We played tourist while visiting Somosomo and Meridian villages on the island of Taveuni. Our goal was to check out the local markets, visit the Catholic mission and the meridian dateline, do some provisioning, get lunch, do the natural waterslide.
Somosomo was a pleasant surprise. We were able to find a good selection of produce and a few handicraft stores. The one main street is lined with stores, shops, and produce stands along both sides of the street. Super cute villages.
Our first stop is the Waitavala Natural Waterslide.
Waitavala Natural Waterslide
The Waitavala Natural Waterslide is great fun for thrill seekers. It is a 50 meter natural waterslide that snakes through the rocks before dumping you into a small pool of cold, fresh water.
It is a short 10-15 minute walk to the slide. You have to traverse across the falls. We were grateful for the rope which prevented an early swim.
You don’t need to start at the top of the falls as it is rocky and not too comfortable on the bum. So, follow the locals and kids to find the best path.
Unfortunately, for us, there were no locals or kids. We were the only ones around. Which was nice as we had the place to ourselves. But bad because we had nobody to show us the ropes.
A few bumps and bruises later we left with huge smiles on our faces.
180 Meridian / Dateline
The date line divides the island of Taveuni and the country of Fiji in half. This created a significant problem for the Fijians. Half of the country was in one time zone and half in another. And I don’t mean different times of the day – but different days!
The Fijian government decided to make the entire country one time zone and basically ignored the actual meridian line.
So, the time line actually skirts around countries rather than following the true 180 meridian.
On the western side of the meridian the day is ending, while on the eastern side of the meridian that same day is just beginning.
Holy Cross Catholic Mission
Somosomo built the first parish Holy Cross church in 1862.
After 14 years later they built a a wooden church in 1876. This church consisted of three naves and was considered a masterpiece in its time.
Later a stone church was built in 1884. However, in 1895 a hurricane destroyed all of the parish buildings.
The local community quickly restored the church and its surrounding buildings.
Don’t miss the blog post about our amazing dive at Jerry’s Jelly on the Rainbow Reef!
Our blog posts run 6-18 weeks behind actual live events.
We were in Somosomo around the early part of July 2025.