We sailed all the way to the northern most island in the Yasawas to be able to explore the famous underwater caves. On the southern tip of the Yasawa Island is a small island called Sawa-I-Lau where they give daily tours for 2 hours a day to these magnificent swimming holes inside the limestone caves.
These caves were actually filmed in the Blue Lagoon movie as well (it’s where she flees to) and they don’t disappoint. Truly a breath taking experience.
Day 8: The underwater caves & Naviti Island
The next morning, we got up early anxious to explore the famous Sawa-I-Lau limestone caves.
Unfortunately, we picked a Monday to do the tour which happened to be the same day the resorts bring hordes of people to do the tour as well. Considering the caves are only open for 2 hours a day, it is not surprising that we all showed up at the same time.
But, we made the most of it and boy were we impressed! First, you go up about 45 stairs to the cave entrance. Then you step down about 25 stairs to the refreshing cave pool. The “gate” which is where Matt is standing in the upper right hand photo is not much of a gate as one could easily scale the walls to enter the cave. But, it’s better than nothing I suppose.
As you descend the stairs, you are greeted with the most stunning view of limestone rock formations and turquoise waters.
The photos truly do not do it justice. But I tried with the GoPro. This is the first cave that you can just walk into easily.
Leaping into the Pools
The guides do these death-defying leaps from way up high to entertain the group while others go into a secondary cave.
Of course, Cameron cannot let this opportunity pass, so he too climbs up (albeit not as high) to take a leap into the deep cave waters.
The second cave requires the swimmer to dive under water while holding your breath for 3 seconds. Once inside it is magnificent! But there is no light and all our images came out crappy (even with a torch). But we did get to swim back into the depths of the cave, test out the acoustics, and see some beautiful stalactites.
Super cool experience and well worth the effort to come to the North end of the Yasawas! We enjoyed a little shopping from the artisans selling their wares to the tourist and I found some beautiful dark blue Fijian pearls for a very reasonable price!
We head back to the boat for a tasty brunch before we head off to Naviti Island.
Naviti Island, Somosomo Bay
There is a weather system coming which will make heading south very difficult. So, we have to leave the northern Yasawas earlier than planned. We make a quick sail to Naviti island. Since we have been doing such a good job of eating all of our fish, we decided to put out the fishing lines.
Cole and Cameron picked the 3-lures and we set out the teaser. Let’s see what we will catch. We were only going about 5-6kts and the lures were a bit small, but we did manage to catch 2 skipjacks (tuna). Since we already had a lot of tuna onboard, we set these two guys free to grow bigger. The larger of the two fish actually had a remora attached (Matt’s fish)
We arrived Somosomo Bay on Naviti Island rather quickly. Probably because we were distracted with the fishing adventures. We took a quick walk on the beach while the boys played bocce before dinner. Matt prepared super amazing chicken enchiladas for dinner.
Events from this blog occurred during the first two weeks of August. Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks after actual events. In our upcoming blog, we take the Konis family to Malolo and Cloud 9 before their departure. Did you catch our last post, where we swim with manta rays in our last blog.
