Beachside Paradise at Pure Shores Resort

Savusavu sits on the southern coast of Vanua Levu — Fiji’s second major island, the one that most visitors from the outside world have not discovered — as a harbour town with a character built from the combination of its natural setting and its international community of yachties, expats, and travellers who came for a season and stayed for a decade. The bay is deep and sheltered; the surrounding hills are covered in the coconut, cacao, and tropical forest that gives Vanua Levu its agricultural reputation; and the drives out of town in any direction pass through the kind of Fijian countryside that the Viti Levu tourist corridor obscures. Sekawa, east of Savusavu along the coast road, is one of those drives: thirty minutes from the town centre, over a ridgeline with a lookout point that puts the full sweep of Savusavu Bay into perspective, and then down to a coastal estate where the Nasekawa River meets the sea and a stretch of soft, virtually private beach extends through palm and tropical garden. This is where Aly and Rob have built Pure Shores Resort — two bures and a saltwater pool in a setting that guests who have travelled widely and stayed in many places describe as the best they’ve encountered. Not the most luxurious in the world by the metrics of spa suites and infinity pools, but the most complete: the right combination of setting, quality, privacy, and the specific character of hosts who take genuine pride in what they’ve created and genuine pleasure in the guests who appreciate it.

Pure Shores Resort is an adults-only boutique accommodation at Lot 16 Sekawa Beach Estate, Savusavu, Vanua Levu — approximately twenty minutes from Savusavu Airport and thirty minutes from Savusavu township. Two fully self-contained bures — the Lilypond Bure and the Vonu Villa — are positioned in extraordinary tropical gardens around a private saltwater pool. Each bure is independently themed, with luxury linens, queen-size bed, top-quality appliances and furnishings, full kitchen (oven, stovetop, microwave, dishwasher, kitchenware, fridge), 55” TV, walk-in shower, washing machine, air purifier, and private outdoor space. A welcome hamper is provided on arrival. Free airport transportation. Host Aly and co-owner Rob live a short distance from the bures, available and attentive without intruding on guest privacy. Activities include kayaking along Sekawa Beach and around the mangrove island, beach walks to the mouth of the Nasekawa River, Kokomana Chocolate Farm tours, river floating, snorkelling, and the social life of Savusavu — Sunday nights at the Plantation Club, dancing at the Copra Shed yacht club. Gadget, Aly’s Australian terrier, is a reliable and charming presence.

Both bures can be booked together, making Pure Shores a particularly well-suited option for small groups of friends or two couples travelling together who want the same property to themselves without sharing with strangers — the entire resort for your party in the specific sense that the property’s layout and its two-bure scale enable.

The Bures

The Lilypond Bure and the Vonu Villa are the two accommodation options at Pure Shores — each self-contained, each independently themed despite sharing the same floor plan, and each demonstrating the design talent and investment in quality that guests consistently describe as a defining feature of the property. The attention to detail is a recurring phrase in accounts from guests who have stayed in a great number of places, and who use it specifically because what they found at Pure Shores exceeded their expectation of what a boutique Savusavu accommodation would provide.

The bure interiors are finished with luxurious bed linen on queen-size beds, top-quality ceiling fans that guests describe with specific admiration — the kind of large, slow-moving statement ceiling fans that cool the room effortlessly while contributing to the visual character of the space. The décor, fixtures, and fittings are well-chosen and cohesive, producing an interior that has its own personality rather than the generic resort aesthetic.

The kitchen in each bure is fully equipped for independent meal preparation: oven, stovetop, microwave, dishwasher, fridge, and the full complement of kitchenware, crockery, and utensils for a serious cook. The welcome hamper that Aly provides on arrival stocks the first round of essentials and introduces the property’s character from the first hour. A washing machine removes the practical inconvenience of a longer stay. The 55” television and on-demand movie service provide entertainment for evenings when the deck, the pool, and the garden have been fully absorbed.

Private decks extend each bure into the garden. The orange dove — an endemic Fijian bird that guests describe as a daily presence on the private deck, arriving with the same reliability as Gadget and with the visual impact of a bird whose orange and yellow colouring against the green garden background is startling every time — is among the most frequently mentioned features of the Pure Shores morning.

