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Savusavu
So good, they named it twice. Savusavu is on the Fijian island of vanua levu.
Oh my gosh what a terrific day we have had. Without a doubt our favourite port so far this cruise and, possibly, up there for best ever stop on a cruise.
I have a cold.....not good but I didn't let it get in the way of our day. We docked early and by nine am David and I were on board a tender heading for shore. This short journey was the only bad part of our day. We sat up top and, just before the little boat left, an elderly couple came up with their granddaughter. She must have been around three or four years old. Initially, for the first twenty seconds or so, this brat was quite well behaved but once we were well on our way she started to act up something rotten. The tender ships are open air at the top and you have to sit still because the journeys can be quite bumpy. Emily, we learned her name because her gran kept screeching it at her, Emily was standing on the seats, climbing over other passengers and screaming at the top of her lungs and constantly pulling her gran around trying to get away from her.
I did feel a little bit sorry for gran when she told another passenger that they had to take the little one on the cruise with them, couldn't wait to hand her back to her parents and that and they had had a hellish week with her.....but not that sorry. I can't describe the pitch at which this kid was screeching. SOLIDLY for the entire journey.
Gran kept saying "do you want a smack"? I always thought this was a daft question and the obvious answer being "er no". Finally, the man opposite me offered to throw her overboard. That lightened the mood somewhat. On the way to the shore the heavens opened and we got drenched....I thought it was great fun but the man next to David decided to try and put his umbrella up.....on a tightly packed tender....in a storm....yah...
Obviously the umbrella blew inside out and nearly took out the eyes of all the people sitting next to this muppet. David pointed out, very politely, that it wasn't the safest and the man did then put his umbrella away again.
Once we stepped ashore we left the screaming Emily and her grandparents and headed out to explore SuvaSuva.
The weather improved almost as soon as we set foot on dry land and we found a lady who offered to take us to a village to meet her family and the locals. We, along with 6 others, agreed a price and headed out on a minibus.
The drive was around half an hour and the view, even from the minibus, was spectacular. This town is much prettier than Suva and everywhere you looked was breadfruit trees, passion fruit trees, coconuts and an array of other tropical fruits. There were little homes set up along the road side and we had to dodge a few goats and dogs on our way up to the remote village.
Once we arrived we were met by one of the 80 residents of the village and he took us to meet the elders and the women. They waited on us hand and foot and we were encouraged to sit with them and taste some of the wild fruit which was growing everywhere we looked. David and I both had pineapple and I've never tasted pineapple so good....I tired papaya too but it was gross....tasted like soap to both of us lol.
The women and children sang to us and we were offered coconuts to drink from as refreshment. It was really lovely. After a while the young lad who had met us initially gave us a tour of his village. He showed us the tiny church, (they are all methodists in this village) and I banged the drum with they use to call to prayers on a Sunday.
He showed us where the sea met the river that runs past their homes and the hand made rafts that they use to go fishing when the tide comes in. As he spoke, some of the, very excited, village children showed off their skills swinging from vines and ropes hanging from the tree which overlooked the river. There were a couple of toddlers high up in this particular tree but they have no fear and are totally surefooted.
Once we had been shown around the village our young guide had to ask the elders for permission to take us to the waterfall. This was granted and we headed off on the hike. The island is covered in rainforests and it was this which we had to walk through in order to get to the gem of a waterfall. Not a massively long treck but no good for people of limited mobility, we all slipped and slides a little on the way.
Luckily, our group was fit enough and no one really struggled. We even had one, impeccably behaved, nine year old with us. This lad got on with the hot hike with not a word of complaint from his mouth. The village children all came with us too and happily lad the way through the rainforest. None of them had shoes or flip flops and they expertly climbed and navigated the steep terrain better than even our teenage guide.
After a hair raising steep section down with only a few stepping stones for assistance, we made it to the waterfall. Now, I thought the last waterfall we went to was stunning....this one blew it out of the park. It was simply awesome. Much taller than the last one it was clear that the flow of water into the pool below was ferocious.
Almost right away the village children dived into the pool and started climbing the shiny, wet rocks until they were half way up the waterfall itself. They squealed and waved as we watched them. I have jumped from a cliff into a pool of water but this was just incredible. How they climbed up so quickly I will never know. As we all watched the boys who had climbed jumped in from halfway up....they could only have been 7 or 8 years old. It was brilliant.
All of our group was up for swimming and it wasn't long before we were in the water too. It was very rocky underfoot and so I gave Dave my crocks to wear because I can swim and didn't need them. There were no life jackets at this waterfall!
The water was neck height until around ten foot or so from where the water was hitting the pool. Once you got closer to the waterfall itself, it got deeper so that it was over my head. David was desperate not to just stand in waist/neck deep water and he wanted to get behind the waterfall with the rest of us.
We suggested he go to the edge and make his way round because, once you got behind the waterfall, there were some handy rocks to stand or even sit on. Once he was within reach of me I pulled him across. Dave can swim a few strokes but in a pool with no cascade of water crashing around your head and forcing you back and under at the same time.....
