Tavarua Island, Fiji
Cloudbreak is one of the best waves in the Pacific islands, best lefts in the world and all round best waves in the world. It has been listed in all these categories and was once also the most expensive in the world, which thankfully is no longer the case.
The rights to surfing Cloudbreak used to be owned by the resort on Tavarua Island. Other than guest changeover time there was no way to surf Cloudbreak without being connected. All things change and in 2011 the laws that allowed ownership of the ocean and waters around Fiji were overturned. Now the greater surfing world can feast upon Cloudbreak with more than just their eyes.
Cloudbreak is an outer fringing reef, a couple of kilometres from Tavarua Island. It receives the full force of swell generated down in the Southern Ocean and creates an all-powerful, thick, sometimes barrelling lefthander.
The wave is split into three sections, rather like G-land. “The Point” furthest out, has the most swell but is not so critical and allows big carving. At “The Middle” the wave begins to line up and barrel. When it reaches “The Inside” it pitches in a top to bottom barrel and the fast moving hollow giants provide a genuine barrel-fest.
Most of the time the sections do not connect up and some swells produce unpredictable waves with a shifting take-off and close-outs occur. Sometimes a rare clean long interval swell will deliver a magical non-sectioning Cloudbreak.
Cloudbreak is not always gnarly, at head high The Point and The Middle can be enjoyable waves. It holds up to 15ft and is best on a south to southwest swell, with southeast winds. March to October bring these conditions more often.
Boat trips out to Cloudbreak can easily be arranged from Vitu Levi, the main island of Fiji. It is worth taking the time to get to know the super friendly Fijians, but when hiring a boat don’t rely on the captains surf predictions.
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