Kayaking Trip - Fiji

If you could have a 2 week kayaking and camping trip in Fiji with a foldable kayak, where would you go?

Islands, beaches, coral reefs and local villages pretty much sums up what I am looking for.

Are you aware that all land in Fiji is private?

Every rock, tree and grain of sand belongs to someone and if you pull up on a beach you're expected to ask permission and then pay cash for the privilege of using the place-the drill is the same everywhere-you may not be contacted for payment if people are too busy/lazy but be ready.

I know someone who just did this in the Yasawas he only had to pay once and the owner gave him a large fish as a bonus.

Thanks for ther tip - I have kayaked in the Solomons too so know that permission for camping must be sought if possible.

Doing a circumnavigation of Kadavu might appeal to someone with your level of experience-it's quite a traditional place far from the madding crowd as it were-gorgeous almost beyond belief and little visited.

I agree on Kadavu. I spent a few nights walking across it a couple years ago, and villages were fairly welcoming (I actually spent nights in local's houses).

Just a thought: one thing you can do, if you do go to Kadavu at least, is bring along $10 worth of yaqona (kava), which is between a quarter and a third of a kilo of the unpounded root; give it to the turaga or turaga ni koro of the first village you stop at, and say you're asking for permission to stay the night; and then, when you leave the next morning, buy another $10-worth in that same village for the next destination (they grow it everywhere on Kadavu).

The Yasawas are also beautiful, but touristy; can't say I have experience anywhere else in Fiji.

Bula!
Agree with Conrpr- take along some Kava as a gift for the hosts and you'll be a very welcome guest. Kadavu is beautiful if very remote- you're probably experienced with this if you've been to the Solomons. Even though it draws
more visitors than Kadavu, I think I'd kayak around the outer Yasawas- Nacula, Nanuya and Nanuya Lailai. Nacula
has incredible inlets with that incredible swimming-pool turquoise water.

The most spectacular place I saw in Fiji for canoeing was Vanua Balavu Island in Northern Lau.
Getting permission to visit the area may take some effort, but they are now open to tourists.
Simply stunning and I doubt any westerner has ever canoed there.

Check it on Google Maps...

Cheers,
Peter

I'd agree with Peter about Vanua Balavu having stayed there myself - however actually getting there could be extremely difficult. It's a long, small plane ride from Suva (half-way to Tonga). When we went there were 2 planes a week, in the last few years that was cut to 1 a week, although I don't know what it is currently. The islands are also serviced by a freighter that took passengers too, but was notorious for not having a reliable schedule, often arriving a week or more late.

Thanks all for the excellent advice.

In tems of the yasawas, just how touristy can I expect them to be in september? I am not necessarily against paddling in touristy places as the tour groups normally have a handful of places for day trips and the rest is usually pretty deserted - can I expect the yasawas to be like this or will the islands be overrun with resorts and tourist boats? Are the local villages along the way also tourist orientated or will a visiting forigner be a bit of a novelty?

Are there passanger boats from the end of the outer yasawas back to the mainland or do I need to take a flight?

Same question for a trip to and from Kadavu.

We are always there in September. Resorts are usually busy but most are small so there are not hundreds of guests, and they are well separated on different islands, with hundreds of deserted beaches along the length of the Yasawas chain. Most resorts are served by the Yasawa Flyer which does one round trip a day, so at the most you could expect that to pass a couple of times per day if you stay on their route. Otherwise you may encounter village boats - not many.

Not so long ago tourists were a novelty, but not so much now. Any village on an island near a resort is now very used to tourists.
The Flyer goes as far as Nacula Island which is roughly two thirds along the chain. After that there is no large vessel. You could organise a charter flight (expensive) but the planes are small, mainly floatplanes. It would depend how small your kayak can fold. A few years back I did meet a group who were paddling a triple seated kayak which came apart and packed up quite small, they went back in to Denarau on the Yasawa Flyer.

middlemef... RE: You could organise a charter flight (expensive) but the planes are small, mainly floatplanes. It would depend how small your kayak can fold.

If you want detailed info on what will fit, (size, weight, etc) into the different types of floatplanes in operation there PM me.

The outer Yasawas are NOT over-touristed. As Marilyn said, there may be several dozen travellers on any particular island
but spread out over a large area. I'd go for it.

Bula!
Inter-island flights within Fiji are with Pacific Sun Airline. (pacificsun.com.fj)
Boat transfers to the Yasawa Islands are aboard a high-speed catamaran (awesomefiji.com)
A one-week pass good for transit on the catamaran is now US$294 for 7 days, $387 for 10 days and $426 for 12 days. The pass allows you to stop off on any island the catamaran travels to within the time your pass is valid. Return
tickets to a single island may be less expensive- check with AwesomeFiji.com
A roundtrip flight aboard Pacific Sun Airline from Nadi to Kadavu is FJD$399 or about US$ 240.