BAREFOOT MANTA ISLAND, FIJI

Most travelers in Fiji spend all or part of their trip in the Yasawa Islands, and for good reason. The island chain is home to over a dozen resorts and some of the most beautiful scenery in Fiji.

One of those resorts and the one that we spent a portion of our trip at is Barefoot Manta. The resort, like many others, has the entire island to itself, providing a quiet and serene slice of paradise for its guests.

The island can be reached by ferry from Port Denarau, which we took the morning after our trip to the Sigatoka Sand Dunes. There is only one inbound and outbound ferry each day that services all the various resorts so takes several hours to reach the island.

As we arrived, the staff greeted us on the beach singing and smiling. They gave all the new arrivals a overview of the island and the activities and services available to us before serving us lunch.

Since the resort is the only facility on the island, a meal package is required with all reservation at $50/per person per day. The package also includes free kayak and snorkel rentals at the dive shop; a benefit we took well advantage of.

After settling in, we met a fellow traveler from Belgium and the four of us grabbed kayaks and paddled over to a secluded beach. The water all around the island is perfectly clear and home to the best reef in all of Fiji. We spent the entire afternoon out exploring before coming back for dinner at sunset.

One of the many activities offered besides a tour of the local village is a free sunrise hike up to the ridge on the south side of the island. After dragging ourselves out of bed, we set out to complete the 15 minute hike with our guide. The air was cool and breezy but gave way to warmer temperatures as the sun rose over the horizon.

After hiking back down and gorging ourselves on the breakfast buffet, we headed back to the dive shop and marine science center for a presentation on the conservation work the marine center has done on the surrounding reef in the last decade. To our astonishment, their program has been so incredibly successful that many of the nearby resorts pay them to bring their guests to snorkel in the reefs surrounding the island.

During our tour, we were lucky enough to see a Moray eel in the tide pools, an occurrence our guide told us was extremely rare. We spent the rest of the day snorkeling around the vast expanses of the coral reef surrounding the island and exploring another one of the secluded beaches we hadn’t yet seen.

The staff on the island had been hyping us up since we arrived for the sunset cruise they offer in which they bring a cooler of beer out and don’t come back “until the cooler is empty.” While the cruise is free, the beer unfortunately is not. While we didn’t have a very good sunset due to the overcast sky, we still had a wonderful time listening to music, having a few beers and talking with other guests and the resort staff.

Our last day on the island came ever so quickly but thankfully, the return ferry doesn’t come until around 2:30 so there was still plenty of time to take the kayak out while Richie got the last few drone shots we still wanted. While the waters were a little rougher, I still managed to go all the way around the island and stop at each of the beaches one last time and swim in the cool refreshing water that I already long to be back in.

While the resort ended up being on the higher end of our usual budget for lodging, we felt that it was worth the trip due to the amazing tropical beauty and free activities included in your stay. The staff were welcoming and friendly, and we thoroughly enjoyed the effort they went through to make our stay a pleasant one.

SIGATOKA SAND DUNES

CASTAWAY ISLAND

SABETO HOT SPRING

MANOA FALLS