Waya (Yasawa's- Fiji)

After spending a wonderful time in Taveuni we were now heading toward the Yasawa’s. There we will visite 2 islands:  Waya and Kuata.

Our first stop is for 5 days with Knox and his beautiful family. To get there, we took a a private boat from the main island. We landed on a beautiful long stretch of sandy beach (an understatement). Literally, the second we stepped off the boat, it felt like home! A true piece of paradise and we all agree that one day, we will be back!

At one end of this beach was a small resort then there was nothing, nothing at all between there and Knox's small house at the other end of the beach.

Knox turned out to be a really nice guy and his daughter, Lisa who had come to help with the cooking, was also really friendly. Olivier was quick to make friends with Knox's youngest son Junior. The three of them where all so excited to show us the secrets of their island. First, Junior spotted an orange in an orange tree that looked absolutely perfect... but it was soooo soooo high!We ended up agreeing that it would be a race: the first team who had the orange would be the winner! We threw sticks to try and make it fall, climbed on each other until we collected all the other oranges...except for that one perfect🍊 ... we were done for now.

Junior (and the house in the back ground)

Knox explained that, in the Yasawa culture, the umbilical cord of a child is buried at the foot of a newly planted tree. Lisa showed us her tree. It was huge! She said we could climb it and that is exactly what we did! We spent hours playing tag and jumping from one branch to another. Literally running on the branches. Swinging down the tree, I felt like a monkey!

The house has a detached kitchen, featured here :)

 We collected campots (a cross between an orange and a clementine but quite sour), they make for really great juice... with a touch of sugar ;)

One the second day, Lisa and I where swinging in the hammock but couldn't sit still... the orange, that perfect orange high up in the tree was just too daunting! We couldn’t stand seeing it there and so, it was game on against the boys! We found a super long branch. We declared it would the winning stick. We tried and tried again but yet we did not succeed. After lunch,  Lisa had the perfect idea. Her dad had PVC pipe. We stuck the branch in the pipe to get us an extra couple of centimeters and I climbed onto Lisa’s shoulders and... finally the orange fell!!! I am telling you that was the most delicious orange I have had in my life! 

The next day we had a picnic on the neighboring beach. Again delicious food and amazing views= what else could we ask for?!!

 That afternoon, the boat of a local stopped by and offered to take us to visit the local school (they had to tend to a sick child).

​The school sits on beautiful grounds at the south end of the island. The children leave their home monday morning (they are picked up by boat) and they spend the week on site. We visited the school the dormitories. 

The kids here are the responsibility of every community member of the island. Every week, 2 adults are responsible for feeding the kids (42 of them, that's a lot of mouths to feed!). They take turns to do their part regardless if they have a child that attends the school or not. They must take time away from their regular job and, not only are they responsible for cooking the meals, they also must bring all the ingredients to do so. 


My parents also had the chance to visit the small island clinic. They are used to seeing small dispensaries since they worked in northern Quebec for soo long, but they were really impressed with the very basic installation and the very few ressources they dispose of.

On the way back, Junior threw in a fishing line. He caught a huge tuna! And the boatman also did a bit of trolling and he caught a huge trivially! Needless to say, that night we enjoyed tuna fish salad, fish soup and grilled fish! We used fresh coconut for the cooking, absolutely delightful! 

The next morning Lisa and Junior showed us how to play crab racing. Everyone got a hermit crab somewhere on the beach and then we would place them at the front of their respective corridor... and just like that, the race was on! 

Our final evening, we enjoyed a traditional meal. Honestly, these 5 days were absolutely perfect! And, to this day, we dream of the day we will be back!!! Vinaka Knox and family! Until we meet again!!!