Paradise Found

Story and Photos by Kevin Voegtlin

What constitutes paradise?

Warm weather? Yeah, that helps. White sand beaches? A bit on the nose, but sure. Crystal-clear water and vibrant coral reefs? Now we’re getting there. How about a little speck of an island in the South Pacific, where the staff make you feel at home while offering impeccable service? Where dry-aged meat from New Zealand and fresh local seafood are on offer daily, and two different bars come with panoramic ocean views? Okay, now we’re honing in on things.

But for this reader, something might still be missing. That all sounds great for a honeymoon, but if we’re talking paradise, there’s got to be some action to be found. So let’s throw in foamers of yellowfin as far as the eye can see, a mile off the island. How about a real shot at doggies in the reef passes, or pulling up some of the most spectacularly colored reef fish you could imagine? Add in world-class spearfishing along the drop-offs.

Would that do it? We think so too.

Here’s the thing: paradise is real. It sits at 17°50′39″S, 177°10′51″E, and it’s called Namotu Island.

White sand, palm trees, ocean front tiki bar, and big tuna. What else could you ask for?

For the unfamiliar, Namotu is a tiny, six-acre speck of sand and palm trees sitting about five miles off Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu. You can walk around the whole thing in a matter of minutes, granted you don’t stop to gather shells, go for a swim, make a cast at some sort of schooling reef fish, or chat with one of the 30 or so other guests sharing this private slice of paradise.

Everything about life on Namotu is top-notch. The accommodations, the food, the people, the service. They do it right.

But a lot of the magic happens off the island.

Namotu is arguably most well known for its surf, and for good reason. It sits within a quick boat ride of world-class waves like Cloudbreak, with more user-friendly reef breaks right off its beaches. Don't surf? Snorkel the reefs out front. Want to go on a bit of an adventure? Monuriki, the island where Cast Away was filmed, is about an hour boat ride away, where you can hike the same trail Tom Hanks did to the top of the island.

Okay, but back to where we started. Tropical islands are great and all, but that doesn't matter much if we're not catching fish.

While Namotu may be more famous for its surfing, its fishing operation isn't to be slighted. Multiple pangas are available throughout the day, along with two center consoles available to charter. And this is where its argument for paradise really starts to come alive.

No reason not to make a few casts off the end of the island.

The hike up to the top of Cast Away island is well worth the view.

Our crew for the week was a mixed bag of the Pelagic Family. Flying in from various parts of the world were Pelagic Pro Team Captain Tyler Kapela, Wesley Brough (@cabosurfcaster), and artist Dwight Hwang, whose gyotaku work can be found on a number of Pelagic products. Then there’s Dave Wassel, legendary waterman and big-wave surfer, who joined us from Hawaii. Dave has spent more time around Namotu and neighboring Tavarua than most other people on earth, and showed up for our week without even bringing a surfboard. That either speaks a lot to the quality of fishing on Namotu, or to the fact that he’s arguably paddled into the biggest barrel ever at Cloudbreak, and after you’ve done that what's really left to surf out there.

Rounding things out were a few guys fortunate enough to call Namotu home for most, if not all, of the year. Mike Hennessy, Namotu’s Director of Operations, built the island’s fishing program from the ground up. Pro Team Captain Mitch Johnson heads up Namotu’s marine and charter operations, while resident captain Chris Parker spends his days putting guests on fish and helping keep the island supplied with fresh catch. These are the guys who know the waters around Namotu better than just about anyone, and a real treat to get to fish with when on the island. 

Tyler Kapela

Dave Wassel

Mike Hennessy

Dwight Hwang

Wesley Brough

Mitch Johnson

Chris Parker

We arrived in early February, it was hot, with nearly slack wind for days on end, and yellowfin piled up just off the island. We couldn't have asked for a much better setup, and quickly started sampling a bit of everything Namotu has to offer.

Mornings were often spent hopping aboard Cobalt, one of the island’s center consoles, bouncing between various reef passes and high spots, chucking poppers for GTs and jigging for the abundance of reef fish below. Kapela was a walking encyclopedia of the various coral trout, snapper, and grouper that we were catching. Wes, meanwhile, put in serious time on the bow casting for his first big GT.

Now, paradise was always going to come at a cost, and perfect fishing conditions in Fiji often meant brutally hot days without much wind, or shade on the boats, for relief. If you wanted to put serious time in on the water, performance tops, hats and polarized sunglasses were an absolute must. The hooded Vaportek, the lightest performance shirt in the Pelagic line, was a quick favorite among the crew, offering sun protection without adding much weight in the tropical heat.

One of many colored up specimens that Kapela caught.

Summer in the tropics is no joke. Lots of sun, very little wind.

Once we had our fill of that fun, it was generally about time to cool off with a swim, head back to the island for lunch and regroup for whatever the rest of the day would bring. Once our feet hit the sand, island time took over. Lunch, a swim, maybe a drink, and a little R&R while we waited out the hottest part of the day.

Having Dwight on the trip was a real treat, as we got to watch him and his son make gyotaku prints of multiple fish caught over the course of the week. You’ve definitely seen Dwight’s work across multiple Pelagic products, or displayed in art galleries and Michelin star restaurants if that's more your type of place, but watching his artwork come to life in front of you, sitting on the beach off which the fish was caught, was truly something special. 

Dwight, printing a yellowfin caught just a few miles behind him.

Namotu offers plenty of fun to be had off the boats too.

When the sun would start to lower and that afternoon breeze kicked up a couple knots, it was time to head back out. Spending happy hour on a white sand beach shaded by palms might sound inviting, but we were far better off packing a cooler with Vonus and hopping on one of the pangas, because the sundowner bite was no joke.

Every evening, almost like clockwork, the yellowfin would push in just off the island and start foaming everywhere. One of our crew said it looked like a tsunami, there was so much whitewater on the horizon as we worked our way out to the fish. It was dealer’s choice when it came to how you wanted to fish for them, but for our crew, chucking poppers into the frenzy was the name of the game, and it was about as much fun as you’re going to find. Find the birds, watch for the fish to erupt, get the panga into position and fire a cast into the melee. We often fished through the incredible Fijian sunsets until the lights came on back on our island, little beacons on the horizon guiding us in before the conch shell was blown for dinner.

Loading up for the evening run.

Pick your setup, find the fish, and enjoy.

Our days went on like this for the week, with a few variations here and there. We hung out at Castaway Island, chartered a sportfisher to go after a few bigger fish, and spent a few afternoons diving the ledges out the back. The diving off Namotu is incredible, offering just about anything you could imagine, from fairly shallow reefs looking for job fish and grouper, to hunting dogtooth tuna deep off the ledge. A few of the boys even spent the predawn hours fishing for the elusive doggies, with a few hooked but nothing making it over the rail.

By the end of the week, we’d settled pretty comfortably into the Namotu routine. Wake up, check the ocean, grab a rod, fins or a surfboard depending on what looked best, and head out. Come back for lunch, cool off, then figure out what the afternoon had in store. More often than not, that meant chasing tuna until sunset before following the lights back to the island for dinner and a drink.

There are a lot of factors that go into finding paradise, and those might change from person to person. White sand, clear water and a cold drink will probably do the trick for some. For us, it helps if there are rods in the boat shed, dive gear ready nearby, waves breaking across the reef and yellowfin blowing up just beyond it.

By that measure, Namotu does the trick just fine.

Captain Mitch with a solid job fish.

Paradise, just about summed up.