A Fijian romance
The stage was perfectly set for the most romantic evening of our lives. But somehow things didn’t go quite to plan, writes Sue Williams.
The sun had just slipped down over the sea and a blaze of magenta was slowly lighting up the sky. A soft breeze ruffled the coconut palms above our open-air pagoda fronting the beach. The cork popped on a bottle of Champagne.
And from the hibiscus tree to our left, a musician silently crept in with his guitar to play and sing, as a surprise, the love song I’d secretly nominated as my partner’s alltime favourite.
The stage was perfectly set for the most romantic evening of our lives. But somehow, somewhere between the first few notes, and my partner turning to me with a puzzled expression, things didn’t quite go to plan.
I’d had only a vague idea how his favourite tune sounded, and so, it seemed, did our serenader.
I hadn’t realised I’d nominated one of the trickiest songs ever, and while our crooner did his level best with the jazz standard My Funny Valentine, it was only when I whispered to Jimmy what he was playing that the confusion cleared from his face and, gamely, he tried to sing along to help him out.
When you’ve been in a relationship for 30-odd years, sometimes it can be hard to inject a little extra romance into your lives.
So when I saw a boutique adults-only resort in Fiji called the Lomani Island Resort – lomani being Fijian for “in love” – offering “romance” packages, I thought I’d give it a go.
The secluded beachfront dinner with the guitarist was only one of myriad options.
Others included the room being softly lit, decorated and perfumed with hibiscus petals on our arrival, and chilled Champagne waiting.
Another was a giant heart drawn on the white sands of the beach fronting the resort, again scattered with petals, and the word “LOVE”.
I’d resisted a couple of other suggestions. One was that we get married on the beach; it had been assumed, because my partner Jimmy and I have different surnames, that we weren’t already. They seemed almost disappointed to learn we were.
“But that doesn’t matter,” I was told. “You could renew your vows instead.”
Ah. It’s one thing having a classic song sung as a surprise. It’s perhaps a step too far to trap someone into an actual ceremony.
But Fiji, more than any other place
I know on Earth, really is the place for romance.
It’s something to do with all those soft white beaches, the aqua-blue water, the swaying palm trees, the magnificent flame trees, the scent of magnolia and the Fijians themselves – so warm and friendly and eager, preferably when they know a tune and the words, to break into harmonious song.
It’s an island culture that’s made for reconnecting with loved ones through staged surprises, relaxation or adventure. If you’re after paddleboarding side by side, partnering to sail a Hobie Cat, doublekayaking or snorkelling a deux among the brilliant coral and fish, it’s all there.
If you want to lounge and read books together in the shade of palm fronds, that’s easy too. And if you’re keen simply to sit and hold hands as the sun sets, you won’t be alone.
Lomani is among Fiji’s newest resorts, having had a soft opening during Covid-19, and then a closing, then being rented out for three months by, ironically, the TV reality show Heartbreak Island. It didn’t say that on the brochure.
Finally, it launched properly at the start of 2023. With only 30 bures, it’s small and intimate, which lends itself to a romance speciality as well.
For instance, at the moment the spa comprises only one treatment room with two beds, so couples’ massages are the most popular treatments, with specialities including a Veilomani massage, Fijian Bobo or – and this is jumping the gun a little, I feel – a pregnancy massage.
Alternatively, there’s massage in the pagoda on the beach. Meanwhile, a major new spa is being built to open at the end of this year.
General manager Shelley White says the romance packages came about on the spur of the moment. The resort captured so many starry-eyed visitors’ attention that staff were receiving requests constantly for events where proposals could be popped, or weddings held, and so they decided to formalise the offerings.
One of their best is a romantic picnic on a picturesque sandbank a 15-minute longboat ride from the resort.
The boatman drops you in ankle-deep water so you wade on to the pristine white sand of the bank, then he sets you up with bean bags to sit on, a small wooden table, and iced drinks and a picnic hamper.
Like any good lovers’ trysts, you can’t stay there too long before the waves start to lap you and swallow the bank back up, and you need to beat a hasty retreat. But as with any brief encounter, it’s gorgeous while it lasts.
You can also walk through thick rainforest to a hilltop outlook to be seduced by the glorious views, clink glasses on a sunset cruise, go dewy-eyed on a dolphin safari, or spend some rather more upbeat time on the mid-sea platform Cloud 9.
There’s a cooking class, too, to make the Fijian dish kokoda, taste some kava and try your hand at fishing.
Alternatively, there are the huge bures to hide out in, with those beautiful king beds, and outdoor showers as well as indoor. Take a skinny dip in the private plunge pool or just float around in there between sips of something nice in an icy glass.
There’s a table and chairs on the deck for lunches to be delivered by the resort’s restaurant and the sunloungers under an umbrella at the end of your long back garden overlooking the beach.
Of course, with so few guest rooms, you rarely see another person on the beach when you’re there, and the water temperature is just delicious for frolicking.
Around the resort too, there are many places for lovers to meet: hammocks strung between coconut palms, daybeds alongside the swimming pool and loungers everywhere.
All the staff are incredibly friendly, without overdoing it, and call you by your first name from almost the first day.
There’s a diverse demographic too, from young couples to older ones, and from all corners of the world. “Everyone likes a little romance in their lives,” says White. “At whatever stage that romance might be.
“Couples might come here at the beginning of their lives together, for a beautiful proposal when we can produce a ring at the beach, at dinner or even during a massage, anytime they’d like.
“Luckily no-one has said ‘no’ … yet. It’s a long way to come together if you’re not already sure you’re with the right person. Or they might come in the middle of their years together.”
Yet it’s conceivable that some might come near the end too.
One young couple, who could well have been honeymooners, seemed to be arguing a lot, and regularly one would storm off without the other, or turn up to dinners at the restaurant, or drinks at the next-door bar, alone.
Happily, we later saw them at that most popular package, the dinner on the beach, being serenaded by guitar, and the next day we didn’t see them argue once.
Was that Fiji, or Lomani’s romance package, working its magic?
We’ll probably never know for sure. But it certainly worked for us: we returned home relaxed, refreshed and looking forward to our next decade together.
And maybe now I’ll take the time to play My Funny Valentine a little more often. After all, it now holds special memories for us both.