So we were now, kind of, behind the waterfall but quite close to the edge of it. Dave had seen me swim right through the middle of it and sit on a ledge looking out from behind the torrent of water. He was up for giving it a go but I didn't think swimming under that crashing water would be safe for him and it was out of both of our depths some way before the crashing water bit! So he headed for the edges again but, this time, pulled himself along the rocks behind the waterfall and got very close to the centre.
There was one terrifying moment for me when I grabbed dave's arm to pull him along and then realised I no longer hand a footing on the rocks and I was being pushed under lol. I just shoved Dave toward the rocks behind the fall and he was fine. I probably swallowed some water though.
The coolest thing about being behind the waterfall is swimming back through it and out into the pool. Dave was utterly determined to do this and I didn't want to stop him. At least this way he was going from deep to shallower. I went first and, As I went under the falls itself, the water rained against my head and back forcing me under. It was great fun! So then, I got to the point where I could comfortably stand with the water just up to my neck and looked back to where Dave was still sitting behind the falls. It must have been twenty foot away at least....
He slid from the rocks and swam as hard as he could through the cascading water and toward my outstretched arms. I was shouting "swim swim swim!!" And he did....the water beat down on him but he kept his cheeks puffed out (holding his breath) and, using his, weirdly effective doggy Paddle, made it to me and the clear of the pool. It was just awesome and I don't think anyone can really appreciate how brave that was unless you have a fear of the water and don't swim more than a few strokes. Epic effort and I was dead proud of him.
We must have been in the water for well over an hour just enjoying the scenery and laughing with the village children and our guide. He took some photos of us using my camera but I had my go pro too and captured David's moments of glory from a perfect viewpoint.
Finally we climbed across rocks to get up and out of the water and made the trek back to the tiny village. Yet again we were presented with an array of ripe, fresh fruit and coconuts to refresh ourselves and the women and children sang to us again. I bought a kava bowl from one of ladies....it's cute and I'd rather get one from them than from the street markets which line the road near the ship port.
Both Dave and I were gushing about how it was the best day yet and Dave thanked me for helping him in the water....I think it was all him though!
The little minibus took our wet, tired but happy group back to the small town and David and I then headed off to look around the shops. The town is tiny and pretty....nothing like Suva at all. I thoroughly enjoyed browsing these stores with their copious amounts of brightly coloured materials for sale. The materials are used to make the Bula dresses and skirts that everyone seemed to be wearing. There is nothing dull in Fiji.....it is all about bright colours and big smiles.
In the town David found a completely random soccer shirt.... Menai Hawks with his number 14 emblazoned on the back. We had no idea where it hailed from but, the price was so good, he bought it anyway. It turns out the Menai hawks are from New South Wales a suburb in Sydney..... he was very happy when he found that out because he likes to get shirts from places we visit. Sydney was good enough!
Back on board the ship now we have had our tea and also made it in time for the quiz. Our team, David and I and two Aussie friends we met....Chris and Diane, got joint first with 18 out of 20! Chris, Diane and I probably answered three of the twenty questions and the rest was David. They kept shaking their heads at me and asking "how does he know all this stuff??"
We had to go for a tie break question but it was rubbish the way they did it....usually they ask a question like....what's the height of this landmark or....how many years old is this relic..... and the closest team gets the prize.
This time, they asked us to send our smartest player up to stand in front of the entire room and the quizmaster would ask the question...the fastest player to answer would win. So, as a team, we shoved Dave up to stand in front of the crowd....not his most comfortable place for him to be as you can imagine.
The best player from the other winning team came up next to him and we waited for the question.... the quiz master took an incredibly long time searching his phone and he actually said...... "I'm looking for a suitable question". After what seemed like an hour he found one and then, finally, asked:-
"how many legs does the average butterfly have...."
David answered quickly but the other man was just a second faster and took the prizes. What is incredible though is the question.....he took THAT long to choose a suitable question..... and then picks one referring to number of legs. The man from the other team had no legs..... he had been wheeled up to the stage! David said that he was in such disbelief that he couldn't speak for a millisecond lol. Diane, Chris and I reckon it was a fix!
So now we are sailing away from the wonderful Savusavu and onward to our next Fijian stop of Dravuni. This is a tiny Fijian island and, apparently, has a beach and not a lot else.....fine by me!
Ttfn
- comments
Mum Really well done Dave. We know and understand the bottle it took to let go and swim out in water out of your depth xxx Karen dong drink any more water please !
Gary Awesome!!! It must have been the thrill of a lifetime to swim through it.
Gary Well done David with the swim past the falls but I'm surprised that you didn't show the kids on the vines how it was done. Also well done again in the quiz and it does sound a little fishy how the tie break was handled. From the blog details I can see how this is your best ever place visited.
Maureen Pilkington So pleased David is able to join in with the swimming .It wonderful to hear of all your adventures can hardly wait for more