About this holiday
At first glance, the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort could be any luxury hotel, anywhere in the tropics. It looks like a setting for the South Pacific, cue palm trees and waves slapping on the shore and the sticky fruit punch at reception. The differences only become apparent as you settle in, from the natural aircon (high ceilings and sea breezes), to solar panels and biodegradable smellies.
The Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort pioneered sustainability in a holiday resort. It has proven that a five star tropical hotel cannot only avoid damaging the rainforest and coral reef but also repair mistakes of the past. Unlike most of the videos on greentravelguides.tv this programme was filmed by us back in 1999 – and the resort is still going strong and keeping green.
How to help
DO help plant mangroves – or sign up your kids to join the planting squads
DO dive responsibly – avoid touching the coral and disturbing the reef
Read more
The Jean-Michel Cousteau team used the coral reef as a blueprint to design an environmentally-friendly resort. “The reef is a rich, solar powered community that recycles everything. There are some good lessons out there for sustainable living,” says scientist Dr Richard Murphy, one of the brains behind the project.
The name Cousteau needs little introduction to anybody who spent their childhood captivated by the adventures of the Calypso. “There’s no doubt the Cousteau association helps,” he admits. “The name has value because it is honest in telling the good and bad news about what’s happening to our oceans.”
Ironically, the resort caused a rift between father and son. Cousteau Senior argued that tourism should be discouraged in coastal areas whereas Jean-Michel believes communities on the edges of reef and rainforest can not only make a living without harming the environment but also repair damage done by indiscriminate tourism along with logging and mining.
With fins, snorkels and the aqualungs invented by Jean-Michel’s father, visitors follow marine biologists through coral gardens, along submarine tunnels and caves that twinkle with phosphorescence. The landscape underwater is as unique to a country as the scenery above.
You’ll see
- soft corals set Fiji apart – cauliflower corals, fire corals and table tops large enough for a king's banquet. Sea fans wave in the current as the reef drops away beyond 20 metres.
- overhanging rocks jut into nothingness on the outer edges of Grotto reef. Grey reef sharks swim by.
- feathery starfish cling to the reef.
- tail-back queues at the cleaning station where cleaner wrasse pick parasites from the larger fish.
- nudebranches in iridescent jewel colours and boxer crabs who wear sea anemones on either pincer as gloves.
