Tag Archives: nawi marina

The Beauty of Savusavu

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Savusavu is a delightful place with grocery stores, fresh produce, bakeries, restaurants, chandleries, mechanics, and some tourism.  It’s small enough to be quaint and big enough to meet our needs after being off the grid for so long.

There are 4 marinas in Savusavu.  Two of the “marinas” are very small and only offer a few mooring balls:  Waitui Marina and Savusavu Marina.

Copra Shed Marina has moorings and a few slips at their dock.  They have 2 restaurants, a gift shop, chandlery, activity center, Fiji Airways office, and a Money exchange.

Nawi Marina is the new, big marina that is still in the process of expanding.  They have lots of marina slips and a haul out facility.  Soon, they will have mooring balls.  They have a beautiful pool, 2 restaurants, chandlery, small market, coffee shop, small beauty spa and more.

We stay on a Copra Shed mooring (see green arrow).  We have a nice breeze, very little traffic and a pretty view.

The marinas are all vastly different but there is something for everyone.

Nawi is still trying to figure things out.  They’ve unfortunately tripled their rates so it is not a place we stay.  But, we do love to visit and enjoy their pool, bar and restaurants.

There is a lovely produce market that is open daily.  You can find eggs, potatoes, onions, papayas, bananas, bell peppers hot peppers, cabbage, avocados, passion fruit and oh so much more!

A Month Long Stay

Normally, we would not have stayed for a month.  However, I had to fly back to the states to pick up our boat parts and Matt had to do the repairs.

At least we were “stuck” in a beautiful town with provisions, restaurants, and lots of other cruisers to hang out with!

We had lots of beautiful rainbows.

And more rainbows:

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.

We arrived Savusavu in early May and stayed for several weeks repairing the boat.  Be sure to check out our arrival to Savusavu here.

A Party for a Posse

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The Pacific Posse is a non-rally rally.  It is a group of sailors that are crossing the Pacific that share communications, discounts, and navigation assistance.  Our friend Chris has been associated with it from the beginning and was the representative for the Pacific Posse party at Nawi Marina.

The Pacific Posse was hosting a rather large party for all cruisers, whether you were a member of their organization or not.  They offered free rum and a pig roast.  As you can imagine it drew in a large crowd. The party was held at the new Nawi Marina to help bring awareness to the marina.

The organizations owner, Dietmar was out of the country so Chris organized things locally.  But his boat was in Musket Cove so he decided to fly over to Savusavu and stay on Sugar Shack for a few days.

A Posse of Partiers

It was a wonderful gathering of old and new friends!  Anna and Paulo (top left) met us in French Polynesia and then we saw them in New Zealand.  Chris and I in the top right, Allen and I (middle), Milli and I (bottom right), the Marina and Chris (the hosts).

The Party Begins

Lots of cruisers arrived before the start time….they know the rum won’t last.  The marina went all out and closed both the bar and restaurant for the party goers.  They offered a full Fijian Traditional lovo for a small fee of $35 Fijian ($16USD) which included fish, chicken, tons of sides, and a variety of salads).

The marina brought in a large group of men to make and host the traditional kava ceremony.  I am totally not dressed appropriately for a kava ceremony!  My shoulders and knees are exposed and shouldn’t be — but this is my party dress!

The marina really out did themselves with so many extras to make sure all of the posse members (and non members) had a good time.  And let me tell you – a good time was had by all!  And we got to enjoy a gorgeous sunset.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occured late August.  In our last blog post Matt tries foiling – it is super amusing if you missed it.

Nawi Marina

Savusavu and the New Nawi Marina

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We arrive into Savusavu after 60 hours at sea.  Our passage from Tonga was a pretty quick one despite having one rudder and reduced sails for the entire 413nm.  It is good to be back in Fiji!

Pio met us at the mooring ball in his panga to assist with the hook up.  I love that they do this for the cruisers-excellent customer service.  We then wait a few hours for the officials to come onboard and welcome us into the country.

The health official comes first and is on and off the boat within 20 minutes.  We completed a few forms, answered some questions, then allowed her to take photos of a few things.  First, she wanted to take photos of our toilets.  Weird, but ok. Then she took photos of our can goods, pantry, and snack area.  

An hour later, customs, immigration, and biosecurity board us.  This is always fun as they each ask us questions at the same time and you never know who to answer first.  they are all incredibly friendly and easy going.  They let us keep our “prohibited items” such as our meats (chicken, pork, beef), some produce, and dairy.  It was rather surprising and pleasing!

Our mooring is pretty close to the shore which looks dangerous at low tide.  But in reality it is totally fine.

Nawi Marina

I am not sure if you remember, but back in June 2022 we came to Savusavu.  During this visit, we explored the new Nawi Marina.  Well, it was a work in progress.  They had signs up saying that they were going to open for this cruising season and we just could not imagine it happening.  Well, they proved us wrong!

When we first visited they only had a few docks installed and lots and lots of poles. Now they have boats in the docks!

They are still working on the east side of the marina.  They need to install power, water, and cleats, but it is coming along nicely.

The two-story building has the Skipper’s bar on the 2nd floor and a really nice restaurant on the bottom floor. The bottom photo shows the building where there is a small grocery store and chanderly.  And they also have laundry facilties and bathrooms.

I know it seems like more should have been done in a year, but this is the islands and we are all shocked this much work has been completed.

There are more amenities coming according to this sign (pool and spa). The lower right photo is the entrance to the laundry and shower facilities.  I love the word “bula” spelled out on the mat in palm fronds.

There were no boats and now there are cruising boats, local boats, and super yachts.

Savusavu

This little town just makes me smile.  Most of the businesses are located on the main street which runs east to west.  It is not a large town and will only take you about 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other.  But it is packed with some good stuff.  Several markets, a pharmacy, 2 butchers, many restaraunts, 2 phone companies, computer store, gift shops

Running into friends we haven’t seen since French Polynesia! Brian and Sue on Sea Rose, Lenny and Dave on Perigee, Alex and Carla on Ari B and Matt and I.

The cover photo is the Nawi Marina and Sugar Shack is on the upper left corner(by the trees) on a mooring ball.  Here is another cool shot from my friend Chris’s phone while in an airplane flying over.

Nawi Marina

Nawi Marina

Our blogs run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog occured mid-August.  We make the passage to Fiji in our last blog.