Month: September 2015

September 14, 2015

We made it! Despite a turn in the weather for the windy, we headed back to Sawa-I-Lau Island (Yasawa Islands, Fiji) for the cave tour that Cyndi was not willing to pass up (and I’m so glad she was determined!).

Below, a gallery of photos from our time at the cave; you can click to enlarge and scroll through them.

Here are some of the details…

Click to zoom or pan the Google map above. Click on the markers to see what they are.

Even if you come into the bay in your own boat, there’s still a $20 Fiji per person charge, plus another $20 for the two guides that lead you through caves ($60 Fiji total for the two of us). You also need to do a bit of an abbreviated sevusevu – you present your kava to the guy who greets you on the beach when you land and he does somewhat of a ceremony.

Warning: the caves are not part of the village that’s prominent when you’re anchored in the bay. If you do sevusevu at that village, it’s possible you may still need to present your kava to the guardians of the cave.  (Note from Cyndi:  We’re not sure about this, but our friends might be putting this to the test so we’ll find out what happens.)

There are two areas to the cave structure (or more, but we were shown two). You descend a rusty stairway into the water of the open-topped first pool. We took masks and snorkels but not fins. Fins might have been handy to get into the second area, but they would have also stirred up the bottom and might ruin it for others. The water is salt water and about the same temperature as the bay. It’s very clear and we really enjoyed swiming around the small pool and taking in the sights.

The second cave area is through an underwater passageway. The guide told us we’d have to hold our breath for 2 seconds. He lied. It was more like 15 to 30 depending on where you come up. Watch your head! (I always swim through things like this upside down, facing up, so I can see what my head might otherwise run into.)

If you don’t want to do the underwater swim into the inner cave, don’t worry. You’re not missing anything life-altering. It’s fun, but assess the risk-reward ratio for yourself.

The inner cave is small and dark. The guide has a flashlight and that’s almost the only light in there. There’s a chimney to open air and light at one end. You can look back once you’re in the cave and the light coming in from the swim-through is really pretty. The guides seem to think that the “1 – 2 – 3 yell Bula!” game is pretty fun. The duration of the echo is pretty neat.

We saw no fish in either cave. We’d heard tales of sea lice and both of us had an unexplained little round cut – sea lice? We may never know. We didn’t see them and with what we’d heard, we tried to avoid touching the walls and bottom as much as possible.

All the nearby resorts bring guests to the cave. It can get a bit crowded. We went about an hour before the noon closing time and were mostly going in as the last tour group was coming out. The disadvantage is that the guide was cold and eager to finish for the day. Maybe right at the 9:00 AM opening time – before tour groups arrive would be better. Cruise ships also visit. I wouldn’t want to see that crowd!

All in all, this was a fun thing to do and we felt it was well worth the money. It might be one of those life experiences that seeps through my golden years dementia. I feel sorry for anyone around me that has to hear about it for the ten thousandth time! -Rich

September 12, 2015

The view from our cockpit tonight. (Not bad for a point and shoot camera! – Canon G7X handheld on a moving boat!)

Here’s our neighbor, Bright Angel, here in Malakati Bay, Nacula Island, Yasawas, Fiji…

September 12 & 13, 2015

We made the 5-mile trip to Malakati Bay in 20-plus knot winds. It was a bit of a wet ride in spite of all the land protection we had, but it was worth it.

As we headed into the bay, I could see our friends weren’t exaggerating: this has got to be one of the most beautiful bays in Fiji. The water was a clear bright blue, the white palm-lined beaches postcard-worthy, and the tall hills surrounding this bay providing beauty and good protection. I think most cruisers never come here, and I can’t imagine why. I’d never heard of Malakati before researching our cruise to the Yasawas, and I’m surprised it’s not one of the “destination” bays in Fiji.  (Click to enlarge photos.)

Below is a gallery of photos of the amazingly beautiful beach and clear water at Malakati Bay. Click to enlarge and scroll.

There is a village here, and we needed to do a sevusevu. We went in with our friends and made our kava presentation with the interim chief (the main chief was away) who was very low key, just doing it right where he sat while we stood and watched. The village was lovely, but wanting to avoid getting strong-armed into going to church, we left fairly quickly. Bright Angel stayed behind to look around the village; so church the next day was inevitable for them.

The next afternoon was one of those glorious sunny, clear days and would have been perfect for going back up to the cave, but we assumed it was closed on Sunday. With that, we enjoyed snorkeling (which was excellent), swimming, and beach combing while everyone else was in church.

The next day, we planned to head back up to Sawa-i-Lau to do the cave tour, then head back to our Blue Lagoon Resort anchorage with plans to do some diving. –Cyndi

September 12, 2015

After fleeing the surprise winds at Sawa-i-Lau, we ended up going to an anchorage on the west side of Yasawa Island: Namataya Bay. The anchorage is formed by a long peninsula that reaches out from the southwest tip of the island, its northerly angle creating a huge bay. The area along shore is reef-strewn, but in between the reefs are a few spots where a boat might anchor and get some protection. In today’s winds, it took going all the way to the very innermost corner to get out of them.

We dropped our anchor into pretty blue water with a sand bottom, just far enough away from a finger of reef to be safe, yet close enough we could swim over and snorkel. This area looked familiar, like some of the places we visited in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. The hills were so dry I’d pretty much call this a desert, and it has that same remote Baja feeling. There were a several beaches amid the headlands, but many had coral shelves, making them hard to reach.

We settled in and had some lunch, then planned to go snorkeling at the promising-looking reef nearby. Then the winds picked up more, putting some chop in the water, and the idea lost its appeal. In fact listening to the wind blowing through the rigging in this large desert bay made the place feel so remote that I felt a little uncomfortable. I imagine other people would love it for exactly this remoteness, but it made me uneasy.

