20 June 2011:

This island turned out to be the island I'm scheduled to stay on first - I realized this only now, when I am writing this post. I would stay here for three nights. I'm taking a slow, relaxing cruise around the islands. Kuata is the southernmost island in the Yasawa chain.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

A closer view of the island, with its dense green foliage in stark contrast to the barren dull grey rocks and the bright azure waters.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

One of the more interesting volcanic islets. Looks like a large solid volcanic rock.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

Soon, we started encountering larger and more dramatic islands. The larger islands have multiple villages, many of them hosting resorts.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

Farther out, we started passing islands with more dramatic, obviously volcanic, landscapes. Some of these had resorts tucked under the cliffs. Although I am a bit sad not to see "real" Fiji on this trip, I am pretty excited to experience a stereotypical Fiji island-hopping trip.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

This is the legendary Beachcomber Island, the home of wild parties every night. Apparently, things have changed and this is now only a shadow of its former glory. I met a person who grew up on this island and had to take a small boat to school every day! What a unique childhood experience that must have been! I also heard that Beachcomber has a 100-bed dorm room!

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

Another island resort. There were a lot of neat looking places. I haven't seen such a high concentration of semi-isolated island resorts like this anywhere else! There are also many shows made here. Castaway was filmed on Monuriki, one of the Mamanuca Islands.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

The One of the first resort islands we passed. It feels as in nearly all of the islands have a resort, which I'm sure is a huge boon to the economy in the Mamanucas and Yasawas. I believe this may be Bounty or South Sea Island. A few of the islands in this group have ridiculous pseudo-exotic sounding names like this.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

The sea was full of islands. Small islands were immediately visible on the horizon.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html

20 June 2011:

After waking up at 4:30 and catching a bus that felt like I was in India (including the people), I was off! The boats for the Mamanuca island chain and Yasawas leave from Denarau port just west of Nadi.

Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/2011-nz-to-sf-day-38.html