Kadavu & Beqa Island Resorts

In this Article by South Pacific travel expert Ian Osborn:
Beqa Lagoon  —  Kadavu Island

The southern Fiji islands offer great exploring and exceptional scuba diving with the famous shark dives around Beqa Lagoon and the soft corals of the Astrolabe Reef hugging the north and east coast of Kadavu. Although most tourists arrive with their scuba gear in tow, that's not all these islands are famous for. Beqa is home to Fiji's fire-walkers whilst some of the best and strongest kava is grown on Kadavu and both islands are excellent for kayaking with secluded bays, mangrove estuaries and plenty of coastal fishing villages.

aerial view kadavu island
kava in local village

Reasons to Visit Kadavu & Beqa

• Luxury Beach Holiday
• Backpacker Travel
• Snorkelling & Manta Rays
• Overnight Cruise
• Hiking on Waya Island

Beqa & Kadavu Map

Best Beqa & Kadavu Resorts

• Luxury - Lalati Island Resort
• Luxury - Koro Makawa Cottage
• Deluxe - Papageno Resort
• Deluxe - Matava Hideaway
• Deluxe - Matana Beach Resort

kids playing on beach beqa mangroves

Beqa Lagoon

Beqa Lagoon is a massive fringing reef thirty kilometres wide and is renowned for its shark feeding and deep sea game fishing as well as the hollow left-hander surfing break of Frigates Passage. With exceptional scuba diving including an amazing variety of soft corals and plenty of pelagics, Beqa Lagoon is a major dive attraction as well as being a nature lovers paradise on land. Home to the proud Fijian fire-walkers, Beqa Island is a traditional island with 14 small coastal villages most of which are connected via a coastal track, and lush tropical mountains to explore with a local guide. Beqa is accessible by boat from Pacific Harbour (40 minutes) or seaplane - there is no airstrip on the island.

Lalati Resort, Beqa Island

F$ 795 - 1,490 per couple - inc. meals

Lalati Resort is a beautiful beach retreat for honeymooners with an interest in either seclusion, adventure or scuba diving. Set at the foot of tropical mountains with forest tracks and facing a deeply indented bay ideal for kayaking, Lalati offers just ten traditional style bures with spacious living and modern furnishings.

There are no roads on Beqa but several walking tracks between villages make pleasant exploring, the easiest being the route from Waisomo on the northern tip of the island and along the west coast to Rukua close to Beqa Island Resort. There’s a delightful kayak trip from Lalati Resort into tranquil Malumu Bay which bites deep into the west coast almost severing it from the main bulk of Beqa. It’s possible to navigate through to the south side of the island via a mangrove estuary. Just beyond the mangroves on the south side of Beqa is Moturiki Island where thousands of fruit bats live.

Kadavu Island

Kadavu Island is Fiji's southern-most island lying about 100km south of Viti Levu and accessible on a daily flight from either Nadi or Suva. Kadavu is a large rugged island almost 60km in length and 14km wide with high volcanic peaks, rolling hills and many indented bays. There are few roads on the island and travel by small boats is the easiest and often only way to get about. The hilly interior offers good hiking trails, some nice waterfalls and several endemic species of birds including the colourful Kadavu parrot. The world famous Great Astrolabe Reef stretches for 30km off the north east coast of Kadavu. Here you'll find outstanding hard corals, cabbage patches, fans, caves, wrecks and a fantastic array of marine life due to its rich currents as well as several dive resorts.

With a rugged coastline littered with deep bays, Kadavu is the fourth largest island in Fiji, snaking 57 kilometres from east to west. The island is divided into three podgy portions, each connected by a narrow isthmus. The interior is so undulating that the only expanse of flat land is taken up by the small airstrip at the government administration centre of Vunisea. The portion of West Kadavu is laced with stunning scenery and the domineering volcanic cone of Nabukelevu makes a show from most places along the coast, with consistent reef surfing off its western tip. Central Kadavu, east of Vunisea, has the island’s best beaches as well as the fantastic Namalata Reef which are both along the north coast. East Kadavu overlooks part of the immense Astrolabe Reef with a handful of dive resorts backed by steep tropical rainforest with a sprinkling of waterfalls.

There are 75 villages dotted around Kadavu, mostly on the coast and primarily engaged in subsistence farming and fishing, making it one of the best places to experience genuine Fijian culture.