The Lilypond Bure takes its name from the lily pond at the garden’s edge — the flowering pink lilies and the water feature that give this particular bure its specific landscape setting within the broader tropical garden.

The Private Saltwater Pool

The saltwater pool is the centrepiece of the property’s outdoor social space — a tastefully tiled private pool positioned between the two bures and designed for maximum use across the day’s temperature range. The salt water system maintains water purity without the harsh chemical environment of chlorinated pool water, and the pool’s thermal management keeps the water at a comfortable temperature through the cooler Savusavu winter months.

The pool pavilion and surrounding deck provide the sun loungers, umbrellas, and outdoor furniture for a full day’s poolside immersion. The scale of the deck means it functions as a solo sunbathing space when only one party is present, and as a social hub when both bures are occupied and the two parties choose to share the space. On a Savusavu afternoon, when the surrounding garden is producing its best light and the orange dove is doing its rounds and Gadget is somewhere in the vicinity, the pool area is the specific place that Pure Shores guests return to as their primary memory of the property.

An egg chair and hammock positioned within the garden provide additional outdoor living options for the quieter hours.

The Garden and Wildlife

The gardens at Pure Shores represent a labour of love executed over years — the maturity of the tropical planting, the variety of the species, and the dense, layered character of the vegetation that creates the “secret garden” quality that guests describe as one of the defining experiences of arriving at the property.

The wildlife that the garden supports makes it an active, inhabited environment rather than a static landscape. The orange dove — endemic to Vanua Levu and Taveuni, and one of the world’s most distinctively coloured birds — is present daily. Kingfishers occupy the taller trees. Kula parrots (Fijian lorikeets) cross the pool area. The variety and accessibility of the birdlife means that mornings at Pure Shores have a natural programme that operates regardless of what else guests have planned.

The garden planting includes coconut palms, heliconia species, hibiscus, and the broad-leafed tropical plants of the Vanua Levu coastal environment — a composition that surrounds the bures in lush privacy and creates the sense of being embedded in the natural environment rather than positioned in it.

Sekawa Beach

The beach at Sekawa is a short, easy walk from the bures through the garden and onto the sand — close enough to be a casual destination for a morning swim or an afternoon stroll, far enough that the resort maintains its garden-immersed rather than beachfront character. The soft, fine sand of Sekawa Beach and the clear ocean water of this section of the Vanua Levu coast produces a beach that guests describe as virtually private — the seclusion of the Sekawa estate and its distance from the main tourist areas of Savusavu means that beach walks along this stretch, even in peak season, typically involve having the sand largely to yourself.

The beach walks extend along the shore to the mouth of the Nasekawa River — a natural boundary that gives the walk its endpoint and provides the context of the surrounding landscape, the river mouth and the palms and the Vanua Levu hillside above. Kayaking along Sekawa Beach and around the mangrove island offshore extends the water-based exploration to include the mangrove ecosystem that the Sekawa estuary supports — a different marine environment from the open reef, and one that rewards the paddle time.

Activities and Day Trips

Aly brings to Pure Shores what every good small-property host brings: detailed local knowledge, genuine enthusiasm for the area’s best features, and the organisational capacity to turn that knowledge into specific recommendations and arrangements. The guest compendium at Pure Shores documents the range of what the surrounding area offers, and Aly’s personal involvement makes accessing it practical rather than aspirational.

River floating — Aly organises river float trips down the Nasekawa River — a serenity-inducing drift through the highland scenery of the surrounding river valley, emerging at a point where guests may find locals swimming in the river mouth. This is one of the most distinctive and surprising activities available from the Savusavu area, and it is not something that standard resort tour programmes reliably provide.

Kokomana Chocolate Farm — Savusavu’s Kokomana Chocolate Farm uses locally grown cacao to produce chocolate in a facility accessible for tours. The tour explains the process from bean to bar and provides the specific agricultural and culinary context of Vanua Levu’s cacao economy — a product whose quality is recognised internationally and whose farm environment is one of the most pleasant in Fiji to spend a morning in.

Hot mineral springs — The natural geothermal activity that makes Savusavu one of Fiji’s few hot spring locations provides accessible mineral pools within range of the property.

