Hiapo Cockett's 2009 Fiji Trip
Wakaya Club

There are people in the world who think that $2000+++/night is a ridiculous sum of money to pay for a vacation (especially considering there is a 4 night minimum, no specials AND that does not include your international airfare OR the ~$1000 inter-island flights for 2). I was one of those people; likely you are one of those people. All those opinions change once you have been to Wakaya.

Formed by an ancient volcano, Wakaya Island stands at a distance from neighboring islands, is surrounded by a barrier reef and is a marine and wildlife sanctuary. Wild horses (with a 3 day old foal making his appearance for our visit!), dark furred deer, wild pigs, brilliantly colored parrots, kingfishers, mynas, tropical doves, large fruit bats, and a myriad of other creatures form the background against the well developed, but neatly kept, tropical grounds.



They say that God is in the details, if so, then this is where God rested on the 7th day. Every detail is well thought out and executed by the 6 staff members for every guest. Every detail of your bure is refined: well lit and framed artwork, the timeless design of the furnishings (I remember the same sofas, but the cushions seemed to be brand new), a mini-bar that seems to replenish itself automatically, a dirty laundry bin that magically empties itself and softens, cleans, folds, presses, and hangs (as appropriate) all of your laundry (usually by your next meal), his and hers vanities stocked with everything you could need from toiletries to a first aid kit, THE softest towels, labeled light switches (so you don’t have to play the “what does this switch do?” game), a music player connected to hidden Bose speakers, an outdoor shower with perfectly matching smooth lava rock walls, a fruit bowl and cookie jar (THE BEST IN-THE-ROOM COOKIES EVER!) that also refill themselves magically, his and hers foot showers on the entry steps, hand woven bamboo ceilings and so-clean-you-can-eat-off-them-floors. This is the standard in the most basic accommodation at Wakaya. If you can afford better, my favorite of all rooms (ANYWHERE) is the Ambassador’s bure. If you take the details of the other rooms, add a HUGE, two story tall living area, a formal dining area and a state of the art kitchen (not that you would cook for yourself, but for the chef to come to you), and make it a two bedroom unit (each bedroom alone is about 2/3rds the size of the “regular” 1650 square foot suites), make each of the 2 showers large enough to hold 10 of your intimate football-player-sized friends, add a tiled bathtub large enough for two of those football players to lie side-by-side while admiring the little garden solarium, (but wait, there’s more!), then you add your own spa, equal if not larger than the resort spa, complete with two adjoining massage parlors connecting to a ~10’X10’ watsu pool (body temperature pool for relaxing or to have a floating massage performed therein) complete with 2 canopied lounges and a reclining Buddha to complete the theme. Step outside of your personal spa, and you find your personal golf cart. Did I mention the bure faces the ocean and fronts one of the nicest (but small) patches of sand in Fiji? And this is just your accommodation.

Your activity list is as long and as well serviced as your bure. Do you want something active? Snorkeling trips (with your personal boat), 2 tanks of diving included/day to those who are certified, kayaking, golf (with optional golf pro), croquet on a professional field, tennis (again with optional pro), gym with great equipment (well chilled and with optional personal trainer), hikes with historical guide, Boulez (bocce ball), and sport fishing (additional cost). Feel like a little relaxation? A spa, absolutely ocean front, with twin treatment rooms, and a watsu pool/lounge area is ready to take away all of your worries and your pains. What is my personal favorite? A private beach picnic to beat all others: padded wooden lounges under a thatched palapa, a hammock, table and lounge under a shady tree, all overlooking an amazing beach and amazing ocean without another soul within view. You supply the intimacy, and Wakaya supplies the rest. Did I mention the best picnic lunch ever? Start with your favorite beverage, whether that is soda, beer or a bottle of Taittinger Reserve Brut, add roasted lobster, barbequed prawns, grilled tuna (or whatever was caught that day), an amazing pesto pasta salad, and you start to get a feeling of what Heaven holds in store.


When it comes to food, there is no equal to Wakaya. Trained by celebrity chefs, the creativity, preparation, presentation, service, and quality of your meals will make every subsequent meal elsewhere suffer by comparison.  Starting with breakfast, one of the best lattes I have ever had is just one drink option. First comes your continental breakfast (not a self-service buffet like all the rest, but table service): a fruit platter of THE ripest, none-of-that-pesky-rind, no bruises, and THE juiciest morsels presented from a plant. Follow this with a basket of different breads, all just out of the oven, always different, always tasty. Then you get to your hot items: an omelet without crust, yet not undercooked, fluffy, and not greasy. Perhaps you want something sweet? How about French toast, stuffed with bananas whipped to a butter-like consistency, all coated with a cinnamon and sugar crust. My new favorite was a lemon soufflé, sliced into little disks, and fried up like pancakes (paradise on a plate!). Lunches of caught-hours-ago Kokoda (walu chunks marinated in freshly made coconut cream and lime juice) and fried chicken that is juicy as a great orange, but perfectly cooked, coated with a crisp crumb coating that will disintegrate once it hits your tongue. Dinners of delightful curries, fresh mahi-mahi with sun-dried tomatoes over salt and vinegar potatoes topped with lemon garlic aioli are only samples of the ever changing options. If you want something else just ask. The word “no” does not seem to exist here. Desserts will haunt your dreams: lemon and almond tart, topped with tiny peaks of meringue, each peak topped with a blanched almond and garnished with sugar coated and roasted zest of lemons and oranges, or a “bananarama”: bananas in caramel sauce, stacked between layer upon layer of crisp filo dough, topped with a dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream.

I have made it my life’s work to find equal to the Wakaya Club. My wife and I have even made a game called “At Wakaya”. It goes like this: “At Wakaya, (and then we point out how Wakaya is superior)”. It is an easy game as I have (happily) failed to find anywhere we could not play the game. My search will continue (it’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it), and I expect to never find an equal.

Hiapo Cockett

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