TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

Diana Warner went “island hopping” with her husband Rick last month to

celebrate her birthday.

Leaving their home in Balboa Island, they flew to 500-acre Turtle

Island in Fiji. They rolled up their pants before de-boarding the sea

plane that shuttled them from the main island of Fiji to their smaller,

more remote destination, where they stayed for 10 days. The plane floated

up to a dock and the couple was greeted with coconut drinks almost

immediately.

“It was whatever you want, whenever you want,” said Diana Warner, who

chose Turtle Island as the place to celebrate her birthday because her

brother insisted she needed to visit it at least once in her life. “It’s

kind of like Hawaii 75 years ago and very pristine. You’re very

pampered.”

Turtle Island is scattered with 15 thatched-roof huts and is run by

150 employees. All 500 acres of the place runs as one resort, by one

owner. He transformed the island from barren terrain overrun with goats

to a paradise of sorts.

Each guest is treated like nothing less than royalty.

“You get to go to your own, private, remote beach for the day, you can

have dinner at the end of the docks, you can have dinner on the mountain

top, it was kind of like a fairy tale,” Warner, 46, said.

The couple found it easy to relax because the mood of the place -- its

distance from Newport Beach and lack of high rises and anything

reminiscent of corporate responsibilities -- forced them to let go of

worrying about work and the kids.

“The purpose for me was, we’ve been raising our kids, our oldest is

21, and it was a time to come up for air. An opportunity to reevaluate

our marriage and make memories, because the minute we come back, we’re in

the frying pan,” Warner said.

She and her husband went horseback-riding on the beach, lay in

hammocks and read, went fishing for yellowtail and other deep-sea fish

and had dinner on a mountain top. On some days, they had lobster for

breakfast, lunch and dinner.

They were waited on -- in the bungalows, on the beach, on the

mountain, everywhere and anywhere -- by resort staff members who came

from nearby islands only 10 minutes away by boat.

On a Sunday during their stay, the couple visited a church on one of

these islands. The tribe members there asked them to sing a song, so the

Warners did.

“They were so encouraged that we got up and sang,” Warner said.

Rick Warner, who works in commercial real estate, said his favorite

part of the trip was meeting the people.

“They have a very happy spirit and they really do show genuine love

toward people,” he said. “They really like Americans.”

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.