One of the best parts about our stay in Fiji is easily the food. Every day, the meals prepared for us are fresh and flavorful. One of biggest treats though is getting to have fresh coconuts. When we first arrived to Matava we were greeted and given a coconut each. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of coconut water, but the coconut water back home is nothing like that of a freshly opened coconut here. The juice is so refreshing, and has a subtle sour kick to it, perfect after a long day of traveling or scuba diving.

Yesterday we got the extra treat of watching some coconuts get picked in person. I got down from my bure and heard a loud thud, a common sound we’ve all come to recognize as a coconut falling. I paid no mind to the first one but after a few more loud thuds and a crowd gathering with their phone cameras pointed up, I realized what was going on. A staff member had climbed to the top of a coconut tree and was kicking coconuts down to the ground. It was an impressive sight, especially considering how tall and smooth the tree was, and how effortlessly he did it. All us visitors collected a coconut, and went off to a husking station, where a couple of staff members used machetes to cut open the coconuts for drinking, and even cutting some in half to scoop out the meat. Delicious. It doesn’t get much fresher than that!

Climbing the coconut tree.

The coconut husking station.