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
