We arrive into Savusavu after 60 hours at sea. Our passage from Tonga was a pretty quick one despite having one rudder and reduced sails for the entire 413nm. It is good to be back in Fiji!
Pio met us at the mooring ball in his panga to assist with the hook up. I love that they do this for the cruisers-excellent customer service. We then wait a few hours for the officials to come onboard and welcome us into the country.
The health official comes first and is on and off the boat within 20 minutes. We completed a few forms, answered some questions, then allowed her to take photos of a few things. First, she wanted to take photos of our toilets. Weird, but ok. Then she took photos of our can goods, pantry, and snack area.
An hour later, customs, immigration, and biosecurity board us. This is always fun as they each ask us questions at the same time and you never know who to answer first. they are all incredibly friendly and easy going. They let us keep our “prohibited items” such as our meats (chicken, pork, beef), some produce, and dairy. It was rather surprising and pleasing!
Our mooring is pretty close to the shore which looks dangerous at low tide. But in reality it is totally fine.
Nawi Marina
I am not sure if you remember, but back in June 2022 we came to Savusavu. During this visit, we explored the new Nawi Marina. Well, it was a work in progress. They had signs up saying that they were going to open for this cruising season and we just could not imagine it happening. Well, they proved us wrong!
When we first visited they only had a few docks installed and lots and lots of poles. Now they have boats in the docks!
They are still working on the east side of the marina. They need to install power, water, and cleats, but it is coming along nicely.
The two-story building has the Skipper’s bar on the 2nd floor and a really nice restaurant on the bottom floor. The bottom photo shows the building where there is a small grocery store and chanderly. And they also have laundry facilties and bathrooms.
I know it seems like more should have been done in a year, but this is the islands and we are all shocked this much work has been completed.
There are more amenities coming according to this sign (pool and spa). The lower right photo is the entrance to the laundry and shower facilities. I love the word “bula” spelled out on the mat in palm fronds.
There were no boats and now there are cruising boats, local boats, and super yachts.
Savusavu
This little town just makes me smile. Most of the businesses are located on the main street which runs east to west. It is not a large town and will only take you about 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other. But it is packed with some good stuff. Several markets, a pharmacy, 2 butchers, many restaraunts, 2 phone companies, computer store, gift shops
Running into friends we haven’t seen since French Polynesia! Brian and Sue on Sea Rose, Lenny and Dave on Perigee, Alex and Carla on Ari B and Matt and I.
The cover photo is the Nawi Marina and Sugar Shack is on the upper left corner(by the trees) on a mooring ball. Here is another cool shot from my friend Chris’s phone while in an airplane flying over.
Nawi Marina
Our blogs run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. This blog occured mid-August. We make the passage to Fiji in our last blog.