Mamanuca Islands - day trip

Hi,

My fiancee and I are travelling to Fiji in early October and staying on the mainland but would like to do a day trip to one of the Mamanuca Islands. Any reccommendations on the best one to visit for a day? We're looking for a lovely beach and nice snorkelling area. The choices are:

South Sea Island
Bounty
Mana
Castaway
Beachcomber
Amunuca
Malolo
Treasure Island

All of those choices are ok for beaches and snorkeling, the further out you choose the more islands you will get to see on the way out and back.
South sea, Bounty and Beachcomber are cheap and have a lot of daytrippers.
Castaway is upmarket and has a good reef edge, at Mana it depends on which way the wind is blowing for good snorkeling.
Amunuca also has a very good reef edge.

South Sea Island is tiny, but probably ok for a few hours. The others provide better choices for a day trip

We did a day trip to Mana Island which we really enjoyed. You have a choice of several lovely beaches or you can take a dip in their pool. The snorkeling was great, the food not bad and the island was big enough to take a hike on. It was far enough away to be able to view many of the other islands on the boat trip. Great day!

Thanks for that! Was that with South Sea Islands cruises? How long did you actually have on the island after the journey there?

Yes, we went with South Sea Islands Cruises. We left the marina around 8:30am and it was 10-10:30 when we arrived on Mana. We had to be back at the dock for pick up at 4pm, so approximately 6 hours on the island. We snorkeled in the morning, had lunch, went for a walk and snorkeled again - had time to shower and visit the boutique for a snack and souvenirs.