Savusavu town social life — Sunday nights at the Plantation Club bring together the local community, the yacht community, and visitors in the kind of mixed, relaxed social gathering that a port town with Savusavu’s character naturally produces. The Copra Shed Marina hosts dancing and the social life that the yachting community creates around any well-positioned Pacific anchorage. Aly’s knowledge of the town’s social calendar means that guests who want to engage with the Savusavu community have the introduction and timing that makes the difference between watching from the outside and being part of it.

Snorkelling — The reefs accessible from Sekawa Beach and along the Savusavu Bay coastline support healthy coral and diverse marine life. Pure Shores’ position on the Sekawa Estate means guests can access snorkelling from the beach without resort pricing or tour coordination.

Getting to Pure Shores Resort

Savusavu Airport is approximately twenty minutes from the property — close enough to be practical for airport transfers without the property feeling proximate to an airport. Aly provides free airport transportation for arriving and departing guests. Domestic flights to Savusavu operate from Nadi and Suva via Fiji Link and are the most practical arrival mode for most international visitors.

The Savusavu township and its supermarkets, markets, and bottle shops (Sea Lovers is the recommended spirits and wine source) are thirty minutes from the property — a practical and enjoyable drive that gives guests access to everything they need for self-catering. A hire car from Savusavu for the duration of the stay makes the surrounding area, including the chocolate farm, the hot springs, and the river float access points, straightforwardly accessible.

Final Thoughts

Pure Shores Resort is a property that earns its five-star record not by the metrics of large resort facilities but by the completeness of what it delivers within its specific model: two extraordinary bures in exceptional gardens, a private saltwater pool, a beach a short walk away, and hosts who have built something that reflects their values and standards in every detail. Guests who have travelled widely and spent time at resorts across multiple price categories describe Pure Shores as the finest small-accommodation experience they have encountered. The combination of Aly’s hospitality — genuine, attentive, and delivered with the ease of someone who genuinely enjoys having guests — and the physical quality of what Rob and she have created is the reason those guests say they will return.

For the couple seeking a private, beautiful, and well-equipped Savusavu base, or the small group of friends who want to book both bures and have the property entirely to themselves, Pure Shores is the answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Pure Shores Resort?

At Lot 16 Sekawa Beach Estate, Savusavu, Vanua Levu — approximately twenty minutes from Savusavu Airport and thirty minutes from Savusavu township. Free airport transportation is provided.

How many bures does Pure Shores have?

Two — the Lilypond Bure and the Vonu Villa. Both can be booked simultaneously by one party for exclusive use of the entire property.

Is it adults-only?

Yes — Pure Shores Resort is an adults-only retreat.

What is included in the bures?

Full kitchen (oven, stovetop, microwave, dishwasher, kitchenware), queen-size bed with luxury linens, walk-in shower, private bathroom, washing machine, 55” TV with on-demand movies, air purifier, private deck, and a welcome hamper on arrival. Pool and beach towels, sun loungers, and outdoor furniture are provided.

Is there a pool?

Yes — a private saltwater pool is positioned centrally between the two bures. The pool is tastefully tiled, temperature-friendly year-round, and surrounded by the property’s garden pavilion with sun loungers and outdoor furniture.

What activities are available?

Kayaking along Sekawa Beach and around the mangrove island, beach walks to the Nasekawa River mouth, river float trips organised by Aly, Kokomana Chocolate Farm tours, snorkelling from the beach, hot mineral springs, and the social life of Savusavu including the Plantation Club and the Copra Shed Marina.

How do I get to Savusavu?

By domestic flight from Nadi or Suva to Savusavu Airport (approximately 45 minutes from Nadi), then twenty minutes by road to the property. Aly provides free airport transfers. Savusavu is also accessible by ferry from Natovi, near Suva, via the Koro Sea.

Who are Aly and Rob?

The owners of Pure Shores Resort — Aly (Alwyn) is the primary host, present and attentive without intruding on guest privacy. Rob co-owns and manages the property with her. Gadget is Aly’s Australian terrier and a daily companion to guests.

By: Sarika Nand