We have been at the dock in Savusavu, Fiji since the end of November and I have thoughts about it.   It was so nice to pull into the dock, plug in (we have had so many power issues!), have potable water on tap and not have to worry about anchoring, etc.   For a few weeks it was great!   Granted the holding tank pump out was not working when we arrived, so I have to make the very long trek (1/4 mile each way) up to the washrooms several times a day (and always a trip up at 11pm – Owen loves that I drag him up with me on those ones).   The marina we are in, Nawi Island Marina, is situated on a small island just across from Savusavu – there is a ferry that runs back once an hour at least (every ½ hour for a couple hours a day).   It is great – until you finish your shopping, errands, etc. and realize the ferry has just been there and you need to stand around in the sun waiting an hour for the next ferry).  Yes, we could put our dinghy in the water and take it over, but there is quite limited space at the dock for dinghies and the weather is unpredictable at best so we choose to stick to the ferry.

There have been a few growing pains at this marina – the pool was not operational for the first couple of months that we were here, and once they got it going, they were running private events, keeping marina tenants from using the pool.   Even now, the pool is open, but it is somewhat less than clean and inviting – they are still working out the kinks there.   There is a laundry service on the island, but it is insanely expensive (a recent fairly good-sized load of laundry cost us $81 fijian) so I end up doing our laundry by bucket, trying to time it between rain showers so that clothes have a chance to dry.   There are two restaurants here at the marina – one opened with the pool and serves an approximation of Mexican food – it is not terrible but sure not a Mexican taco!   The other has gone through a management change and the food can be hit or miss.  There is supposed to be a little coffee shop and bakery (when it was open we did enjoy a few good rustic baguettes and Turkish loafs) – when we got here they were opened at least part of the day most days – we haven’t seen them in weeks.   There was a small grocery store on island – it closed.  The saving grace is the staff – who are without fail spectacular!  The docks are incredibly well built and the washrooms are spotless.  I have no doubt that once they get all the kinks worked out, the marina will be entirely spectacular – unfortunately it will be priced accordingly – we were very lucky to get some introductory pricing for our extended stay.

Savusavu is the essence of Fiji time – it is a small town (the entire “commercial” section is less than a mile long) with a big heart!   There are several grocery stores – a couple that were built since the start of construction of the marina, clearly geared more to a western buyer – definitely a bit more selection in these stores – but the price reflects that.    There is a fantastic little meat market where we can thankfully get very reasonably priced chicken, ground beef, etc.   The public market is in a temporary space that is crowded and dark and oh so hot – they have been constructing a new market that was to open in December – we are still waiting!    They do have a lot of fresh veggies but not a great selection – everything is of course seasonal – mango season was way too short, I haven’t seen tomatoes in weeks and so far I have never found any herbs (oh to have some fresh basil and rosemary!)  You can always get bananas – $3 fijian will get you a bundle of bananas that you could never get through before they are ready for banana bread.  I always have to look around to find someone who has slightly smaller bundles – it is too hot on board to be making bread!!!   You can also usually get eggplant, long beans, potatoes and spinach.   I have been lucky enough to buy avocados that are bigger than my head and passion fruit (I had no idea what it was but wow is it amazing – sadly now it seems to be out of season).  The grocery stores will occasionally have some imported fruits (apples and pears usually) and better potatoes, onions and garlic than I have found at the market.   I was amazed and delighted to find a container of spring mix lettuce at one of the stores yesterday and I have heard rumors of real mushrooms arriving but have not yet seen them.  There are a fair number of small, local restaurants – most of which have a nearly identical menu – if you are looking for curry or chow mein they have you covered!   You can usually also find a burger or a chicken burger on the menu and a few places have pizza – it is not fantastic but certainly not terrible!   The star in town is a small social club, the Planter’s Club – we go there for dinner with a group of cruisers every Friday evening.   The menu is not much different from everywhere else, but the prices are crazy!   I order a chili chicken type of stir fry for $10 or $11 most weeks and struggle to finish it.   A couple of times the serving has been so extremely large that we have taken the leftovers home and they have fed both of us for lunch the next day.  