We got a call from our friends on Bright Angel saying Malakati Bay (on Nacula Island just south of us) was absolutely beautiful with blinding white beaches, palm trees, bright blue water, and so well protected there was almost no wind. It sounded a lot more appealing than where we were, but the wind was blowing a good 20 knots; so we figured we’d stay put for the night. Then Linda e-mailed us a picture. We both said to each other, “Well, we could leave now . . . ” It didn’t take long before we were pulling up our anchor and heading away.

At the entrance to Namataya Bay we passed a small island (Vawa Island) that was on fire, adding to the strange (and for me almost creepy) feeling of this place. I could see all the way up the long, dry and windswept coastline of Yasawa, and I lost all interest in exploring this island further. With just this anchorage, we had already gone further north in the Yasawas than most cruisers ever go. There didn’t seem to be much reason to go further. –Cyndi

September 11 – 12, 2015

Taking advantage of a light-wind day, we left the Blue Lagoon anchorage off Nanuya Lailai Island and headed north past Nacula Island to Yasawa Island just above it.

Our destination: the southeast end of Yasawa Island and the island just off its tip: Sawa-i-Lau Island, home of the famous Sawa-i-Lau cave.

As we rounded the top of Nacula and headed through the channel between it and Yasawa Island, I was very surprised to see “little” Sawa-i-Lau was actually an impressive mountain jutting up out of the sea. It’s not unusual to be in for a surprise when arriving at an anchorage as we look at charts and satellite photos, not topographical maps. Places can often be surprisingly mountainous or flat, dry or green, beautiful or disappointing.

In this case the scenery was surprisingly beautiful, actually stunning. When a place features something like a cave, good snorkeling, etc., that’s what people talk about. We’ve been hearing (and reading) about the cave for years and not once has any source mentioned the magnificent look of this place.  (Click to enlarge panoramas.)

At the base of the mountain, the limestone had formed a lot of mushroom rocks. Then there was the colorful shallow channel between Sawa-i-Lau and “little” Nacula Island next to it, followed by another shallow area between “little” Nacula and Yasawa.

The south shore of Yasawa and the north shore of (big) Nacula were hilly and dry, with long stretches of beach and palm-covered villages. But the main attraction here was definitely the monolithic Sawa-i-Lau Island. (Below a gallery of photos from our approach and the anchorage. Click to enlarge and scroll.)

We almost felt like, “Who cares about the cave, look at this scenery!” The other two boats we traveled here with (Bright Angel and Shana) had the same reaction, and we all figured we’d stay here for a few days! Looking back, that was wishful thinking. The Yasawas are generally windy, and light wind periods seem to only last a day or two before the winds pipe up again (no matter what the GRIBS say).

The other weather combination to appreciate is light winds plus sun, as light winds often accompany some clouds and rain. It doesn’t rain much in the Yasawas, but they do get their share of clouds from passing fronts. We’ve learned that days with light winds plus sun are days to be appreciated and fully taken advantage of.

Because we thought the beautiful weather would last, we opted to do the cave the next day. There was some confusion on where to do the Sevusevu for the area. The people who run the cave motored over to tell us: “Bring your kava to the cave!” Another panga motored over to tell us to sevusevu at the village, but when relayed what we’d already been told, he said, “Yes, bring your kava to the cave!” Meanwhile our friends on Bright Angel went to the village, who said you need to bring your sevusevu to the village, then tell the cave people you already did it. Confusing! In the end decided we’d go with what the first guy told us and bring the kava to the cave the next day.

Meanwhile, we went for a dinghy ride in the small channel between Sawa-i-Lau and Yasawa Island and snorkeled on the reef. The snorkeling here was beautiful and impressive, but I have to say there were more sea snakes than I cared to see. I know they’re quite timid, and their mouths are small so they’re not likely to bite. Yet, they are one of the deadliest snakes in the world; and people certainly do get bitten and die. After nearly running into a couple of them swimming on the surface, I opted to stay behind our dinghy which was floating with us, letting it clear the way of any passing sea snakes. Rich isn’t bothered by them at all, and while I don’t mind seeing one, seeing a few makes me nervous.  (Click to enlarge and scroll through gallery below.)

In spite of the snakes, I enjoyed the snorkeling here and looked forward to doing more in the coming days, but it was not to be. During the night, our gentle breeze began to escalate into wind. By morning, we had 20-knot-plus winds ripping through the anchorage. I kept hoping it would die down, but instead it seemed to be getting worse. We went from not feeling it was safe to leave the boat to “Let’s get out of here, now!”

We decided to seek refuge in Namataya Bay on the west side of Yasawa Island, just north of where we were. Bright Angel opted to head just south of here to Malakati Bay on Nacula Island. Shana, not bothered by the wind, was staying and still planned to visit the cave. Reactions to things like this can be very different among the cruising fleet. Rich and I are definitely at the nervous end of the spectrum.

Note: After doing a little research, I discovered that a photo that’s always attributed to being Yasawa Island is, in fact, Sawa-i-Lau island, just off Yasawa. Who knew? I’d always wanted locate this but assuming it was at the north end of Yasawa Island, I had no idea we’d be seeing it today. It looks different from ground level than it does from the air, but it’s still very impressive.

I have to add that it’s a little annoying to have been misled all this time. Yasawa island is not the same island as Sawa-i-Lau. It would be like me joining a dating website and posting pictures of my 21-year-old neighbor. Yes, she may live right next door, but that doesn’t make us interchangeable.

Here’s our post about the caves including a Google map of the area.

–Cyndi