Fiji's Yasawa Islands lie on the west coast of the main island Viti Levu and stretch north for approximately 80 kilometres. When you picture a tropical island, it's usually the flat, sand spit variety with a couple of palm trees, just right for hanging your hammock. As you travel by boat to reach the Yasawas, past the Mamanuca range, you'll discover that these islands do indeed exist. You'll also wonder how the weight of the large chain resorts that now inhabit them don't sink the tiny isles back into sea. Leaving these behind, the islands further north are of the rugged, hilly, craggy variety (not unlike off the coast of Greece or Croatia) where the rocky outcrops and mass of green vegetation seem impenetrable until it's time to disembark and tiny Fijian bures (traditional straw-roofed huts) can be seen dotted in the hillside, above the whitest, finest, squeakiest sand I've ever heard or seen. Then, of course, there is the colour of the water...

If you want a luxury holiday then the Yasawas are not the place to go - unless you can afford the exclusive Yasawa Island Resort (prices start from US$2,200 per night, I believe). These are remote islands with basic facilities and often without electricity or hot water for parts of the day, though even budget accommodation can be expensive. On Tavewa and Nanuna Lai Lai communication is by walkie talkie or a very unreliable phone. There are no bars as such and no choice of restaurants, no shops or marinas … and that's exactly the way I liked it. Activities to choose from include relaxing, reading, swinging in the hammock, Frisbee playing, more relaxing and snorkelling. That's the wonderful thing about these islands - the feeling of being somewhere out there in the South Pacific.

It's possible to get around the islands by water taxi or the Yasawa Flyer (it takes four hours to reach the second, most northern island, Tavewa, from Nadi) but if you say "bula" (hello) to anyone they will give you a lift in their boat (although you can also be left stranded). We took the staff boat back to Tavewa from Nanuna Lai Lai after the evening shift ended at 10pm. It was the most extraordinarily beautiful and frightening 20 minutes of my life as the cook steered the tiny boat through the complex coral reef by the light of his torch, occasionally accelerating to test the nerve of his unexpected guests.

Another highlight was a day trip to Manta Ray island where, after half an hour of staring across the narrow strait between two islands, our skipper started leaping, pointing and shouting with the enthusiasm of someone who, say, had just seen a velociraptor. He had in fact been spotting rays for 15 years and his clearly emotional reaction was moving and infectious. When we jumped in to see the creatures it was like discovering giant spaceships underwater. The manta rays glided underneath our flippered feet with wings the size of humans and a sting more terrifying than the nighttime boat trip.

Snorkelling on both Waya and Nanuna Lai Lai, where the Blue Lagoon was filmed, is fantastic but Fiji's eastern coast is apparently better for diving. There is a shortage of mid-range accommodation in the Yasawas, but if you are thinking of splashing out and joining the jet-set on Yasawa Island, then just remember, it rains just as hard there as it does on the budget island next to it. My one regret was not flying back to the mainland on the sea plane, which takes in the whole archipelago in just 30 minutes.