Island time: A tropical paradise in Fiji with a family touch

The regulars love Turtle Island. Here are five reasons to add it to your bucket list.

Lisa and Tom are visiting for the fifth time. Lili and Carlos are visiting for their third. Alda and Richard have lost count, while Jerry and Roberta, who are leaving tomorrow after 16 days on the island, don't want to leave.

Another Jerry - one of the Fijian staff - tells us he's worked on Turtle Island for 30 years and met his wife here. He introduces us to Sulu, a third-generation Turtle employee, and Bill, who started work the same day as Maika, 17 years ago.

Going around the table on our first night, there's a clear theme emerging. People bloody love this place. Of the 500 guests per year (there are only 14 bures on the entire island and, aside from the June/July and December/January school holidays, it's couples only), about half are return visitors, and words like "home" and "family" are frequently used to describe the connection they feel to the 200-hectare island. The employees cite the same.

Located halfway along Fiji's chain of Yasawa islands, Turtle isn't your average luxury resort. Despite a starting price of $US2450 ($3600) a night for a villa, there are no fancy restaurants, no gym, no pool and no silver service. But people come back again and again, citing the private island as one of their favourite places in the world. So what's all the fuss about?

Have you got an image of a tropical island paradise in your head? Great, because that's Turtle Island, or Nanuya Levu to the locals. It's hard to believe that before American entrepreneur Richard Evanson bought the island in 1972, it was a desolate landmass overrun by goats. Evanson cleared out the hungry lawn mowers and planted thousands of trees, which now form a thick forest of mahogany, bamboo, eucalyptus, hibiscus and coconut trees. (Each couple plants a tree before they leave, too.) The island is then surrounded by a reef, where silver, blue and yellow fish dart in and out of the coral - all easily visible through the clear-up-close, turquoise-at-a-distance water.

The best bit? Every second day you're allocated one of the island's 12 private beaches to enjoy in solitude with a gourmet picnic and bottle of bubbles (or whatever else you please). Then, on alternate nights, you can privately dine out on a lantern-lit pontoon or atop a cliff by the ocean.

To my surprise, the book I packed didn't leave my bag during our seven-night stay. That's not to say you can't while away the days reading in a hammock if you want to, but nearly all activities on the island are included in the nightly rate (as is all food and booze), so you can choose whatever activity to relaxation ratio you fancy.

When you arrive, you'll be appointed a "bure mama" or "papa", who will act as your personal concierge throughout your stay. They can organise a sunrise horse-ride along the beach, a deep-sea fishing expedition, scuba diving trips and a visit to the village across the bay (they can also do your laundry and bring snacks and Moet on demand). Stand-up paddle boards, snorkelling gear, bikes and kayaks are available to use whenever you please.

Many hospitality providers proudly promote paddock-to-plate dining, but Turtle Island is next level. If you see a guest showing off their catch of the day after a morning fishing in the lagoon, chances are it will be served for dinner. The clams we dug up in the shallows of a neighbouring island and the angry crabs we were too scared to touch, but were courageously plucked off the side of the road by long-time staff member Jerry, showed up on our plates the following day, dressed with fresh coconut milk, capsicum, basil and lime - all sourced from the island's garden. Eggs are laid by the island's flock of chickens, and the jolly pigs that squeal and grunt behind the veggie garden ... well, I'll let you connect the dots.

The freshest of ingredients are spun into expertly crafted masterpieces under the supervision of Melbourne-based chef Jacques Reymond.

Turtle's on-island staff are 100 per cent Fijian, and nearly all of them come from the surrounding island villages. This means Fijian culture permeates every aspect of the lodge. Not a day goes by without singing and dancing, and guests are encouraged to connect with the staff and other visitors on a personal level by joining family-style shared lunches on the beach and the nightly kava ceremony, which brings patrons together with both back and front-of-house staff.

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The staff are also happy to share their skills and knowledge when it comes to foraging and sharing information about the island's history. For them, Turtle Island isn't just a place to work, it's their home.

The island culture needs time to seep in (which is why there's a five-night minimum, though, I'd recommend seven if you can afford it), and you need to embrace the lodge's communal element - the nightly cocktail party and barefoot long-table dinners, for example - to draw the most from the experience.

As managing director and son of the island's founder, Richard Evanson Jr, tells me: "We're not so much about creating a seven-star experience in terms of service and facilities; we're more focused on creating a seven-star emotional experience".

And it's that emotional experience that leads many guests to avoid the word "goodbye" as they step onto the seaplane at the end of their stay. Rather, they part with the Fijian phrase sota tale. Translation: "I'll see you soon".

Getting there: Fiji Airways and Virgin Australia fly into Nadi Airport, where you'll be met by the smiling Turtle crew and driven to the Turtle Airways seaplane or ferry for transfer to Turtle Island.

Explore more: turtlefiji.com

The writer was a guest of Turtle Island.