Tag Archives: savusavu

Foiling: A Young Man’s Sport?

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Foiling, all the kids are doing it!  They sure make it look easy as they let the air pull them up and fly across the water at crazy speeds.  It caught Matt’s interest and so he bought a full foiling package (board, fins, foil, kite, pull rope, jacket, and helmet).  

last seaon he was able to balance on the board and get momentum with the kite as I trailed behind him prepared to rescue him and or bring him back up wind.  But he only got a few practice runs in before he perforated his ear drum and had to stay out of the water.  Then we were in NZ where it was too darn cold to get in the water which brings us to today.

Back in Savusavu with our good friend Chris from “Seaglub.”  He is staying with us for a few days to host a party (more on that coming up in our next blog post).  He has a lot more experience and practice surfing, kiting, and foiling.  So, we all go out to see if Matt and Chris can foil behind the dinghy.

Getting Up

Matt used to be a huge wakeboarder and taught many of our friends how to get up and wakeboard and surf behind his mastercraft boat.  So, he uses his starting stance to get to his knees, then up on one leg, then both legs….balance….balance…balance.

With each try he gets better, he gets up easier, he balances more, and is able to get the board down when all it wants to do is go up.

One time the board just took off and I swear we all thought he was going to touch the sky.  I love his expression when he brings it back down and then his complete sense of accomplishment when he lands it.

Practice Makes perfect

of course there were lots of these….

Foiling plays tricks with your sense of balance and your center of gravity because it has the long foil (mast) underwater.  Matt is used to the board being the bottom, but with foiling, the fin on the bottom of the mast (which is 85cm below the water’s surface) is the bottom.

Which caused some more of these….

But Matt kept getting back on and trying.  His body took a beating but no blood was drawn.  Then Chris got up making it look easy (even though we know he has had much more time practicing).

Conclusion

I am not willing to say that foiling is a young man’s sport as these two handsome guys were out there giving it their all and getting it done.  I am sure with a few more practice runs Matt will be foiling like Chris.

Stay tuned for another update as Matt and Chris ditch the dinghy and foil with the kite!

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occured in mid-August.  In our last blog post we have an amazing snorkel experience at the Chimney’s in Namena.

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.

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?