The Resort

We’ve been searching for a while to find the ideal location for an event of this type, and we think we’ve found the perfect place - the Fiji Beach House, on the Coral Coast of the main island (Viti Levu).

the view from the resort - pic taken from their website

You can find out more at the resort website, but here’s some general info from our own experience of the place.

The reason we have chosen this resort for the event is because it is very much about watersports. It is not a high-end resort full of rich sun-worshippers, it has a much more chilled vibe, and fully embraces the opportunities that the location offers. People come to the resort to do stuff - surf, dive, spearfish, hike, etc. Overall, it’s a very cool place, small enough to be comfortably intimate, and most of the clients are there for the water rather than 5-star luxury, so it’s an ideal venue for a bunch of paddleboarders to hang out and have some fun. Unlike so many luxury resorts where it’s all about having the best rooms overlooking the water, and thus the general public areas tend to be focussed on the poolside rather than the beachside, the Fiji Beach House resort has a whole lot of great public space out front opening out on to the beach, Again, ideal for paddleboarding, there’s always loads of boards lying around, very much adding to the atmosphere that this is a place about watersports.

the resort - pic taken from their website

The location is also pretty much perfect in terms of minimal travelling and transfer times (see below), and there’s plenty of other stuff to do. The resort has a fleet of excellent tough ocean boats, built to take guests out to other islands, indeed even all the way to Cloudbreak if required! Great for deep sea fishing, spearfishing, whale watching, dolphin spotting, snorkelling trips, visits to other islands and much more.

The 3* accommodation is simple shared rooms but perfectly comfortable, and comes at a very reasonable price, which includes continental breakfast and afternoon tea. The restaurant serves lunch and evening meal. We’re not talking super luxury but it’s perfectly adequate, and it’s beach front - with a surf reef just offshore... What's not to like?!

How Long Can You Paddle For Each Day?

The lagoon is fairly shallow, but is fine for paddling up to about 2 hours either side of low water. At spring tides (maximum tidal range), it pretty much dries right out for a couple of hours. At neaps, just a bit. So basically there will be a few hours each day when paddling (or swimming/snorkelling) isn't an option. But the beach is great for walking and exploring at low tide, and it's actually pretty interesting to just be able to walk out to the reef edge and survey the deep ocean water below!

the beach at low tide - pic by Tim Athlon

Other Info

Getting There

Travelling to the Fiji Beach House from/to NZ is about as easy as a Pacific Island trip gets. A 3 hour flight from Auckland (usually at a very sensible time of day!), and a 90 minute transfer by road (organised by the resort) in an air-conditioned minibus.

The Surfing

The reef is just 5 minutes paddle out from the resort beach, and there's a cut in the reef literally straight out in front, creating a fast right hander, that is surfable for a couple of hours either side of high tide. However, do be aware that the surfing at the venue is either very very benign (ideal first time conditions, surfing on the reform inside the reef, safe easy waves probably no more than waist high), or hollow fast shallow water reef waves - ie pretty advanced! Just how advanced will depend on the swell size, but there is always the potential for a beating when it’s hollow and shallow! Other surfing options with a bit more variety are a boat-trip away (even Cloudbreak if you’re up for the challenge!), but still very much reef-break-based. So overall, this wouldn’t be the right venue for the intermediate SUP surfer specifically wanting to focus on SUP surfing skills. But the intermediate SUP surfer who is happy to enjoy very long fun easy rides on waist-high reforms will enjoy themselves immensely!

Boards for Surfing

The resort owns a fleet of very high quality Sunova surf SUPs. We can block book these by arrangement. There are also surfboards in a variety of lengths (foamie and hard), and a range of longer SUP boards available for use. Bringing your own SUP surfboard is perfectly feasible if it's under 2.9m, but there will of course be a carriage fee on the plane.

surfing the reef out front of Fiji Beach House. (pic taken from their website)