mamanuca, yasawa? where to stay

Hey there,
am off to fiji at the beginning of july,
just looking for some recommendations on where to stay or where not to stay in the mamanuca island or the closer yasawa's

looking for nice beach, good snorkelling right off the beach, spearfishing?

somewhere kinda quiet, i.e. not alot of kids/families and not alot of young drunk backpackers, lol

looking for a double bure, under 200$ a night

anyone have any info on mana lagoon on mana island?

or sunset waya?

thanks

[http://www.wotif.com/] [http://www.manafiji.com/]

Hi. I suggest Mana Island. We have been there 3 times in the past 5 years. We love the place. The North beach is lovely – with fab views of other islands. Beautiful white sand, gorgeous water and great snorkelling right off the beach. There is a reef that drops off about 50 – 70 metres from the beach, and lots of fish to be seen. The resort spans from one side of the island to the other. On the other side is the South beach, the “watersports” side. We have also snorkelled out from this beach – not as good as the other side. You have to swim across some deeper sandy areas to get out to the shallower coral for snorkelling. There is also Sunset beach – about a 20 minute walk from the resort. If you go at mid to high tide it’s also good for snorkelling (out towards the right). If you go in the NZ or Aussie school holidays, there will be a few families there. However, the place is very spacious, lots of room for everyone. In fact, we have been there twice during the school hols, and there have been times I have been there only person on the north beach. There are 2 small pools, with lieouts to use. A tennis court, and kayaks to use etc. There has been a lot of discussion about Mana on the Trip Advisor website. Most gripes are about the food – remember this is not a 4 or 5 star resort – more a 3 – 3.5 star resort, and food to match. We have been disappointed with the a-la-carte menu and have found it very limited and ended up ordering kids meals some nights. The buffet is expensive – about F$40 - $42 each. However, the beauty of Mana more than makes up for the lack of quality food. You can book a bure for Mana on the Wotif site – at a reduced rate of A$200 per night – down from A$310. On the wotif site click on Fiji, then Mamanuca Islands, then Mana Island. You can only book 2 weeks ahead, as is usual with these last minute sites. If you do book, as for a refurbished bure, they are presently doing up all the “island bures”, and by all accounts they are looking really good. That price includes a full buffet breakfast. We would take extra off the buffet in the morning, to keep us going throughout the days (pastries etc) and we took a toasted sandwich maker for lunchtime toasted sandwiches. We purchased cheese, tomatoes, onions, pineapples etc at the MH Supermarket in Namaka, (between the airport and Denerau). The bures on Mana all have little fridges, a kettle, tea, coffee and sugar sachets.
All the backpackers places on Mana (including Mana Lagoon) are pretty basic, but if that’s what you’re into, then go for it. The Mana Resort don’t let the backpackers use their north beach, but you can swim on the south side – and also the backpackers walk down to sunset beach for swimming and snorkelling. The price there would include all your meals. The first time we went to Mana we stayed at Ratu Kinis and were put into a smelly room with sewage smells coming up out of the toilet, and were grossed out so we spent the remaining few nights over at the resort. However, we are in our 40’s and had done the backpacker thing many years ago, travelling in Asia for 6 months, and thought “we don’t need this!”
The backpackers do great day trips to other islands – Castaway, Plantation, Musket Cove etc, plus snorkelling trips to reefs. And there’s always lots of different and interesting people to meet at these places. If you would like to know anything more about Mana, let me know. These places should all be contactable by email, do a bit of searching on the internet.

Great review, orklander! I printed it out for future reference. We did a day trip to Mana Resort while in Fiji and just loved it(and the snorkeling) and we would like to spend some time there the next time we're in Fiji.

Hi Newfie43. I didn't intend writing so much but kind of got carried away. However, I could have said alot more, there's so much to say about Mana! Just a further word about the MH Supermarket. It's also a great place to buy lemonade, coke and bottled water (and bread). We got a special on our water - 99c for 1.15L bottles. And we bought a whole box full, so it was easy to carry onto the boat. You can keep it cold in your fridge. Also - you can buy hot chips from the south beach restaurant (for F$3 when we were there last year) and add them to you toasted sandwiches for a filling lunch, they also give you some sauce, or you could take your own. Friends of ours were in mana in March this year, and they said there was major refurbishment going on in the main restaurant, to the island bures, and everyone had to eat over at the south beach. Hopefully the menus will improve to!

Thanks, orklander, for the extra information. We just got back from a 5 week trip to Asia so it will be awhile before another trip is planned. But I keep all my info in files for down the road. I will definitely be asking for more information from you when the time comes. Happy travels!

hey orklander,

sounds good, unfortunately mana island resort is just out of budget,

if any one has any info on ratu kini's, mana island lodge, mereani's backpackers or mana lagoon backpackers

i've ben trying to find more on mana lagoon backpackers

thanks

j

Mana Lagoon is one of 3 other basic backpackers on Mana Island, we stayed there 2011 Feb, dorm FJD$ 55- doubles i havent a clue the price but i bet its under FJD $200, was basic but clean, shared toilets and showers, all cleaned by the staff, its a Fijian family run backpackers, big smiles and very helpful, friendly, we were all treated like one big family. Its on the same beach as the other resorts at the bottom end of the beach, green, blue clear water to snorkel, dive,kayak, fishin,castaway trip offered as well, night life , fire dancing, bula dancing and games..great laugh. if your on a tight budget like us then one of these backpackers are the place to stay. Food was ok when we where there~ if you get hungry then buger and chips offered up the beach. Beer price is the cheapest on the island!
I suggest booking direct with them via Hostelbookers or Mana Lagoons Nadi town office +679-6253573 like we did or Facebook, they also offer a cheaper boat Mana Flyer which services all the islands in the Mamanuca Group cost FJD60 one way, while the other boats are FJD$104, seems a little odd no one has told people about these backpackers, cos i recon they rock.