The enviable location of Matana Beach Resort fronts a long cove beaches and is just fifteen-minutes boat ride from Vunisea Airport. Heading east from Matana, along the beach and past the village, a ten-minute walk around the rocky point leads to One Mile Beach, a secluded beauty with deep sand and massive coconut palms leaning out over the lagoon. A little further along this road-less coast is Papageno Resort set in 346 acres of serene tropical forests. The large endemic Shinning Parrot, with its red breast and vivid green and blue wings can usually be seen feeding in the cassava plantation behind the bures. Higher up in the forests are fantails, honey-eaters and fruit doves as well as a sweeping lookout over Daku Bay and, forty-minutes walk inland, a small waterfall with swimming pool. Diving enthusiasts have the option of diving either the Astrolabe Reef or the closer Namalata Reef and there are regular snorkelling trips to visit the manta rays at Vuro Island or game fishing off Nabukelevu.

Papageno Resort, Kadavu

F$ 392 - 515 per couple - inc. meals

Papageno Resort is a small intimate beach resort on the north coast of Kadavu. The resort is aimed primarily at cultural travellers and scuba divers and prides itself on its organic gardens and home style atmosphere. Non motorised water activities are free of charge and daily diving trips to the Astrolabe Reef can be arranged.

East Kadavu & the Astrolabe Reef

Beyond Daku Bay is the heavily indented coastline of East Kadavu. Kavala Bay, on the north coast and Korolevu Bay on the south coast form great basins surrounded by steep mountains with excellent hiking tracks. Foremost though, it’s the underwater spectacle of the Great Astrolabe Reef that attracts visitors here, hugging the south east side of Kadavu all the way to Vunisea and extending forty kilometres north, wrapping around Ono Island. Ono has beautiful beaches and the cluster of small islands off its shore form a protective bay where Manta Rays congregate in numbers between May and Septemeber.

Koro Makawa Resort, Ono Island, Kadavu

F$ 890 per couple - inc. meals

Koro Makawa Resort is located on the small island of Ono and offers just one luxury cottage with a secluded white sandy beach on twenty acres of private plantation and forests bordered by 400 acres of undeveloped native land. This is true seclusion designed for those desiring the ultimate in privacy.

Matava Hideaway on the south coast is tucked into a small beach-less bay enclosed by rocky Waya Island, is fantastically well organised yet its village style atmosphere enhances its sense of remoteness. Apart from its own dive operation, there’s some of the finest snorkelling in Fiji just 10-minutes away by boat at Vesi Passage with soft coral gardens and thousands of exotic reef fish. The snorkelling trip is usually combined with a picnic to one of several secluded beaches around Mataikadavu Point.

Dedicated game fishing charters are available from Matava Beach Resort which boasts top of the range gear, with casting in the surrounding reefs for Giant Trevally or trawling between one and three thousand metres of water for Marlin, Tuna and Sailfish - for the casual fisherman, hand line fishing or trawling from small boats can be organised from all resorts.

Matava Hideaway, Kadavu

F$ 670 - 790 per couple - inc. meals

Matava is a small eco hideaway on the south east coast of Kadavu, ideal for scuba diving enthusiasts or nature lovers looking for a secluded location yet offering the comforts of hot water, good food, plenty of activities and a traditional environment. Accommodation is in traditional bures set on hill with fine ocean views.

Kayak Tours
It’s possible to kayak around Kadavu in nine days or Ono Island in seven days, camping on beaches, staying in villages or bedding down at a budget resort along the way. New Zealand outfit, Tamarillo Tropical Expeditions has well organised itineraries and great contacts with the local villages, with guided two-man sea kayaks and support boats. It can be hard work though, with a minimum of five hours of paddling in sometimes choppy seas working muscles you never knew existed but it’s a great way to experience the island’s remote coastlines and villages. Less strenuous overnight packages and day trips exploring the mangrove estuaries can be tailor-made and run on demand from the base camp at Korolevu Bay on the south eastern corner of Kadavu.

Beqa & Kadavu Travel Info

Daily flights from both Nadi and Nausori (Suva) arrive at Vunisea Airport on Kadavu. With few roads, getting around the island usually involves a journey on the water, mostly within the reef. Although there are no official water taxis, every resort has its own fleet of boats and all meet pre-booked guests at Vunisea airport or one of the two ferry jetties. It takes 45 minutes to reach the west point of Cape Washington from Vunisea and an hour and a half a to reach the Astrolabe Reef on the east side of the island where most resorts are located.

For Beqa, the only way to get there is either by helicopter or seaplane or by small boat which depart from Pacific Harbour taking about 40-minutes.