SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

Karen an I gathered with our friends Sandy and Rankin on SV Gypsea Heart and traveled to Taveuni Island with Jack,...our local guide. We rented a taxi and drove north for several hours. Along the way we saw the coastline (which is coral and deadly to boats) and passed through villages. Eventually we came to the "park" where we could go see three waterfalls via a self guided jungle trail for a fee of $15 FJD. I asked if there were snakes and was told yes, and that they were brown and that they ate them, but were they dangerous? No one seemed to know but I was assured that someone would pass down the trail and kill them before we got there if they were dangerous. Clearly, this was a manufactured answer. I still don't know the real answer. We were late getting started so we only had time to see the first two waterfalls. They were high and had lots of water flowing over them. We could swim in their pools and the pools had fish and crabs and shrimps for us to look at. We brought our masks and snorkels. The clear fresh water was also pretty nice. I did not see any eels like they have in NZ (that will attach to you and take a nice chunk of flesh if removed), but then who thinks I would see them?

The picture shows Karen and I at the first waterfall. You can swim under the waterfall but it isn't easy due to the outflowing current and wind from the falling water. You can also jump into the pool from behind the waterfall. Pretty cool place, actually.

We got back to our yacht just in time to motor home to our anchorage just before pitch black dark. This violated about every yachting rule for safe passages in Fiji but we had Jack, a local guide, and with his help we managed the correct route through the reefs.