The Yasawa and Mamanucas Islands are a group of volcanic islands that start due west of Nadi and run north for about 80 miles. I set off from Port Denarau, just outside Nadi, on the Tavewa Seabus for the 4.5 hour trip up to the island of Nacula at the north end of the islands.

For the final leg of the trip I transferred to a small boat which took me to my lodgings.

My first stop was at the Blue Lagoon Beach Resort (www.bluelagoonbeachresort.com.fj) on the island of Nacula. Areas of the Yasawas were the locales for both the 1949, and 1980 filming of the romance adventure film The Blue Lagoon. The Yasawas were closed to land-based tourism up until 1987. Since the government lifted the restrictions several resorts have opened. The land still belongs to the local villages who benefit from rent and employment.

The Blue Lagoon Beach Resort has a variety of accommodation from dorms, through to basic rooms with shared facilities (which I had) and then various types of villa giving you options from £11 through to £320 per night. My Bure (beach hut) was excellent.

Due to the remote location of these islands, many resorts offer a fixed meal plan for all residents as it isn’t practical to stock and run standard restaurants. This encouraged all of the residents on various budgets to mix at meal times and everybody got on well. The resort had lovely facilities.

You could swim out to snorkel on the reefs from the resort’s beach.

The resort is staffed by Fijians from the local village on the island. We walked further up the beach to visit the village. All the property in the village is centrally owned and the Chief has the final say on all issues. There are still several traditional homes.

But many people now chose to live in more modern accommodation as it doesn’t require rebuilding every three years.

Like any village there were some very posh homes

and some not so.

The churches are still very important. About a quarter are catholic.

and the rest are Methodist.

At the top of the village is the building where the Chief meets with the villagers to discuss and resolve issues. He lives in the house to the left of this building.

For larger meetings, and other big events, the communal hall is used.

We were invited into the hall to hear some traditional songs which were very good.

We were also invited to dance (I opted out with the excuse of wanting to take pictures).

Some of my fellow travellers who had visited before and brought toys and colouring books for the children.

They weren’t appreciated by everybody.

We also visited the local school which is a boarding school as other villages on the island are a couple of hours walk away.

There are no fees for either day pupils or boarders. However, if your child does board, you are expected to participate in the rota for cooking for the children which includes supplying the food as well.

The resort was another excellent sunset spot.

After Nacula, I went over to Tavewa Island and stayed at the Coral View Resort (www.coralview.com.fj). This was a very different place with much more basic facilities. I had my own Bure.

The grounds were well maintained.

However, there was no pool or beach as the emphasis was on getting out to sea. I went snorkelling on nearby reefs. We also went out looking for sharks and saw Whitetip and Blacktip Reef sharks which grow to about 1m long. They swim around the edges off the reefs. Luckily they didn’t seem very interested in us. Finally we went out looking for clams and saw some that were over 1 foot wide. (Sorry for the lack of pictures but my camera doesn’t go underwater).

My third and final stop was in the Mamanuca islands at the Bounty Island Resort (www.fiji-bounty.com). The island itself is about 50 acres/20 Hectares and you can walk around it in 20 minutes.

I finally got a reach beachside Bure.

Like many of the other islands, Bounty Island has reefs immediately off the beach. It also runs its own turtle conservation programme. They collect the turtles when they hatch around the island and keep them for 18 months before letting them out into the ocean.

Bounty Island is very close to Monuriki island where the film Castaway with Tom Hanks was shot. The island is still uninhabited. If you fancied staying on an even smaller island, you can always opt for South Sea Island just next to Bounty Island.

The island just has a single dormitory and has a reputation as a bit of a party island. I don’t think you would get much sleep.

Back on Bounty Island, we were offered the option to go to church with the locals on Sunday evening. No one took them up on the option and so the church choir (which was most of the staff working in the resort) came and sang to us at dinner time.

They were very good but didn’t manage to change my religious views.

After an enjoyable week on the islands I returned to Nadi.