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