The people of Savusavu (and Fiji in general) are the real reason to come to Fiji – you will be greeted with a smiling “Bula!” everywhere you go, and by nearly every person you pass on the street.   The people have the most beautiful big smiles and always make you feel so welcome.   Truly, Fiji is known as the friendly islands and the people live up to that tagline.   We have been blessed to have some lovely conversations with locals visiting Nawi Island or just hanging out near the ferry dock or at the restaurants.  

We had every intention of trying to get out for short sailing trips between weather events, but realized quite quickly after we arrived that our heat exchanger was kaput – after several weeks of trying to fix the existing one, Owen gave up on that and then moved along to trying to source a new one.   We ended up having to order it from a company in New Zealand – that process took some time.   Without a heat exchanger, we cannot fire up the engine and are stuck at the dock.   We finally received the new heat exchanger this week so hope to be able to finally get off the dock in the next week or two (the replacement of the heat exchanger has of course led to some job creep – Owen is working his way through the engine room, ensuring all lines, hose clamps, etc. are in good shape.   Additionally, he replaced the water pump which had also been leaking.  

Our time here has been marked by incredible heat, oh so much rain and tons of humidity.   I have quickly learned that I am not cut out for a tropical lifestyle!   We have made some wonderful friends at the marina – pool time and dinners and domino nights have been abundant!   We have attended a couple of local rugby matches – we are quickly becoming fans of the game!  We attended a cultural day at a local village – which happens to be the home of one of the staff here at the marina.   He had said his brother was going to come and meet us when we arrived – we didn’t meet him initially so asked someone if they could point out where we might find him – turned out we asked Jeremiah’s uncle so he took the whole lot of us (8 gringos trailing behind him) to the family house to meet Jeremiah’s brother.   We all sat on the floor in the living room, chatting about life in general – it was a wonderful and welcoming afternoon.   We have been trying to arrange for a tour around the local part of the island with Jeremiah but have so far been stymied by weather and Jeremiah’s work schedule.   That is still the plan though.   There are also a couple of “touristy” things we want to do here before we head out – a local chocolate plantation, a trip to Labasa, and cooking in the hot springs here in Savusavu.

We are of course here in cyclone season and, technically, we have had 2 cyclones during our time here.   The first was not actually even named a cyclone by Fiji, but NOAA did classify it as a category one.   The reality was that we had about ½ an hour of 30 – 35 knot winds.   The second was a bit more dramatic – if only for the anticipation of it.    The cyclone was forecast for over a week – daily weather showed it creeping closer and building as it came.   The forecasts were pretty in agreement that we would not see the worst of it in Savusavu, but we were definitely going to get the edge of it – we could only hope that it did not do what other cyclones have done in this area, veering abruptly at the last minute and making all forecasting relatively useless!!   We spent that week getting everything tucked away, the headsail down, kayak and dinghy lashed down and finally, at the last possible moment we took down the tarp that keeps some of the rain and sun out of our cockpit.   As the system approached it did form into a cyclone – Rae.   Rae rolled over us during the day – moving slowly but maxing out at about 35 knots again.    We had the wind instruments running and mirrored to our tv below deck so we could keep an eye on it.   The eye of the storm of course made for some eerie calm conditions – a good opportunity to run up to the washrooms!  And then we were hit by the backside – unexpectedly, the back of the cyclone was much more intense than the front – we saw winds into the low 40’s for a fair length of time and then were hit with a few bigger gusts – our highest recorded gust was 53.4 knots.    Even through the highest winds, the protected conditions at the marina meant we had calm water – we were of course heeling in the wind, but no big wave action.   A few of the boats that were anchored or on mooring balls outside of the marina ran into a bit of trouble – a big cat ran up on the beach (and is still there), a ketch dragged but was quickly reanchored (on the other side of the channel) and we spoke to a couple who were anchored at the far end of the channel, as it turned out just slightly too close to the corral – when the big gusts hit, they drug just a small amount but that was far enough to land their rudder on the coral for a couple of minutes- they managed to get themselves pulled forward and didn’t experience any damage but it was a long night for them!  When all was said and done here, there was almost no damage at the marina or in town, a fact we are so thankful for.   Unfortunately, Rae parked itself on top of the Lau group for over a day, gusting up to 80 knots, and a few villages saw some pretty devastating damage – a boat from the marina just recently returned from sailing down to one of the affected villages with some supplies to help them in rebuilding the roofs and buildings that were destroyed, accompanied by another boat that was loaded with food (the village lost all their crops in the flooding). 

