Hmmm...As anticipated, in the last 10 days we have been able to participate in so many cool activities that my blog-writing is slipping further and further behind. Ah, well, I can look forward to reviewing everything again when I do find the time to organize photographs and fill-out my notes. In the meantime, another update...

Towards the end of our week in Savusavu, after getting the domestic chores done such as provisioning, having laundry done, refilling with fuel and water, we went on a couple of expeditions. With Barb and Rob (SV Zoonie), we were taken on a guided tour of a small village, swam under a refreshing waterfall, and wallowed in a mud-bottomed hot-pool. With Cheryl and Mark from French Curve and Jan and Bill from Tahitian Dream, we rented a van and drove across Vanua Levu to the Island’s capital of Labasa. On the way, we admired vistas across forested mountains, we took a steep hike into the rainforest, and we drove through miles of sugarcane plantations. The agricultural town of Labasa is not visited by many tourists but is the place to go if you want to see hundreds of wagons of cut sugarcane, both on the road and the small-gauge railway, or to see a large rock that used to “grow” out of the ground and now has healing powers.

After being thoroughly charmed by the town of Savusavu, we left on Friday (20th July) and anchored for a night a few miles south, just off the Jean Michel Cousteau Resort. I snorkeled the nearby “Split Rock” with Barb and Rob which was a small area with only limited amounts of live coral but which was home to more than 60 species of fish. A couple of days later, after a robust sail eastward in three large tacks, Randall and I snorkeled within our anchorage at Fawn Harbour and found a similar diversity of fish but amongst a much healthier habitat of large and highly varied corals.

The snorkeling highlight, however, was the following day on the famous Rainbow Reef. With Zoonie, we had moved from Fawn Harbour to Viani Bay and as soon as we arrived, we had called “Dive Academy Fiji” and arranged a snorkel trip with them for the following day. We were incredibly lucky with calm, clear seas and a clear, sunny sky and we were picked-up and dropped-off at our boats. We had chosen to pay F$130 per person for two, hour-long snorkels because the currents on Rainbow Reef can be very strong and we wanted to take advantage of local knowledge to find the most suitable sites on the long barrier reef. It was a very worthwhile investment.

The very healthy coral was superb, with many different species in a variety of shapes and colors. Not only was the diversity of fish staggering (I noted at least 108 species) but the numbers of brightly colored small fish (including many orange or purple scalefin anthias) was incredible. This is a world-class diving and snorkeling area and it did not disappoint. It was everything we had been hoping for underwater in Fiji. Amazing!

The following day was windy, choppy, and mostly cloudy, so we again marveled at our luck on the day we had picked for snorkeling. Randall and I abandoned our plan to try snorkeling the reef again from our dinghy but the day was not wasted. During a modest hike that Barb, Rob, and I took with Pam from SV Kozmo and guides from the Dive Academy Fiji, we were shown how tapa cloth is made (masi in Fiji) by a local woman and, to my delight, we had excellent views of a male orange dove.



A male orange dove

This aptly-named bird is limited to Vanua Levu, Taveuni, and a few of their off-shore islands, and despite being fairly common and incredibly conspicuous, their cryptic behavior makes them surprisingly difficult to see. Our guides, Elizabeth and May, did very well to identify the “tock-tock” call and find a male for us to observe. Although I was sorry that Randall was not with us to enjoy this sighting, we may have further opportunities to see these shockingly bright creatures on Taveuni. I will certainly recommend to Vandy and Eric that they visit Viani Bay and avail themselves of the Dive Academy Fiji’s excellent guides, both above water and below.