s personal universe. There are hikes via the forests, the place fallow deer (that is the one Fijian island you will discover them on) dart about with trepidation, in all probability because of the truth they function commonly on the resort’s farm-to-plate/sea-to-plate menu.
Not less than I’ve workers to speak to. Throughout Fiji’s pandemic-induced lockdown, locals returned to a semi-subsistence way of life within the village subsequent door to the resort. Paid to keep up the resort, they spent their down time looking deer, and catching fish. On Sunday, I go to their tiny wood church to listen to them sing.
I go away the island with 4 company I’ve not laid eyes on throughout my keep. Two units of {couples}, they hadn’t seen one another both. David Gilmour offered Wakaya Membership & Spa years in the past, however he’d be glad realizing company nonetheless come right here to disappear for some time.
THE DETAILS
FLY
Fiji Airways, Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar fly commonly to Nadi the place there is a switch to Wakaya Island.
STAYING THERE
The speed is all-inclusive, together with lodging, meals, drinks, free dives, massages and hikes, from $US2800 ($4050) a night time. See wakayaresort.com
MORE
Craig Tansley travelled courtesy of Tourism Fiji.
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