Savusavu - our first taste of Fijian hospitality
Wednesday 7 September – we sailed into Savusavu at 12.30pm and found a mooring in Nakama Creek. Savusavu is on the island of Vanua Levu and is an area of old plantations, a whaling station from years back and Fiji’s newest Port of Entry.
We radioed in to announce our arrival and waited, firstly for the Health official to visit us, and complete a book of forms, along with the usual invoice (to be paid at the hospital!). Prior to arriving we were expecting to have to book and complete a RATS test, but were pleased to find out that three days previously, this requirement had now been cancelled.
Once the Health lady had been picked up from the boat, we waited another hour for 3 officials from Immigration/biosecurity to arrive and do the usual form-filling, passport stamping, a cursory glance in the fridge and the kitchen cupboards and more invoices to be paid at customs and immigration, and instructions for Bryan, upon his imminent departure, to get struck of the crew list.
All done, we headed into the Copra Shed Marina, it is Savusavu’s oldest and most historic building. Beautifully restored, it is surrounded by a well maintained garden with plenty of shade under the trees, a restaurant, a café, a bar, a travel agent (very handy for Bryan as he had to book himself a flight from Savusavu to Nandi for the following day), and it is also the home of the Savusavu Yacht Club. Pina Coladas were the order of the day and we relaxed on the deck outside the bar around 4.30pm and had an early, very tasty dinner in the restaurant before heading back to the boat for a lovely peaceful sleep with no watches to worry about!
Thursday 8 September – we were up early this morning, washing all organised in the bags and a shopping list for me. Over to the marina, we offloaded the laundry and the three of us enjoyed a nice breakfast in the sunshine. Whilst Bryan went into the Travel Agent’s to book his flight, Geoff took a taxi, first to the hospital to pay one invoice, then to the gas station to organise diesel for the boat, and then on to Immigration to sort out the payment of invoices there. I went to my usual port of call (excuse the pun!), the supermarket. It was a pretty good one too, so I stocked up, and also found a bakery of sorts, not really a shop, just a counter in a little wooden building behind the bus station that had a whole wall of ovens with the most delicious wholemeal loaves being baked.
When I got back it was just about time to move the boat from the mooring down to a little dock where the guys were coming to deliver and pump in all the diesel. Quite a primitive set up, they had a ute with two huge barrels in the back and a basic hose with electric pump which they stretched out and handed over to us to put in the tanks. Two barrels emptied, off they went to get the next two barrels! In the middle of this, we farewelled Bryan who had managed to get a flight to connect with his Auckland flight at 9pm that night. Off he went with his holdall and back pack to find a taxi – we certainly had a lot of fun and laughs with him on board.
Diesel-ed up, Geoff and I headed back to the peaceful mooring and sat on the boat watching the sunset with a G&T. Because we had had such a lovely dinner in the Yacht Club the night before, we decided to return for another one, you didn’t have to ask me twice after 10 nights in the galley!!!! And once again, it was top quality in a lovely setting.
Friday 9 September – we allowed ourselves a little lie in today before we went to collect the laundry, and some more last minute supplies, Geoff sorting out boat stuff with a mechanic and me shopping, especially some more of that home-baked bread, with some extras loaves for the freezer (it was like carrying a big hot water bottle in my shopping bag they were so fresh!). I went back to the market again – it’s a great fruit and vegetable market and is open 6 days a week, it also sells plenty of kava root too.
Then it was back to the boat and off for a 5 mile sail to check out Jean-Michel (son of Jacques) Cousteau’s resort which is located on Lesiaceva point. We weren’t sure if they would let us in as some of the resorts aren’t happy about yachties turning up, but we thought we’d give it a go as we had nothing to lose, so we got dressed up in the hope that we could get a nice dinner there too. I was also hoping I could find some wifi as I have purchased 8 books for my kindle and am desperate to download them. No problem it seemed, we tied up the dinghy at the end of a very long wharf (with a table set for a romantic dinner at the end) and as we got out, a very nice guest walked along and took some photos of us. In we went, trying to look nonchalant and ordered ourselves a couple of cocktails, Geoff asked one of the bar tenders if it was possible for us to make a reservation for dinner and was told that they would ask the management and let us know.
Meanwhile, we sat with the swimming pool behind us, facing the lovely beach and listening to the drums and watching the meke ceremony with the torches being being lit. Keen to ensure I got lots of lovely photos for my blog I stood up and with my usual clumsiness didn’t realise there was only a part-wall on the beautiful flowers in front of us and fell arse-first into them, just as the lady was coming over to confirm that we would be allowed in for dinner!
Geoff hauled me up and I made sure I stood very still, the last thing I wanted was for her to think I was drunk otherwise we would probably have been told to buzz off! Oh well, at least the flowers were purple even if I have rather rearranged them in their beds! Prior to dinner Geoff and I partook of a kava ceremony and we had a very lovely evening with me managing not to disgrace myself any further. (Frustratingly though, you could only get the wifi password as a guest, no matter how hard we tried, so I will have to start reading slower).
Saturday 10 September – we were off early this morning. Sailing over to Levuka on the island of Ovalau on Viti Levu – it’s an all-day sail and we should arrive around 5.30pm.