Taveuni - Garden Island of Fiji

We decided to spend the majority of our time on the island of Taveuni after arriving in Fiji. Taveuni is located in the east of Fiji and is a rather larger island, not one of those classic small Robinson islands - but it has other advantages. On the one hand, the island is located directly on the Somosomo Strait, the marine passage that is home to the world-famous Rainbow Reef. On the other hand, it is called the garden island of Fiji and offers some jungle treks, the Lavena Coastal Walk, and numerous waterfalls. Diverse and with a great diving spot nearby - so perfect for us.

We took the ferry from Suva to get there. We set sail at 6 o'clock Fiji Time in the evening - so at 8 - and the next afternoon, after a stop in Savusavu in the early morning, we finally arrived in Taveuni. This travel option was pretty cheap, but also rather uncomfortable. We didn't rent a cabin and mingled among the many locals on the seats. It was busy all night long - the lights (almost spotlights) stayed on - and sleeping was not really possible on the seats or on the carpet. Mathias spent a long time on deck with the locals during kava sessions - at least the time passed.

Taveuni itself was as promised. The whole island is green - the few small villages mainly engage in agriculture, and thanks to regular rainfall, a lot (for us) of exotic plants grow, thrive, and bloom here. We were able to visit one of these villages as part of a village tour. It was an authentic short tour of how people live and work today. Fortunately, it wasn't an old-fashioned show with dances and souvenir shopping - we're not really into that. Of course, the mandatory kava session couldn't be missed. In Fiji, it feels like nothing goes without kava.

We visited the Bouma Waterfalls and the Lavena Coastal Walk on two different day trips. Both were very cool hikes of about 2-3 hours with refreshing swims in the waterfall pool. The landscape is beautiful here, and the people are very open and friendly. Especially the children are excited and always happy to see tourists passing by.

And now to our highlight - diving at the Rainbow Reef. Absolutely breathtaking! We have never seen so many beautiful soft corals. And we were lucky again - because only every two weeks do the white corals at the Great White Wall bloom - and we were there just in time. Thousands of small fish swim around, giving you the feeling of splashing around in an aquarium. Thanks to the great guide, we also encountered some rather special reef inhabitants. First, we discovered a very well-camouflaged scorpionfish, then a leafy scorpionfish, and a blue ribbon eel also peeked out of its home. Both dives were amazing!

Here's a funny anecdote: when we booked the dives over the phone, Seraina realized after a few minutes that there was another Seraina from Switzerland on the other end. And in the end, we ended up in the water with the fresh Divemaster Ramona (also from Switzerland)...

We made the return trip from Taveuni to the main island of Viti Levu by plane. And that was also very nice. Thanks to good weather, we were able to enjoy the almost 1.5-hour flight in a small airplane (20 passengers) and had a great view of the islands and reefs in eastern Fiji.