Savusavu Hotels
|
  | |  |
Resupplying in the rain
Entry 6 of 57 | show all | print this entry |
|
We left Niautoputapu on Sep. 22 enroute to Fiji. Pulled in two days later on Sep. 25th.
Not much wind during our passage so we had to use the motor for about 2/3 of the time. Two days and two nights and only sighted one ship early the morning of the second day which came no closer than 8 miles, until we were in sight of Fiji itself. Amazing to think of the vast stretches of ocean on 2/3 of this planet without a soul or evidence of man in sight. Saw a small squid investigating the boat and some whales spouting from a distance. Had much calmer seas and some clear nights so I did get a chance to see the Southern cross along with Orion which is very prominent in the sky until it appears in the Northern hemisphere in a couple of months.
Pulled into Savu Savu, Fiji in the early morning of the 25th. A well sheltered and very calm bay, with a small town and lush, green hills extending almost to the horizon. We are on the second largest island of Fiji which has the most land mass of any Pacific island nation. The town is not much to look at although we did have some great meals since a large portion of the population is Indian, having been brought here to work by the Brits in the colonial days. But not yet the pristine beach islands I used to think of for Fiji- it is hot, with very little wind in this bay, and has been raining on and off since we arrived. We are heading out tomorrow to hopefully find some of that, and then on to our next destination in about 5 days.
P.S. If you caught the mathematical error on the first line, it wasn't one- we skipped forward in time and did not have a Sep. 23rd since we crossed the International Date Line, then later the 180 deg meridian (they are not the same around the islands). So I am now across the earth from England, probably directly across from somewhere in northwest Africa.
Update 9/28: We were going to leave yesterday, but the evening before realized we had forgot to pay our mooring fees. So we waited a day which was okay since weather was a bit iffy. Then we left this morning, only to do a u-turn 15 miles out (which is an hour and a half at 6 knots). That would have been fine if we were in a port of Fiji that you typically think of when Fiji comes to mind (white beaches, crystal clear water, sunshine) but we are not- it has been overcast all 3 1/2 days we've been here with frequent rain, no beaches in sight, and dirty water at least in this port area. The seas were not as high as the passage to Tonga, but we were heading into the waves and the interval was shorter, moving the boat around a bit violently so Jon (or Susan- I'm not quite sure who the real captain is yet) decided that they didn't want another 5 hours of that and decided to return. I was a bit disappointed since we had broken into a patchy sky with plenty of sun and a nice breeze on our way to a much more picturesque location (at least I assume so), but such is life. So we are unsure of the immediate plans.
I did however rent a mountain bike and take a 2 hour ride along the coast and a bit into the hills. It is very pretty and there are coconuts, banana trees and all kinds of flowers growing everywhere, with nice views of the bay. The growth was not surprising since I had rain pouring down on me in varying degrees of intensity for all but the last 10 minutes, and this is the dry season. But somehow on a bike where you intend to get dirty its not that big a deal. The people are very friendly with almost everyone calling out "Bula!" which is the Fijian hello.
We did get one day where the rain stopped for a little while, and we went on a short hike around the town.
One of the things this town is known for is it's hot springs, and there were some small ones a very short walk up the road, calmly boiling out of the ground around the clock. When the streams reached the bay they would send steam out of all the culverts and sure enough, the water was extremely hot (I just had to test it).
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Fiji or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
3 votes 
