Just 30 miles north of the main island and port of Denerau in Nadi are the spectacular Yasawa Islands where there is great fishing, diving, snorkeling, kitesurfing and the occasional surf ! Yalobi is the remnants of an old caldera which has formed a perfect natural basin and anchorage that has small villages and spectacular landscapes and pristine beaches. At the top of the Mamanuca Islands before you reach the Yasawa are some spectacular anchorages and islands including Kadomo pictured. There is also another great spot Navadra that features some great beaches and caves.

The British navigator William Bligh was the first European to sight the Yasawas in 1789, following the mutiny on the Bounty. Captain Barber in HMS Arthur visited the islands in 1794, but they were not charted until 1840, when they were surveyed and charted by a United States expedition commanded by Charles Wilkes.

Throughout the 1800s, Tongan raiders bartered for, and sometimes stole, the sail mats for which the Yasawa was famous for. The islands were largely ignored by the wider world until World War II, when the United States military used them as communications outposts.