Makogai to Savusavu

Well I guess we have to work sometimes on the boat, so on the morning of our next day at Makogai Glen and I dive the underside of the boat to clean things up a bit and replace zincs (so the salt water doesn't eat our propellers and such). In the afternoon, Cameli has told us that it is a very nice walk from the bay where we are anchored to the village on the other side of the island. He made it sound like a short easy walk. So we head off with our bag full of candies for the children and some scribblers and pencils for the local school, taking a leisurley pace. We walked and walked, spotting ruins in the forest from the days of the leper colony. People from many of the south pacific islands were sent here and they were all housed in segregation from any other countries people. Finally we almost decided that we should turn back as the sun goes down at 5:30 and we don't want to be hiking in the bush in the dark. Only a little way further, we finally break onto the beach on the other side and visit the school teacher and hand candies to all of the children. Glen feels like Santa. They are all so nice and friendly. Our walk back, done at a much brisker pace gets us back to the boat before dark. we'd still be wandering amlessly about otherwise. It is time to say goodbye to Cameli as there is weather coming in the next few days and we want to be in Savusavu before it comes. Such is the never ending story of living on the water - always watching the weather.

The trip to Savusavu is easy - only 6 hours at sea and the water is pretty calm. It is a lovely sunny day - these seems few and far between here. Everybody says this is unusual for this time of year, it should be sunny and dry, not overcast and rainy. well at least it is gloriously warm. Savusavu is a small town on a large bay at the south east corner of Vanua Levu, the second largest island of Fiji's group. It is kind of an ex-pat place so there are lots of restaurants and a few little bars and good provisioning. The marina has mooring balls to tie too and we are enjoying being only a two second dingy ride from the dock. dinner out the last few nights to break the monotony of my own cooking which we will be having to endure for the better part of the next month as we head out into less populated areas. Excellent Indian food here! We're finding the social scene a little quieter this season compared to last. All of the boats that we befriended seem to be making the reverse trip around Fiji to what we are and the boats we've been meeting..... wait, there haven't been any other boats yet. Crazy, but cruising boats are pretty rare in these areas that we are in. Hence another reason we are liking our visit to Savusavu. We did a car trip around the island today, up to the only other major town - Labasa - it is a busy place and no (and I mean NO) tourists. It is the sugar cane hub of commerce. We did a hike in the forest preserve and marveled at all the different types of vegetation. We discovered some very interesting fresh water shrimp/crayfish in a waterfall stream. And finally we checked out some of the exclusive resorts in the area. Jean Michelle Cousteau has a resort here - diving is the draw - nice place. Our boat still suits us fine though.

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