Monthly Archives: September 2022

Savusavu Tour

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We decided it would be best to see the island with an official Savusavu Island Tour.  Matt, Wayne and I hire a local guide, Alla and a taxi driver to takes us around to some of the key sites of the island of Vanua Liti.

Our first stop is the natural hot springs where many residents of Savusavu prepare their meals.  You can cook an egg in less than 2 minutes, boil soup, cook chicken and oh so much more.  They keep large plastic tarps near the edge of the hot springs so you can heat or steam your food.

Pearl Production

Our next stop was the J Hunter Pearls of Fiji.  We did not take an official tour, but we did peak around the facility where they clean the oyster shells, graft, and do some carving. Nothing on the same scale as French Polynesia.

It was super interesting to see the different colors in Fiji.  They tend to produce white, off white, yellow, gold, and pink colors vs the dark colored pearls of French Poly.

In my opinion, the pearls were ridiculously expensive and a far lower quality than what I am used to seeing.

Copra Plantation

Originally, I was not too excited to see a copra plantation as we had seen so many in French Polynesia.  But what this really turned out to be was a coconut oil plant.  They make a variety of coconut oil including extra virgin, cooking, and beauty oil.

First, they manually husk the coconuts and separate them into batches. Talk about hard labor!  Then they dry them using large wood burning ovens.  The Polynesians just laid them out in the sun for weeks to dry them!

Once they are dried, they separate them yet again and prepare them for squishing.  Yes, I climbed on the top!

We visited the oil making divisions and boy was the floor slippery 🙂

Urata Overlook

We pass by a small village that has the most beautiful view!

Vuadomo Village and Waterfall

Today we will see two waterfalls.  The first one is at the Vuadomo village.  We must pay homage to the chief but he is out for the day.  So, we visit his wife who works at a small artisan market.

The waterfall is not super tall, but it is wide.  We happen to visit when two other vans pull up which sort of stinks. 

But we were the only ones who actually got in the fresh, cold water so we had the pools and falls to ourselves. 

Nagawaga Falls

Our next visit was the Nagawaga Waterfall.  We pay a quick trip to the chief of the lands and head to the path.  It is a nice 30-minute hike through the forest to get to the secluded waterfall.  This one is a lot taller and super private.  We were the only ones here and I can see why. Parts of the rock side were precariously hanging on to the side of the mountain. 

Savusavu has lots of beautiful flowers growing around this area.

And there was a gorgeous view of the valley and river below.  Savusavu is very green as they get lots of rain.

On the way back we stopped at the Grace Kitchen Farms to pick up some fresh produce.  All in all, it was a fabulous day.

Here is a fun link with descriptions of some of our adventures. 

Events from this blog occurred in early July.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual events.  Did you read about our River Tube and Mud Bath adventure in our last blog?

Adventure River Tubing and Mud Baths

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We take an adventure on the first day that Wayne arrives in Fiji.  Sure, he just flew for 24 hours, but why not?  We join some old friends Mani & Thomas (Scooter), Andreas (Pico) and new friends Olivia (Juniper), Holly (Gecko), Natasha (chef at Surf and Turf), and tour operators Sharon Wild and Sami.

We pile into a large 5-ton truck with benches and tarps over the cage siding.  Really loud and bumpy ride, but fun none the less.  The tubes followed in a separate truck.

The tarp was down so we could only see the view from the back.  What we could see was super lovely.

And it just kept getting better as we went up the mountain side.

We all grab our tubes and make our way to the Nagawaga River’s edge.  We were unsure as to whether or not we would be able to tube because it had been raining all day.  Sharon, our guide, said that we may have to abort due to rapids and debris.  But, lucky for us the river was perfect!  The river was super lazy and slow with very minor rapids in a few places.

Nagawaga Fresh water

It is a fresh water river that runs through the forest.  It is a wee bit chilly!

We had a great time goofing around.

At one point, we started a long train down the river (even across a few rapids and a corner in the river).

Everything was so lush and green!  We even saw a cow enjoying his lunch by the river.

We end with lunch on the river’s edge.

Several of us wore wet suits in preparation of the cold water.  I was super comfortable with what I wore even though I look like the Michelin Man in black.  Matt and Wayne only wore t-shirts and shorts – not sure how they did it!

Hot Springs and Mud Bath

Sharon, our guide, took us to a super cool hot spring / mud bath.  We all gingerly climbed in as it was pretty warm (jacuzzi warm).  As you moved around the muddy pool (which had clear water even though it looks brown), you find little pockets or holes where the heat rises from.  It gives you toasty toes.

The ladies give each other a super mud facial to cleanse our skin.

What a spectacular day we had tubing down the fresh water river through the forest.  The hot springs and mud bath were the toping on the day!

Events from this blog occurred in early July.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events. We sail from Southern Lao to Savusavu in our last blog post. 

Sail: Fulanga-Taveuni-Savusavu

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Sugar Shack is in Fulanga which is in the southern Lao group.  Super fun place to be, but Wayne is coming to Fiji soon so we have to sail back North.  We head toward Komo, but quickly realize we have a great wind angle to go all the way to Taveuni.  There is a beautiful place called Paradise Taveuni Resort that we can stop at for a quick dinner before heading back out to sail toward Savusavu.

Trip Details

  • Total miles: 160nm
  • Passage time total: 22:35
  • Max Speed: 13.2
  • Average speed 6.9
  • Sea was huge and uncomfortable at 3-4 meters
  • Very sporty ride.

The resort is very cruiser friendly.  They provide (7) moorings for free for cruisers to stay with the hopes that we will patronize their resort. 

WE did not get to enjoy their pool or other services, but hopefully next time.

We arrived in time to have a late lunch with our friends on Sea Jay (they arrived shortly after us).  We

Sail: Taveuni (Paradise) to Savusavu

It was a really short visit, less than 12 hours, but we had to leave.  So, we pull off the mooring shortly after sunrise.

Trip Details

  • Total miles: 45nm
  • Passage time total: 6 hours
  • Max Speed: 13.7
  • Average speed 6.9
  • Sea was huge and uncomfortable at 3-4 meters (still)

We spend all of Friday and Saturday running around doing errands.  Not to bore you, but we hit (3) different grocery stores, (2) butchers, the bakery, liquor store, fresh market (produce and kava), fuel (gasoline), post office (buy toys for kids), Jack’s of Fiji (gift for Wayne’s bday), Digicel, and Vodafone.

Of course, I wanted to do my quarterly chores before Wayne arrived so I spent half the day cleaning all the stainless steel, oiling the exterior teak, cleaning the bathrooms and setting up Wayne’s room.

I’m exhausted before he gets here, but we are ready to entertain him for 3 weeks.  But we are ready…

We are invited to a lovo celebration in our last blog.  Events from this blog occurred in early July.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events.