A few hours by boat northwest of Nadi is the lush and verdant island of Nanuya Balavu. A long and skinny island that at its narrowest you could practically throw a stone from the east side to the west. At the northernmost tip is the Manatray Island Resort.
Most of the islands in the Yasawa chain have small resorts like this, each offering their own take on the Fiji experience. They range from simple accommodations with cabins or tents, all the way up to full-on resorts. Mantaray Island Resort is somewhere in between, with a hostel-like dorm, and beach-side villas.
My friends and I had a blast during our few weeks together in Fiji, spending an all-too brief 5 days at Mantaray. Here’s what it’s like.
Disclaimer (of sorts): It’s common for travel writers to get put up for free at fancy resorts with the expectation that they’ll write coverage of the property. This is both unethical (to me, anyway) and flat out against Forbes’ policy. Not only did I pay the prices mentioned below, but no one at Mantaray knew I wrote for Forbes, or even that I was a travel writer at all. As far as I know, they still don’t. I supposed they could have Googled me, but I didn’t get the impression that they did. From what I observed, they just treated everyone wonderfully. I really liked this place and thought you might too. Which is a long way of saying the only financial benefit I get out of writing about this place is what Forbes pays me for you reading it. So… thanks!
You’re greeted with a big, hearty BULA! Arriving via boat (of course) and stepping onto the long sandy beach, the staff welcomes you with the first of many times you’ll hear that lovely word.
Like most of the resorts on the Yasawas, Mantaray is quite small. All the guests and staff, i.e. everyone on the island, might number 100 or so. There’s a main “clubhouse” type building with indoor and patio seating and a small bar. Nearby is the dive shop. Wind your way back from the beach a bit, and you’ll find the bathrooms and showers. Some of the villas have their own, but for others it’s communal. If you start up the hill you’ll pass the main office, and a little farther is the restaurant.
And lets talk about that restaurant. For the most part, everywhere you’ll stay on the islands requires you to pay a set amount for food each day. This varies a bit depending on the resort, but at Mantaray it was $100 Fijian, or about $50 USD. This seemed about average, and included 3 meals. Three, fantastic meals. There’s a breakfast buffet, but for lunch and dinner you got your choice of 3 or four different options. They varied, but you usually had a choice of chicken, fish, or beef, or a vegetarian option. They were plated with style. Drinks, including some great iced coffee, were extra.
Lodging
For the first few days my friends and I stayed in the dorm, a large 32-bed air-conditioned space. This is certainly one of the larger dorms I’ve stayed in, and I’ve stayed in a lot of hostels. However, it doesn’t feel that large as each bed has three walls of its own. The mattresses were comfortable, but it would have been far better if the power plugs were better placed. Bottom bunks could reach them find, but if you’re on the top I hope you have a long cable.
I’m guessing most of you reading this aren’t considering dorm life (even if it is only $22.50 a night). My friends and I wanted to stay an extra day, but the dorm was booked. So I splurged on one of the beachfront villas. These are a single large room, beautifully decorated, with power and air conditioning. In back is a partially-open bathroom with stone shower. All quite lux and lovely. These are $250 (USD) a night, plus the $50 per person food costs.
There are also bures, which are a bit smaller than the villas. Most of these have bathrooms too, though the “treehouse” ones don’t and are a bit cheaper.
Activities
As you’d expect from a place called Mantaray, the headline activity is swimming with manta rays. We were there before the beginning of the season, though apparently there were some sightings. There are lots of other scuba locations around, but the one day we had where the weather was good enough to go, I was feeling lazy and stayed on the beach.
What’s exceptionally cool is that just off the beach is a great coral reef. Walk a few paces into the sea, and you’ve got excellent snorkeling. You can rent snorkel gear if you don’t have your own.
You can also rent kayaks and go on guided tours of the island.
Every morning there’d be a chalkboard in the restaurant with that day’s activities. I’ll be honest, we mostly just relaxed on the beach when the weather was good.
On one of the nights the staff treated us to some traditional Fijian dance and song. Delightful.
Downsides?
I didn’t have any issues, but I overheard a few other people complaining. Their issues seemed to stem from the fact that they didn’t understand that we were on a tiny island with no infrastructure. One of the days, the water was out for an hour. They have to make their own water on the island, so… yeah, that might happen.
You have to buy wifi, which is a pet peeve of mine. However, if you buy a local SIM in Nadi, or have Google Fi, you’ll be fine. My friends bought Digicel SIMs and they worked fine here, but on some of the other islands apparently Vodafone has better coverage.
Beachside Forever
There are lots of resorts up and down the Yasawa and Mamanuca islands. They’re all lovely. I mean, how could they not be with that location? Though my 3 weeks there were tempered by a tempest (2, actually), Mantaray Island stood out largely because of the incredible staff. Fijians are among the friendliest people I’ve ever met, but the staff here went above and beyond that. Such a wonderful few days.
