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My main interest was what these folks did for a living to afford to come there on a regular basis, but then again, I’m nosy like that! We went to our room after lunch and unpacked the bags and headed back to the restaurant, which is the main gathering area and got to know some of the other guests, some of whom were there for their first time and others who were Tavarua veterans. Pic: Scott Winer swayed in the breeze, small perfectly-peeling lefts wrapped along the reef out front and the food went down better than any lunch I had ever eaten.

The warmth of the staff envelopes you from the moment you step off your boat until the moment you depart.

I was prescribed meds, and though I felt like death, I wasn’t going to miss this trip. Two days before departure I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with bacterial bronchitis. Life carried on as normal in the following months as we went through the process of planning and frothing once again. Oddly, as if jinxed, about ten days before trip attempt number two, my wife and I contracted some horrendous illness that left us both down for the count for many days. We would have to wait another year for the same opportunity. Cyclone Pam’s approach had shut down our trip within hours of our departure, while the island resort itself had been evacuated. Sure enough, after we had procured the kids’ homework for ten days, sorted things out at work, packed our bags, and bought supplies, the bomb was dropped. We had great travel insurance in case of cancellation but still fretted as things looked bleaker and bleaker the closer we got to departure date. But alas, Cyclone Pam formed and circled Fiji like a wolf outside a sheep’s paddock. There had already been a couple cyclones that had threatened Fiji and just hoped that the same wouldn’t destroy our plans. We put down deposits, made lists of what to bring way too far in advance, had barbecues with the other families that were going with us, and constantly obsessed over the future journey to surf paradise.Ībout a week before our scheduled departure in March of 2015, I noticed the cyclone situation in that part of the world was getting quite active. My wife and I assessed our finances, started charging all our expenses to rewards credit cards, and actually saved our pennies to make this dream trip with our friends and kids.

In any case, if some people drop out and spaces need to be filled. Just FYI, the way Tavarua works is that prior guests have first dibs on visiting for the same week the following year. We got a call from some friends who told us there were “openings” on Tavarua for the following year. We’d hear stories from friends who had been to Tavarua, but it just seemed completely out of reach for regular folks like us.įast-forward to 2014.

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Once he admitted defeat, we took our uncomfortable ride back to Namotu, having only taken a glimpse of Cloudbreak that would have to hold me over for the next 20 years.Īfter retiring from pro bodyboarding in 1998, my wife (who was also a pro bodyboarder) and I started our own business ( ) as well as a family and went about the life of being parents and business owners. Surf trips were simply no longer on our radar.

#Surf island family driver

His secret plan was to sneak off the boat and into the empty lineup, which was eventually thwarted by the driver we’d hired and another boat from the Tavarua resort. Kingy briefly pled his case and pointed out that no one was out, but they were having none of it. The short version of that story is Kingy convinced our boat driver to do a “drive by” of Cloudbreak one day – a 15-foot behemoth which nobody was surfing at the time. He was consistently shut down, despite offering to pay just for one day for the rights to ride out there, but the well-heeled clientele of Tavarua Island Resort would not have to deal with Damian and our crew this time around.

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Aussie Damian King, who went on to win three bodyboarding world titles, was more than determined to have a crack at legendary Cloudbreak so he got on the phone and made some calls. Our plan was to spend a couple of days getting some waves at Namotu Lefts, as Tavarua and its associated surf spots were still private at the time.

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That trip was an adventure worthy of its own story, but suffice to say, we scored empty waves for a full week. My first encounter with Tavarua came during my days as a pro bodyboarder.