Savusavu and Surrounds

How nice to be in a marina after 15 days at sea!  The best part is the fact that the boat is completely still and silent and we don’t have to get up at regular intervals to do watches.  Then there are showers, what bliss.  Our first few days in Savusavu were spent relaxing, cleaning and exploring the town and preparing the boat for cruising further afield.

All tied up at the Copra Shed Marina

Copra Shed Marina

There is no refuelling pontoon at Savusavu and so diesel needs to be bought from a local garage and transported to the boat in 20 litre jerry cans. We teamed up with Pied de Lune and Blithe Spirit and between us we must have moved about 600 litres of fuel. Fortunately there is a garage just opposite one of the pontoons and so we were able to take Stuart’s dinghy to the pontoon and then it wasn’t too far to carry the cans.  We visited the local market to check up on the produce – it looks like we are going to be eating a lot of aubergine!  We also bought some odds and ends to give to the villagers on the more remote islands.  Kava is a requirement so we bought a few bushels of that, and also some basic supplies, notebooks, crayons, toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap to give to the women and children. 

The main (only street) in Savusavu

Joint birthday celebrations

The other nice thing about being here is the ability to eat out.  First night was pizza – and red wine!  The café here does enormous pizzas, we had so much that we ended up having it for breakfast the next day as well.  The second night here was Pat’s birthday so, after sundowners on Pied de Lune, we went to the local Chinese restaurant, which was very nice.  Then, on Sunday nights, the marina has a BBQ with a local band playing so we went along to that.  Great music and delicious food.  Tonight we may try out the restaurant at the yacht club before we head off and revert to Debi’s cooking once again.

We have been trying to get our laundry done at the marina but there is one poor woman who has been inundated with washing and one of her machines is away for repair. So it has been 5 days of chasing her up. Thankfully, with Debi checking up on her every day, it has finally been done.  Most of the stuff can be put away as it’s what we used in New Zealand and much too hot for here but we are both glad to get some clean underwear again, it was a close call.

The Shoreline at Savusavu

Yesterday we took a local bus across to Labasa, which is the main town on the island. There isn’t much there to see, but the bus trip around the bay and then across the mountain is spectacular. There is plenty of tropical rainforest on the south side of the island and then this gives way to pine forestry as you go over the mountain. On the northern side the area is cultivated with the main crop being sugar cane. We got to Labasa at about 1130 and discovered that the only two buses back were at 1230 and 1600. Not wanting to hang around until 1600 we had a quick walk around and then hopped back on the bus for the two hour return trip. Not the most comfortable of buses and both drivers seemed to be under the impression that they were driving a rally car and not a bus but it was good to see a bit of the island.  We also had a chat with a fellow passenger, a local who informed us that he is a production assistant for Australian ‘Survivor” which is apparently currently being filmed here.  Don’t envy them with dealing with heat and mosquitoes!

The bus to Labasa

A village in the mountains

Another stop to pick up passengers

Catering for the bus trip

The market at Labasa

Today we finally received our cruising permit, which allows us to leave here and cruise around the Fijian islands. Our plan is to depart the marina tomorrow and head back towards the exit to this bay. We plan to anchor off a resort tomorrow, which is owned by Jean Michel Cousteau, the snorkelling should be good and we have been told that cruisers are welcome to have dinner and drinks there.  We won’t be staying at $1000 per night though! Weather permitting we will then head off to Taveuni, an island to the south east on Friday.