Fiji
Nananu-i-Ra
Fiji's wind-battered outlier: kitesurfers skip across trade-wind chop while the rest of the islands doze.
The trade wind runs the Nananu-i-Ra channel like it owns it. It bends the palms sideways by afternoon and kicks up the whitecaps kitesurfers use as launch pads; while the rest of Fiji leans into languor, this island leans into the wind.
Nananu-i-Ra lies just off Viti Levu's northern Ra coast, a short pre-arranged boat crossing from Ellington Wharf. The south-east trades give one shore its chop and the other its shelter, so kitesurfers, windsurfers and wakeboarders work the wind side while snorkellers keep to the calm bays, and the west end holds some of the nicest beaches in Fiji. Lodges here are simple and self-catering rather than resort-polished: kitchens and a beachfront café stand in for room service. Offshore, the Vatu-i-Ra channel begins, some of Fiji's most serious diving, with dive boats based on the coast opposite.
Solo
Wind sports and self-catered cottage life draw independent travellers wanting a Fiji with no resort script at all.
Friends
A crew of kitesurfers or divers gets conditions and value the resort islands cannot match, and the afternoon trade wind is the only schedule.
Family
Older children can learn a board sport in the sheltered bay while the rest of the family holds the beach, all a short crossing from the mainland.
Couple
For couples who find polished resort Fiji too managed, a wind-bent, self-catered island is a genuine and uncommon alternative.
- Safari Lodge runs kitesurfing, windsurfing, waterskiing and wakeboarding from a sheltered bay, with its own water taxi from Ellington Wharf.
- The island's west end keeps some of the nicest beaches in Fiji.
- The Vatu-i-Ra channel's world-class diving starts right offshore.
- Self-contained cottages with kitchens and a beachfront café keep stays simple and independent.
Macdonald's beachfront café covers meals and snacks for anyone who would rather not cook.
Cottage kitchens come fully equipped, and hosts help arrange provisioning runs to Rakiraki across the water.
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