A Warm Welcome at Fiji’s Koro Sun Resort
Fiji’s northern island of Vanua Levu is the home of Koro Sun Resort. By plane, guests can reach Labasa Airport in 45 minutes. Fiji Airways has domestic flights within Fiji called Fiji Link that service 10 different locations. It’s comfortable, inexpensive, and easy to get from island to island if you are not using a private charter.
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The kind of welcome guests receive at a resort or hotel dictates how the rest of their stay will go. Koro Sun Resort does something I’ve never seen before: Upon arrival guests are escorted inside the lobby, where they are treated to a signature foot soak and massage and fresh coconut to drink. Who doesn’t want a foot massage?
After check-in, guests are escorted to their room or villa. I was staying in one of the newer Edgewater Bures that overlooks the lagoon. The Edgewater Bures were created for romance and are adults-only. Children are allowed at Koro Sun Resort and are actually a large part of the design, but this space is for grown-ups only. My bure (burr-A) had welcoming décor that was bright and cheery and made me feel as though I was in a tropical rainforest (because I was).
Koro Sun Resort is situated at the edge of a rainforest and has managed to integrate the surrounding flora and fauna into its design quite well. The property is huge. It includes a play area for the kids with a daycare center, full golf course, four different types of accommodations, and a Rainforest Spa that takes guests into a whole other world for treatments. Guests cross over a wooden footbridge into the rainforest and walk along a well-marked path to the spa where their private treatment bure awaits. The signature banana leaf wrap is not to be missed! I didn’t do a spa treatment, but people I know did and loved it; they couldn’t wait to go again.
Activities are abundant at Koro Sun Resort and range from lounging in the sun to scuba diving and snorkeling. Day trips to the town of Savusavu can be arranged for souvenir shopping and visiting the local market. JHunter Pearl Farm is also a day trip that can be arranged if South Pacific pearls are something that you enjoy. Hosts at the pearl farm will give you a tour of their factory and talk with you about the innovative way in which they’ve learned to harvest and create pearls without killing the oyster.
I made a friend named Janna while in Fiji, and she and I partnered up and kayaked—not very well, but we got there eventually—down the channel to Bat Island, which is just off the shore of Koro Sun Resort. Visitors are asked to only go to Bat Island with a guide and during low tide, otherwise it can be quite dangerous getting around the whole island. Janna and I had a fantastic time walking along the coral reef and playing in the tide pools, with the brilliant blue starfish and all the little shelled creatures that were waiting for the tide to come in.
As we ventured to the other side of the island our guide led us through a small archway of coral that during high tide would be deadly with the waves. Waiting for us on the other side was Lovers Grotto, a 15-by-30-foot cave of blue water filled with fish and coral. Those little gems are always such a treat. We kayaked back … well, sort of … more as though we canoed like Native Americans instead. We couldn’t get the hand of kayak paddling so we each picked a side and just paddled. It was comical, to say the least.
I love a beer or a cocktail before dinner, so next I headed out with a couple of women I met to the town of Savusavu for some time with the local Fijian people. We went to both the Yacht Club and the Planter’s Club and had a great time laughing it up with the locals. We discovered there is quite a large population of expatriates living in Savusavu, so between the locals and transplants it was a great time.
The evening was full of great conversation with all the lovely people I met, but it was also filled with some sadness because the next day I was headed home. My visit to Fiji was great, and I can’t wait to go back.
