Oarsman's Bay Lodge

Everything just fantastic one of our all time favourites!

Couldn’t stay longer!

I loved my stay here. The staff were lovely, their singing was amazing, beautiful voices & harmonies. There were plenty of activities & entertainment going on to keep me busy for 5 days. I really enjoyed the visit to Sawa-I-Lau caves. The dorms were good, each bed had its own cubicle with bedside draws & a table, & it was enclosed on 3 sides with partitioning for privacy. Breakfast buffet with a good selection & table service for lunch & dinner. There is a large table for the dorm occupants so you are seated together so nobody gets left out, unless of course you want to dine alone. There were plenty of, sofas, chairs & sunbeds. The beach is pristine white sand, no litter, no seaweed, & the sea was the most stunning shades of turquoise, blue & green. The reef just off the beach was full of life with turtles, sting rays & plenty of fish. This is an adult only resort & everyone I met there, young & old, were very friendly & sociable. Did I mention the Fijian sunsets! Would I return - absolutely 😎

Good location. Beautiful water. Bule on the beach.

Vegetarian meals seemed quite a struggle for the staff. For the first 2 days, I was not even offered vegetarian options. Just whatever they brought. Which sometimes was disgustingly. After I spoke with that staff and asked to have some options, they were provided. Meat eaters are given a limited option of choices, those with other dietary preferences she be afforded the same. The other resort that shares the beach offers scuba diving. It would be nice if the 2 resort owners would be able to offer diving to both guests. I encourage the local people to stop eating turtles.

We unfortunately had wet and windy conditions for most of our 6 night stay which can't be helped but some of our experiences were obviously affected by that. We especially enjoyed the evening music as well as the Saturday night performance - thanks especially to the multi talented Josh, Sefou, Adi, Lucy and others. It was also a good place to meet other travellers with nice informal seating options. Snorkelling on the reef hopping was excellent (both coral and fish) but it was very cold getting back, it was quite choppy and the conditions would be challenging if you were not a good swimmer. These trips are an extra cost. Snorkelling from the beach was not great, there was very little live coral or fish. The location is lovely but it takes around 5 hours to get there by the catarmaran and there are probably other options with a similar feel closer to the mainland.

Overall it was disappointing. Only instant coffee! No herbal teabag options. For most mornings the only fruit on offer was papaya (I discovered there was sometimes pineapple if you got in early). Bacon was usually burnt and there was little else on offer, however the scrambled eggs were from the local chickens and good. Pastries were often good. Other meals were fine, and on a few occasions, very good but the choices were very limited, with only one food option for lunch. Our room was only serviced once in the 6 days and even then not really cleaned, just new linen and towels (no hand towels) provided. As it was cold and wet the towels never dried well and were musty. Our room was small but quite nice otherwise and it was good to be near the main facilities and in a garden setting. Some of the other bures were in more open areas and more of a walk. Could not recommend the church service. If this had been a budget option all of this would have been fine but the costs were comparable with other resorts we stayed in that had much better facilities and food. We did mention the coffee situation to Tiki who we understood was the manager. Providing real coffee in a plunger for breakfast would make quite a difference.