Back to Paradise: Taveuni Underwater Magic

Almost not allowed out of the USA, as (in an amateur move) I didn’t procure a letter from Immigration stating we had a “one-way ticket” to Fiji back to our boat. I had notified Fiji Immigration of our travel and we had purchased a two-way ticket but, as it had originated from Fiji, it was viewed as a “one-way ticket out of the US.” There was some tension, watching the last people boarding the plane, as we stood waiting. Thankfully, after some discussion, showing our official Fiji paperwork (which I had brought along), they allowed us to “uplift” from the USA to Fiji, as long as we checked in with Fijian officials upon arrival. Whew! In Fiji, with live music in the background and many smiling greetings of “Bula!,” the Customs lady smiled and said we were all good for another 4 months in Fiji. No problem. No issues. Man, I love Fiji.

As our checked bag went through Security the guard asked, “Do you have a knife in your bag?” Calder: “Yes, it’s a machete.”  They inquired further, “Oh, is it for fishing?” Calder, “No, it’s for coconuts.”  They wished us well, “Okay, have a good flight!”

After one taxi ride and a passenger ferry over to Nawi Marina, there she sat – Terikah, our floating home! I wish I could say that we opened the door and cuddled into our home as a family for the night. We instead dove into vinegar washing as a family for a couple hours with a million of our closest friends of the fungi family. A couple of pillow casualties and some of our upholstery spotted black, we eventually had our tropics-left boat mostly demolded and ready to unpack into.

So what does a boating family bring back from the USA to Fiji? Boat parts corresponding to our project list, a dinghy light, vitamins, updated prescriptions (antibiotics and sea sickness meds), new clothes for growing kids, Pburg clothes to represent our hometown, a new Kindle and school computer, among various other bits. These bags were quite the hodgepodge!

After a great night’s sleep, we were off to the races! Back to looking at daily weather and we needed to be leaving the next day for Taveuni Island, where Calder would be getting his SCUBA certification. Diesel fuel in the boat, check. Taxi to fill up propane, check. Grocery stores, check. Market, check. New pillows, check. Wash the entire boat and fill water, check.  Indian food at Delhi 6, check. Bedtime, check.  It would have been a grueling day without jet lag.

The alarm was too early, but we had to get underway for the day sail to Taveuni. The seas were mellow, less than 3 feet. The winds were light. And yet three of the four of us were still green. The land life of the prior six weeks had taken its toll on our somewhat acclimated vestibular system. However, after 8 hours underway, a kayaker led us to Terikah’s mooring ball with a joyful, “Bula! Welcome to Paradise!” We had arrived at Paradise Resort on Taveuni Island, where we would spend the week exploring by land and sea. Paradise Resort is known to be very “cruiser friendly,” offering mooring balls, showers, and fresh water for those who use their services, such as their restaurant and dive center.

Calder had just completed the online portion of his PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) Open Water Diver course and would be doing two days of in person instruction and dives here at Paradise. This would allow him to dive independently with a buddy to maximum depth of 18 meters (60 feet). Chris, who had signed up for a 2-hour refresher, was super excited that they had him join Calder on all his dives instead.

They started in the pool, moved to the reef around the resort, and then completed their final two dives at the world-famous Rainbow Reef in Fiji, the “soft coral capital of the world.”  Fiji’s warm, clear waters, nutrient-rich currents, and protected reef systems allow an extraordinary color palette and density of soft corals to thrive. Rainbow Reef is about 15 miles long. They peered down at the Great White Wall, a sheer wall covered in white soft corals. Calder won the “Nifty Nudi Award” that I had created months ago…awarded to the first Hyer family member to see a nudibranch. He saw a black and white baby, smaller than his pinky nail. Calder and Chris are now dive buddies.

Paradise Resort has a local bakery onsite that makes amazing rolls and loaves of bread daily and the woman who runs it came to expect me daily. Chris, after his rock/concrete lifting work in Idaho, has been having lots of back pain and we decided he needed a massage. Imagine our surprise when we were hailed on Channel 16 (usually reserved for quite important communications) to coordinate a time for his massage. This resort living for the week is not our norm, but we’ll enjoy it!

