An infinity pool at adults-only Likuliku Lagoon Resort on a 30C day. Photo / Hannah Filmer
Dreaming of sitting poolside, cocktail in hand? How about floating in iridescent blue, bath-temperature waters? What about balmy nights and twinkling skies? At Likuliku Lagoon Resort, you can have it all, writes Hannah Filmer.
It’s a balmy 30C and I’m sitting - prosecco in hand - before the most elaborate picnic lunch on the shores of a tiny private island in Fiji. As Thursdays go, it’s not half bad.
I’m at Likuliku Lagoon Resort on Malolo Island, a two-hour ferry ride (or brief helicopter ride) from Fiji’s Port Denarau. Bures and coconut trees line the shores of a picture-perfect white sand bay, surrounded with the most iridescent blue water I’ve ever seen.
When I arrive, six staff are singing me a welcome song, and I feel like some kind of celebrity ready for the most luxurious stay.
The adults-only resort boasts 45 rooms, including 10 of Fiji’s first-ever overwater huts, all designed for a maximum of two people.
I’m shown to my deluxe beachfront room where there’s a bottle of resort-gifted Louis Roederer champagne waiting for me.
Beautifully carved, deep wooden beams stretch upward to form a hut-style roof, thatched together with flax. The bure is almost bigger than my entire two-bedroom house, yet somehow intimate at the same time.
I hear the waves lapping on the beach just 5m down from my private pool and deck area, equipped with a daybed. The cookie stash is replenished every day, so you can bet I’ll be taking advantage of that.
The level of luxury is a far cry from the scheduled life of a busy office worker. It’s just me, my glass of champagne and endless free time.
However, there is little risk of getting bored.
I’m soon whisked away to Mociu Honeymoon Island, just a 10-minute boat ride across the lagoon. As I get closer, the water turns an illuminating shade of blue and the island’s forest a deep green, and although I’ve travelled alone, I see instantly why it’s earned its ‘honeymoon’ title.
A two-person canopy is cosied in between coconut trees and pure white sand, and it feels like I’m stepping into another world, yet again.
Likuliku’s operating manager Jim Manawai is my lunch date and sets up our resort-made picnic. I don’t know about you, but where I grew up, we didn’t have freshly caught lobster, roast chicken thigh, caesar salad, prosciutto, breadsticks and panna cotta in our picnic baskets. This was all topped off with a glass of prosecco and a bottle of Fiji water. The resort seems to always have both on hand.
I need to walk my weight in food off, so we take a 10-minute trek to the island’s peak. When we get to the top, everything that screams postcard is right in front of me. I get a 360 birds eye view of Mociu, as well as Mamanuca Group’s 20 other islands including Malolo, Castaway and Manu, dotted across deep waters and in between coral reefs. The island’s shoreline is so blue it looks like it has an invisible filter placed over it.
The warm water is too hard to resist and Jim and I plunge straight in; entering an underwater utopia. There is coral in every size, shape and colour imaginable. Light purples and pinks, deep blues, soft greens and rustic orange cover the ocean floor.
We float past harmless pink jellyfish, clownfish, black, yellow and white angel fish, rainbow-coloured parrot fish busy nibbling the rocks, and even spot a pufferfish hovering under the reef bed. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and I was mesmerised. If I wasn’t coming back up to recoup at Likuliku I could have stayed down there all day.
I finish up the day at one of the resort’s two restaurants, Saluwaki, meaning a mix of herbs and spices taken from the land. The newly upgraded Asian Fijian-inspired eatery boasts an idyllic indoor-outdoor flow.
It’s a balmy night so Jim and I choose an outdoor table where diners eat under lantern light, making it the perfect spot to relax and unwind after a tough day of snorkelling and tanning.
Likuliku, like most of Fiji, uses fruit and vegetables grown in their garden, with fish and shellfish caught fresh daily to serve to guests (there’s also a poolside bar if you feel like pizza and fries).
I order from the menu, which has about 15 small meals designed to share. I choose potato noodles, clams, scallops, squid ink noodles - all of which I’m trying for the first time - as well as roasted duck and steamed walu (Spanish mackerel). We finish off with homemade black sesame ice cream. The mix of flavours is both weird and wonderful and I devour every bite. Saluwaki even has its own wine cellar available for guests and I opt for a taste of home with a Mt Difficulty pinot gris.
While I’ve been at dinner, my room has been turned down ready for sleep. The staff at Likuliku really go the extra mile and I don’t think I’ve been addressed by my name or heard as many ‘bulas!’ in my life.
Likuliku Lagoon Resort also offers spa massages, a walk through its conservation gardens, island hopping and turtle spotting.
Whether you choose to eat and drink poolside or venture out, the sights and tastes won’t fail to disappoint. The hardest decision I had to make on a day-to-day basis was whether to swim in the pool or the sea, and which cocktail to order next.
Malolo Island, Fiji.
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland Airport to Nadi Airport with Fiji Airways. Then, catch a private vehicle for a 30-minute trip to Port Denarau, where you can take a two-hour boat transfer to Likuliku Lagoon Resort.
DETAILS
The writer travelled courtesy of Tourism Fiji.