January 3, 2026

Bula 2026 from Fiji!

Happy 2026 from Fiji! After leaving Boston on Wednesday morning and a layover in Los Angeles (where we made the most of our adventure by renting a car, getting a yummy Mexican lunch, walking along Santa Monica & Venice Beach, and enjoying the Christmas lights of El Segundo’s Candy Cane Lane)

we finally made it to Paradise Cove Resort in the Yasawa islands of Fiji (after 18 hours of flying, a 10 hour layover in LA, a 30 minute bus ride, and a 3 hour boat trip).

But it was totally worth the 30 hours of travel to relax at this remote Fijian resort

We stayed in one of the Beach House bungalows with a thatched roof, an outdoor shower, and a beautiful veranda for taking photos:

In order to get to the main resort, we had to take a water taxi (or a stand-up paddle board!)

Ben and I loved the amazing snorkeling right off the beach of the resort with angel fish, parrot fish, rays with neon dots, a tiny reef shark, and tons of other brightly colored fish swimming in and out of bright blue, purple, magenta, and yellow coral. The reef was so alive, bright and calm. And the water was so incredibly warm! Another highlight of the Paradise Cove Resort was the delicious Omikase dinner at Donu on our first night.

After 3 wonderful days and nights at Paradise Cove, we were sung a farewell song

And then we took the Resort ferry back to Vitu Levu for 4 nights at the Intercontinental Resort & Spa

Just in time for a fabulous New Years celebration. All 4 of us made it for the 9pm fireworks but only Asher was able to stay awake for the Flamingo Party fire dancing, midnight fireworks, and slight fire accident when the torch lighting tower fell over and the greenery caught fire (fortunately they were able to avert disaster by putting out the fire right away).

Aliya and I ended 2025 and kicked off the New Year with a Mommy & Me Spa Day that started in the Wai Zone (with a steam room, hydrotherapy pool, and ice room before sitting in the relaxation room to drink tea and eat a honey sesame treat) before we had our traditional Fiji massages that included quite a bit of slapping and pinching along with all the traditional massage techniques. Then we went back to the relaxation room to rest and drink a refreshing watermelon and ginger tonic while we watched the rain pour down outside. Sorry, no pix from inside the spa! But we did get a few from our New Years Day beach walk, pool time, High Tea at the Club lounge, and Happy Hour.

We kicked off January 2 with a Sigatoka River Safari Tour birthday celebration for Ben. At 7:45am we hopped on the bus, stopped off at the Shangri-la to pick up more people, and then drove about another 30 minutes past the “salad bowl” of Fiji (where they grow all the fruits and veggies) to the Sigatoka River.

Freddy our guide explained about the village we were going to and the traditional roles of men and women. Apparently they visit this village every Friday but we were the last group that was visiting for the next 8-10 months.

Once we were at the village, Aliya and I had to put on our sarongs to cover our legs and then we climbed up a steep hill to get to the village where they were roasting a huge boar. We were led into the church (apparently the church and the community center are the 2 biggest structures in most Fijian villages) where one of the village leaders told us all about the village, the Kava ceremony, and about how money earned by any individual in the village was shared with all of the village. Then we were led into the large community center for a Kava ceremony (which included getting a palm frond lei, drinking Kava out of a coconut shell, and being slapped on both sides of our face with baby powder), dancing with the villagers, and eating lunch on the floor. Asher drank 3 bowls of kava to test out the effects! To Aliya and me, kava tasted like chalky earthy water.

Then it was a fast paced boat ride back with lots of spin-outs and big sprays of water.

We got back to our hotel just in time to clean up and get dressed up for the big birthday celebration starting off with Happy Hour drinks at the club and a yummy dinner by the beach at Navo.