Savusavu Town

Originally posted by cruisingrunner

We’ve been in Savusavu going on three weeks now, and that’s by far the longest we’ve stayed put somewhere since… La Cruz, Mexico, maybe? We didn’t plan to stay here this long, but Exodus had her own idea this time. Thinking back though, we have seldom been stuck somewhere or had to change plans, I mean intentions, due to boat issues. In fact, the only other time I can think of is way back in La Paz, Mexico when we realized we needed a bigger anchor and had to order one. I smile when I think of this, though, because that delay in La Paz allowed us to be in the right place at the right time to meet our first pack of kid boats and then cruise with them around the southern Sea of Cortez. Coincidentally, two and a half years later, this current delay has allowed us the opportunity to spend some more time this season with one of those same kid boats, Fluenta.

This time the delay is due to the watermaker. We are getting consistently higher salinity readings than we used to, and sometimes the watermaker has to run for quite awhile before the salinity drops to safe levels and water starts going to our tank. We’ve ordered a new membrane, and it should be here soon, but in the meantime we’ve gotten to enjoy a little bit more of Savusavu, but in all honesty, not as much as you’d think.

First of all, the running. It has been absolutely amazing to be somewhere that I can dinghy ashore and run each morning. I haven’t been going far, and I don’t even wear my Garmin, because who wants to be brought down with the knowledge of exactly how slow you’re running, right?. It’s just nice to get out and move. I can usually get a run in before breakfast. I head west from the dinghy dock because that leads me out of town rather than right through it. It’s a flat road, asphalt for the first mile and a half and then dirt after that, which means that the first rainy week we were here it was muddy, but since then it’s been dry and dusty. It’s a beautiful stretch of road, though, right along the water. Nevermind that the locals look at you like your crazy running along, but they are still friendly as ever, belting out the hearfelt, “Bula!” as I go past. If I go before 8:00 then I get the added treat of running among all the kids walking to school or waiting for school buses. I think I get the strangest looks from them.

We are on a mooring at Waitui Marina, and the facilities are pretty run down. But they have the nicest staff I’ve ever met at a marina, so I’m OK with the fact that I’m scared to use their showers on shore. They have a spacious dinghy dock, laundry, a cheap restaurant, and did I mention the nicest staff ever? Not only nice, but highly competent too. Also, Fiji Meats is right there in the building, so stocking up the freezer has been easy.

Since we’ve been here almost three weeks you’re probably thinking we’ve gotten out and seen a lot, maybe even toured a bit more of Vanua Levu, the island on which Savusavu is located, right? Surprisingly, no. Since we are preparing to be well off the beaten path for awhile, Tim’s been focusing on boat projects, and I’ve been focused on research and provisioning. Research because we may not have very good internet, if at all, after we leave Fiji, so I want to have all the information we might need for our next few destinations all saved up on my hard drive. Also, this year is supposed to be like the worst El Nino year EVER! So, that presents a bit of a weather wild card, which has required it’s own research as well. Provisioning because I want to be stocked up for four months when we leave here. Think about it. Family of four with two teenagers. That’s A LOT of food. So, we haven’t done much here, but even still, here are a few interesting, or maybe not-so-interesting, tid-bits about Savusavu.

1. There are hot springs in town that drain into the harbor where you can see the steam. Apparently, there’s at least one hot spring that is really hot. The locals cook in it, and apparently someone has even fallen in and died. No, we haven’t been.

2. You can take a cheap 3 hour bus ride around the island to the larger city of Labasa. We haven’t been, and I don’t know why you’d want to.

3. There are several hardware stores in town, and they never have what Tim needs.

4. Surf and Turf restaurant went from serving excellent cheeseburgers to serving a pile of grisel on a bun in our four months between visits.

5. After a strong rain the water from the taps at Waitui will run brown and the laundry lady will close for the day.

6. You can get excellent, I mean excellent, cheap Indian food here. We are frequent diners at Hidden Taste of Paradise. The last time we went there the power was out in the dining room, and they were so apologetic that we had to dine by candlelight. But we really enjoyed it.

7. Savusavu reminds me a bit of Neiafu, Tonga but without all the simultaneously helpful and annoying expats. Except for Curly, the ex-cruiser savusavu resident from New Zealand who is simultaneously more helpful and more annoying than Neiafu’s entire expat community.

8. The fresh market here isn’t nearly as big as Suva or Nadi, but it has all the same stuff. Do you really need 100 tables selling bok choy or is 20 enough?

9. The grocery stores are small but there’s a few of them, and I can tell you exactly where to find what in each of them.

10. And last but not least, I think I could live here. Seriously. There aren’t many places along the way that I could say that about, but Savusavu is one of those places. It’s beautiful, the people are friendly, it’s a small town but big enough to have most of what you need, and I just love the vibe. Don’t worry mom, we’re still planning to come back to the U.S., but if we didn’t, this place is definitely on the short list.