Hello again! I hope you all enjoyed parts one and two of our Fiji Sailing Adventure. Now we'd like to share our experience at the Essence of Fiji Rejuvenation Centre in Nadi.

Her View

Thanks for reading our last blog about our seven days aboard a Tradewinds yacht.  Here I would like to tell you about our visit with the Essence of Fiji Rejuvenation Centre.

Because of the flight times we were going to arrive at 5am and have the whole day to find something to do before we were to board the boat.  Due to the location of Fiji planes often fly in early or very late and you either end up with a ten to twelve hour layover. Lots of folks do day trips or find a hotel that offers day passes like (the one across from the airport).  At some point they created the Essence of Fiji Rejuvenation Center to help with these long layovers or early arrivals.

A day pass was very inexpensive and we wanted to actually have a private room, where they offer a bed so that we could take a nap.  Knowing how poorly we both sleep on planes this would meet our needs well. We could nap, shower and get food. They have a nice cafe on site that does offer beer and wine as well.  

The center opens at 6am so we had to wait a few minutes before they would be able to pick us up.  So we grabbed some water and waited. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. It is humid and you will get drained quickly.  In my mind, humid and desert heat are about the same.

Vilisoni picks us up, is very chatty and very informative.  He gave a lot of informative and fun facts about certain areas and the common life in Fiji #fijitime.  It was about a fifteen minute drive over and because our schedules are so screwed up at this point, we forget how early it is for them.  Feels like night for us.

He shows us around, checks us into the private room, which is fantastically cool and we get sample of Sea Grape ice cream.  It was delicious. He lets us know that they actually, on site, make a ton of products with the sea grapes. Lotions, mosquito repellent, sunscreen and so many other items.  We grabbed some Aftersun and some Mosquito repellant before we checked out.

We get settled into our little room (it is actually a very large room) and decided we needed food.  The cafe was just opening and the chef had not arrived yet, but we stepped in and started looking at the menu.  I decided that I wanted the Chicken Schnitzel and a glass of wine. I did mention we forgot about time in general and that it was early morning for them, right?  So I laughed when she looked at me and said, I know that seems weird because it is so early for you, but I am on a whole other time zone. She chuckled and said, hey you’re on vacation.  I appreciated her a little more in that moment.

The Schnitzel was incredible, I watched the chef prepare most of it and was totally amazed, the food is freshly prepared from scratch. This would explain why it was so good.  I had another glass of wine with it and then another after. Hey it is vacation! After that we went and took about an hour long nap. Just enough to wake up to pee and then not be able to go back to sleep. So we showered and got ready for the day.  

Once we showered we had our complimentary foot massage, and honestly, probably the BEST foot massage I have ever had in my life.  It was only about fifteen minutes but it was fantastic.

Side note, everything we read about tipping in Fiji was a no no.  Well, we have Americanized everything enough in the world that these kind folks now want tips.  They would never assume they are getting one, but we broke them. I am all for tipping in the right instance but I did a lot of research and was certain I was not supposed to tip out of respect.  But being accustomed to tipping for any type of massage, foot or otherwise, I was not comfortable not tipping. So Derek asked the front desk about the culture and he said yes we accept tips. It would be in small villages that they would not accept tips.  So, we of course, tipped the young ladies.

After that we decided it was wine time again!  So we had a few glasses in the little cafe sitting on the couches just chilling.  We were starting to get antsy and it was only 11:30, so we decided to go back to our room and watch a movie on our tablet.  We watched an hour long show and I said, OH MY GOD, we have to get out of here. Let’s just head over to the dock and we will figure it out.  So we packed up our stuff and headed out.

The same gentleman drove us to the dock and gave us the tour along the way. He explained each area we were at well enough that we had story for each part of our drive.  It was really cool and not your normal ‘taxi’ ride.

It was about twenty minutes and we were at the Rhum-Ba bar and another ten minutes and we were drinking with our boat mates for the week.