We also had one slight medical incident.   We were returning from a night out with friends for dinner – I went to get into the cockpit – somehow in ducking under the tarp, and lifting my feet over the cushion that was turned up to dry, I got my feet tangled somewhere (note to self – always take off your flip flops before getting on board) and in some probably comical pratfall, I quite literally flew forward, stopping only when my forehead crashed into the steel corner at the edge of our companionway – as the rest of me fell I sprained and/or bruised my ankle, banged up my shins and slammed my jaw into the hatch.   It was completely dark but I knew immediately that I was bleeding – a lot.  Owen got onboard, got a light on and immediately told me we were going to the hospital.   I went below and tried to see the cut – honestly there was too much blood to really see it but I was convinced that it could just be butterfly bandaged up and we could go to bed.  Owen was having nothing to do with that so, with a wad of paper towel held to my head, we headed up to the security office – the ferries had stopped for the night but they ran us right over to town, giving us a radio to call for a pick up on our return.   We arrived at the taxi lot to find one taxi left, with people getting into it – Owen shouted out that we had to go to the hospital and, seeing me sort of staggering toward them with a big bloody wad of towel at my head, they immediately got out of the cab and gave it over to us.   The hospital was not what I would call the cleanest place but they had me in, stitched up and given a tetanus shot (ouch!) almost immediately.   The security guards at the hospital called for a return cab for us and we were back on the island within 2 hours.    The bruises took a couple of weeks to heal (I had some impressive bruising on my jaw, a black eye and my legs were just bruises on top of bruises!) and I will have a pretty good scar but it could have been so much worse!  I hit just above my eye – I could have taken my eye out – or cracked my skull open, or knocked out teeth or broken something – I consider having a scar to be a very minor inconvenience where we could have had a major problem!

We recently decided that we needed a break from heat and humidity – our visas were expiring and so, instead of extending them, we opted for a brief trip to New Zealand to reset them.   We only spent 6 days in Auckland but it was a wonderful trip (worthy of its own post) and most importantly, for those 6 days, we didn’t sweat!!  We also had the opportunity to stop off in Nadi on the south island on our way out and in – we didn’t see much of it but did have the opportunity to do a bit of walking around and – Owen would probably say this was quite important – we managed to find a giant container of iced tea mix – pushed our luggage almost to the max weight but Owen is excited!

What is next?   Well hopefully we can actually do some cruising once we get the heat exchanger in – we would love to be able to explore some of the Lau group and even some of the anchorages very near to us that we have heard are incredibly beautiful.   We do have the couple of touristy things to do here as well before we leave the Savusavu area.   And then?   And then we will begin making our way home – we will head north to Tuvalu, possibly the Marshall Islands and then we will head north, hoping to catch the high that traditionally sits in the north pacific.   Hopefully it will slingshot us around, landing us on the north end of Vancouver Island – we have heard of people who have been sent straight to Alaska on this course, but we will of course be making every effort not to end up anywhere in the states.    It is going to be an incredibly long trip – 40, 50, 60 days? – I am already starting to panic a bit about provisioning for such a long trip but we will figure that out.   Thankfully we can find most of what we need for provisioning here and we will definitely make a trip to Labasa before we go – where we know there are some bigger stores with a bigger selection.   The last time we did a big crossing I had Costco and some really sizeable grocery stores to assist me – this time will require a bit more creativity!

We have a fair bit of planning before that trip but are fully intent on getting to enjoy more of Fiji before we leave this beautiful place.