Tavewa
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| Yasawa Islands
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| Islands of Fiji
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Tavewa is the largest island of the Yasawa Islands and measures approximately 3 km x 1 km. It is part of the Nacula District that lies north west of the Fijian island of Viti Levu.
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[edit] Tourism
Tavewa caters mainly (nearly exclusively) for the back-packing community. The island is not very highly developed, but offers a realistic insight into the Fijian and Pacific Islands lifestyle.
Tavewa is not connected to any centralised power grid. The resorts on the island operate their own power supply, based on local diesel-powered generators. These generators are only used by demand, which is usually sunset. Even then, around 10:00 pm, the generators are shut down and camp fires and lanterns take over producing light.
The few cooling facilities rely on ice-blocks, which are re-generated while the generators are on.
There are only three shared phone lines between Tavewa and the mainland. Marine radio is a common communication platform.
[edit] Island supplies and Logistics
Tavewa does not have a pier, therefore all supplies have to be loaded onto small landing boats from supply ships stopping between the islands. Depending on the arrival times of the supply boats and the tides, all goods have to be unloaded from the landing boats in various places in the water in front of the beach. The residents unload and carry all goods from knee to breast-deep water onto the beach. From there, the goods are either transferred into wheelbarrows or carried all the way to their destination.
In 2004, there was not a single motorised vehicle on Tavewa, not even a tractor. Tavewa has no roads, only paths around the island.
Diesel for the generators is also transported this way in jerry-cans, which explains why the generators are only used on an “as required” basis.
The regular supplies (together with the tourists) arrive with the Yasawa Flyer, which operates a daily water-bus service between Nadi and Tavewa.
However, a variety of other supply boats exists that operate either on an infrequent-but-regular or ad-hoc basis.
[edit] Drinking Water
As the rest of Fiji, Tavewa experiences a drought since the middle of the 1990s. Drinking water is a precious resource. Therefore, the drinking water for the tourists is brought in in plastic bottles via the supply boats. The large number of non-degradable plastic bottles that are land-filled on the relative small island will cause environmental problems in the future.
[edit] Utilisation of salt water
Also, all resorts only operate salt-water showers. While the generators are running, salt-water is pumped into black water tanks on top of the showers. The sun will then heat the water in the black tanks. Salt-water is also used for laundry, etc.
[edit] Resorts
There are three resorts on Tavewa:
All resorts are build in the traditional Fijian bure -style. Amenities, such as restaurant/dining hall are shared and central. Therefore, all resorts resemble campuses. Tourist accommodation is either in dormitories or smaller couple/family sized bures.
There is also a SCUBA diving school on Tavewa.
[edit] Local population
The island population lives mainly from the tourism. In addition to the Tavewa residents, many of resort staff commute from nearby islands in the Yasawa group or Nadi. Like the resorts, the accommodation for the locals are bures. Cooking is usually communal on fire places dotted around the bures.
[edit] Transport
Tavewa can be regularly reached either by
- ferry ( Yasawa Flyer ) or
- water plane ( Turtle Airways ).
The fast majority of tourists and supplies arrive on the Yasawa Flyer. It takes the Tavewa Flyer about four hours to travel Nadi – Tavewa, with several stops at the island resorts in-between.
