There is a small island called Vatulele Island between Viti Levu (Fiji’s big island) and Kadavu that we’ve always wanted to visit.  Unfortunately, the pass and the narrow strip of waterway to the anchorage are very, very shallow.  Entry into the pass and anchorage requires calm, settled weather, with light winds and little swell.

We left Kadavu at dawn with the hope of arriving the pass during high tide which is a bit tricky as we had a 60 mile trip from Kadavu.  But, lady luck was with us as we arrived at exactly high tide.  

Matt expertly maneuvered Sugar Shack through the pass (shallowest depth we saw was 4.2m) and to our anchorage (shallowest depth we saw was 3.7m).  During low tide we saw 3.2m at the anchorage – just a little bit of the pucker factor.  The bottom is covered in grass so the water is green making it difficult to see what is below you.

The stress was worth it as this is a gorgeous spot!

Vatulele Island Resort

This exclusive resort opened in 1990 and received many accolades including Small Luxury Hotel of the year in 2000 and Fiji’s Best Luxury Hotel in 2005.

In 2012 it closed for refurbishments and supposedly received a U.S. $30 million budget.  However, the owners never started the work and the resort never reopened.

There are ongoing investigations and lawsuits between previous and current owners (Fiji Times article Aug. 2025).

The resort is in total disrepair after 14 years of neglect. 

The large white building is actually a bure that you could rent.  It was a two-story structure with two separate private pools.  Here are photos then and now:

The Vatulele Island Resort website is still active (visit here) as is their Facebook Page (here).

We found the old reception building which still had (3) eMac computers.  The eMac computer came out in 2002 and were discontinued in 2006.  I am sure some Apple enthusiasts would love to get their hands on these relics!

The old restaurant is a complete mess but still had sinks and serving tables.  We also found the one dedicated golf cart (bottom left photo) assigned to the largest bure (above).

Mother Nature has covered the once magnificent bures with vines, trees, and growth. Beach bungalows are almost invisible now.

Anything worth value has been removed from the entire resort including, windows, wiring, fans, and switches.

We had to use a machete to reach most of the bures and got access to 13 of the 19 bungalows. 

The pools which used to have wealthy guests are now filled with tadpoles and frogs.

There is a beautiful little gazebo on the edge of the cliff near the large 2-story white bure. 

We decided it would be the perfect place to enjoy a bottle of Rose during sunset.

Small World

We posted an Instagram reel with some images from Vatulele.  We got a huge surprise when one of our friend’s daughter posted that she had honeymooned here over 20 years ago.  She shared her photos, thank you Keri Basset!

Discovered Treasures

We took a nice long walk along the beach during low tide.  

We continued to the end of the beach and found a little path to the left. 

This path takes you through a little jungle and along the immense rock face of the mountain. 

After 10 minutes we ended up in a cavern between two rock faces and kept going.  We shimmied over the rocks and found a beautiful, turquoise pool.

One rock formation looked a lot like a skull so Matt had to give him a hat to wear.

Interesting links:

• Article: Lawsuit putting the property in a holding pattern
• Article: Locals are unhappy the resort closed and went into closure
• Vatulele Facebook Page
• No Foreign Land on Vatulele

Our blog posts run 8-9 weeks behind actual live events. We visited Vatulele around mid-August 2025.

Be sure to read about the beautiful Kadavu waterfalls in our last blog post.