As I wandered down a Fijian dirt road one morning, jungle thick on either side, I thought to myself: it’s a good thing cannibalism is out of fashion—this stroll would’ve felt a lot less leisurely if I’d been considered a breakfast option. Cannibalism was once practiced in Fiji as part of rituals, warfare, and social control, often to demonstrate power, exact revenge, or absorb the mana (spiritual strength) of enemies. It largely ended in the late 19th century with the influence of Christian missionaries, European colonization, and the formal establishment of British colonial law. The most famous Fijian cannibal was Ratu Udre Udre, who reportedly consumed hundreds of people during his lifetime in the early 19th century, and is often cited in Guinness World Records for the sheer number of victims associated with him. By the time of his death, he had reportedly constructed a large number of stone piles, each marking a person he had eaten, serving as a chilling historical record—but no longer continuing the practice. It’s a stark example of how colonial and religious influence transformed local customs in Fiji (This might be a positive in this case?).

One day, we hired a taxi-style service to take us from Paradise Resort to various sites around the island, quickly realizing there’s really only one main road—and that meant nearly two hours of bumping and jolting our way to the very end and back. Taveuni, known as the “Garden Island” of Fiji, is lush with waterfalls, tropical rainforests, and rich volcanic soil that supports farming. Around 9,000 people live on the island, many of them in small coastal villages, which we drove through. First stop, the International Date Line, where we stood in both today and yesterday.

Next stop the Lavena Coastal Walk, a 10 km round-trip trail that begins at Lavena Village (where we were met with many friendly children), across rivers, and up a valley to the two-tiered Wainibau Waterfall.

We were informed that yes, there were eels, but that they were vegetarians so we didn’t need to worry! In we went, swimming around the falls, ferns lining the moist volcanic walls, little curious fish saying hello.

After drying off in the sun, we hiked back (led by a dog that adopted us) and met up with our driver for a brief stop at the Bouma National Heritage Park 24-meter (79-foot) Tavoro Waterfalls.

The park encompasses approximately 150 square kilometers of lush rainforest and coastal forest, actually making up about 80% of Taveuni Island.

On the way back, we grabbed some fresh local produce at a small market, then endured every bump and rattle of the washboard road to Paradise—though one cruiser cheerfully assured us we were just getting the full “Taveuni Massage.”

While dolphins played just beyond the waves, we took our bath in the ocean and rinsed with fresh water, enjoying a shower with a view that no bathroom could ever match.

From the girl who once dreaded putting her face in the water, I’ve come a long way—so long, in fact, that I was happily dropped off by a dive boat at Rainbow Reef for not one, but two hour-long snorkels. On our first snorkel, we explored slightly deeper waters with a rolling breaker nearby. The colors were a bit muted, but the healthy coral was still impressive, and we were thrilled to see five white-tip reef sharks and an eagle ray gliding gracefully through the water. But the next snorkel was AWESOME, definitely a top 5 snorkel for us, as we were dropped off in the “cabbage patch,” a dense field of cabbage coral (Turbinaria reniformis), also known as yellow scroll coral.

This stunning hard coral forms layered, whorled structures that can reach sizes well over a meter in height, with some patches even exceeding two meters tall—creating an expansive, surreal underwater garden unlike almost anywhere else in the world. Next, we snorkeled through a shallow stretch of crystal-clear water, where vibrant corals teemed with fish of every color. I twirled and spun in the water, taking it all in—feeling like I’d slipped into a living, breathing aquarium, with myself as just another fish in the kaleidoscope of color. When the coral dropped down a steep shelf to the ocean floor, we found ourselves surrounded by thousands of small blue fish in a whirlwind of glitter. Stunning.

Before we left Paradise, Chris and Calder had another couple dives together at the aptly named purple corner for the extreme abundance of royal purple-colored soft corals. The number of fish and coral speak to the health of this reef and it’s so fun to be up close to this vibrant world that is totally obscured from the surface.  Chris and Calder keep getting more and more comfortable under water which adds to their enjoyment of being good dive buddies. Calder shared, “Learning to become an Open Water Diver was an amazing experience that I will remember with fondness. James was a great dive instructor, making me feel comfortable and relaxed in the water, and had an upbeat attitude the entire time. We saw many fish and corals that I have never seen before, or even knew existed, and to have my dad along with me made the experience even better.”

We made one last stop at the bakery for our favorite Passage cinnamon buns and said heartfelt goodbyes to the wonderful staff at Paradise. Then came a lively 47-nautical-mile daysail, with winds averaging 18 knots and closely spaced 2-meter waves, sailing under our Code Zero. We returned to Savusavu to wait out a line of squalls and enjoy a quick market stop before continuing further west—because on the water, there’s always another story waiting just beyond the horizon.