Bar/fly: Cloud 9, Fiji

Cloud 9 is pretty much as its name suggests - a place dreams are made of and where happiness is guaranteed. Illustration / NZ Herald

Shandelle Battersby finds herself floating on Cloud 9 — literally — in Fiji's Mamanucas.

I have found my paradise and this is it: a floating two-storey bar, tethered in the cleanest, most translucent blue water you can imagine, miles from land and even further from reality.

Cloud 9 is pretty much as its name suggests - a place dreams are made of and where happiness is guaranteed.

Well, we were grinning from ear-to-ear anyway, after a thrilling longboat ride from beautiful Tropica Resort on Malolo Island in the Mamanucas to the west of mainland Fiji.

The skies were clear but the water was slightly choppy, and we'd banged our way out to the bar, located on the Ro Ro Reef, in about 25 minutes.

Cloud 9 appeared before us like a mirage: a small pontoon with capacity for 100 guests, with day beds, couches, deck chairs, loungers, tables and chairs, bar stools and plenty of shade - an absolute must for those 30C-plus Fiji days, which can burn you to a crisp in minutes. It's environmentally friendly, with solar panels on top to help keep it running, and at the back is a wood-fired oven cooking enormous pizzas.

We pulled up alongside and were helped on board by the bar host to join about 50 others - a mixture of backpackers, older couples and groups of young women - having cocktails in the sun.

The afternoon's soundtrack included some of the finest hits of the 80s: Spandau Ballet, Wham, Toto and Michael Jackson. You can charter the whole thing for a special occasion, and there are regular parties with guest DJs.

Barman Don and his colleagues can make you almost any drink you desire, as long as they have the ingredients - it's not exactly easy to pop out to the shops if they run out of limes.

The cocktail menu (about $20 each) is small but clever, and includes the saucy Sex on Cloud 9 (vodka, peach liqueur, cranberry juice), Angry Fijian (Kahlua, Baileys and milk) and Black Cloud (vodka, Kahlua and Coke).

Don was worried he didn't have what he needed to make a decent fist of a bloody mary, but I reckon it was one of the best I've ever had, with a fiery kick like an angry donkey. Yum.

Then we sat back, enjoyed the retro tunes, and watched as the young dudes tried to impress their girlfriends by doing some sweet bombs off the top deck.

There is snorkelling gear on board and an easy platform at water level to get into that gorgeous sea, but you won't see much action down below - only the odd fish nibbling at the struts.

Within cooee is the famous Cloudbreak surf spot, which attracts wave-riders from all over the world.

An hour or so later, one of our friends from Tropica came back to pick us up, and in 25 minutes we were back on terra firma, wondering if we'd imagined the whole thing.

Cloud 9 is 40-45 minutes from Port Denarau, or most resorts in the area will run you out to the bar and pick you up again for a fee. Children are welcome and there are eftpos facilities on board.

The writer travelled courtesy of Tourism Fiji and Fiji Airways.