Restaurants, Tavarua Surf Guide

Restaurants, Tavarua Surf Guide

If large Cloudbreak isn't your cup of tea, then you'll be pleased to known that Tavarua offers the best Plan B in surf travel: Restaurants. Just a relatively short, dry-hair paddle from Tavarua itself, this reefbreak got its name because you can scarf pancakes at the island's eatery while you watch your buddies get tubed out of their minds.

Depending on the angle and period of the swell, Restaurant's will usually be about half the size of Cloudbreak, but what it loses in proportion, it makes up for in quality: long, sectionless lefts wrap around the reef that surrounds the western side of Tavarua and push off at such an ideal speed and uniformity that it produces one of the most flattering rides on the planet.

But before you go trying an alley-oop after your 20th five-second tube in a row, remember that Restaurant's does have another potentially negative feature: the reef. What can only be described as a briar patch of sharp coral trees awaits the unsuspecting surfer who gets a little too bold or hasn't properly consulted a tide chart (low tide can be bad news if the swell isn't strong enough). More than one famous surfer has been helplessly stuck just inside the impact zone with his leash wrapped around coral heads as wave after wave pounds him to submission.