My experience for the Rejuvenation Center was really great.  They were all very nice, they offered nice products and services and it was clean clean clean!   I highly recommend this as a place to freshen up, rest up and massage up. This would work either before your trip or after.  They take reservations but also walk ins. Since we wanted a room we booked ahead of time.

Thanks for visiting our blog and stay tuned for our next adventure.  We are calling it a weekend in Rocky Point or as some call it, Puerto Peñasco.

— Taunya

His View

Hello again!  I really hope you enjoyed hearing about our Fijian Yacht Adventure, and if you have not yet read it you can find that here.  We are continuing our series by portraying to you our honest review of the Essence of Fiji Rejuvenation Center.

When flying to Fiji from the states, it is a long flight so you don’t always get to pick when you will fly in or fly out.  Our twelve hour flight arrived in Nadi early in the morning, so we had a lot of time to kill before boarding the yacht at 4 pm.  We did some research, and found out about the Rejuvenation center.

We had checked ahead, and knew that the centre had a shuttle to and from the AIrport.  Upon arrival in Fiji, we stopped at the information kiosk just inside from the taxi and shuttle area.  We were told the shuttle would arrive throughout the day and pointed to the taxi area. We decided to call the center since our arrival was slightly before they officially opened.  My best advice on visiting FIji is to not assume, but verify. After speaking to the centre the shuttle arrived within ten or fifteen minutes.

The ride to the centre was quick, and our driver Vilisoni played tour guide letting us know about the area, the sugar trade and pointing out various landmarks.  We later found out that he was one of the managers and the Public Relations Officer for the centre.

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When we arrived at the center I was a little surprised as it was smaller than I envisioned. They offer a few different options for day use, however we had made a reservation for a day room assuming that we’d need to get a little sleep. As we were going through the check in process, we were offered a refreshment.  I was expecting a drink of some sort, however it turned out to be a “sea grape” sorbet. It turns out sea grapes are a type of seaweed that is very important to Fijian culture, and is considered a delicacy.

The Rejuvenation Centre is in all honestly a great place to spend a day.  They have several amenities, including a movie theater, cafe, spa services, showers, day rooms where you can rest in privacy, and the only sensory deprivation salt water float chamber in the south pacific. There are lots of comfortable places to sit even if you don’t have a day room.  They also have a small retail area where they sell their Essence of Fiji products, as well as other locally made merchandise.

We spent a fair bit of time in the cafe, and I have to say the food was pretty good.  Our schedule was a bit jacked up, so we ended up having lunch a bit early. I had a tuna patty, which was kind of like a crab cake but with tuna, and it was out of this world.  Taunya had a chicken schnitzel sandwich that was incredible. I was watching the food preparation, and I would bet money that the chef was trained somewhere. His knife work was amazing, and he had a true eye for presentation. I also noticed as we sat there a few people came in for food or coffee, which appeared to me to be a good sign.

I was quite happy with our day room, it was quite clean and comfortable.  There was a queen size bed for resting, four chairs and two tables. It was a very quiet and private space to catch some rest.  The showers were clean, and looked to me to be fairly new or at least recently remodeled. The amenities were exactly as advertised, and on par with my expectations. As  part of our package we got a foot massage, and oh my God was it phenomenal. Quite literally it beat any of the mani/pedi experiences I have had in the past. It was hands down one of the best foot massages I have ever gotten.

If I can convey one takeaway from our experience at the Rejuvenation Centre it was that everyone was so friendly and kind. I know their business model is based on tourism, however I really feel that everyone here made us feel at home and comfortable.  

In closing, I can’t help but wonder if I have done justice to the Rejuvenation Centre in conveying how much I enjoyed my experience there.   If we ever travel to Fiji again I would not hesitate to drop in for another visit. One word of advice, if you ever do end up at the Centre I would recommend making a reservation if you want one of the day rooms as there are only two.

Conclusion

Stay tuned as we pause our Fijian saga since we are heading to Puerto Peñasco this weekend, and we have no doubt we’ll have lots to share! We still have more to share, so we will pick up this series again in a few weeks. So today your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to go! Go, live life, love life, drink life and travel for life!

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