We made it to Fiji in a little less than 12 days!  It is green and super pretty as we round the corner to our destination of Savusavu.

First time into a new country requires a lot of paperwork to “clear in.”  We arrive Savusavu on the island of Vanua Levu on Friday at 10:30am.  By the time we are safely moored on a mooring with Waitui Marina it is closer to 11:00am. Our agent and the marina coordinate the 3 sets of officials that have to get us through the formalities.  I will walk you through it just so you can get a “taste” of what it is like for us.  Keep in mind that Fiji is truly one of the most straight forward and simple process that we have been through in all of the dozen or so countries we have cleared in.

Savusavu has 3 marinas.  We are staying at Waitui Marina on one of their mooring balls.

The marina has been around for over 60 years and is a work in progress.  The people are first rate and super friendly! 

Health Officials

The first officials to come to the boat are the health officials.  They administer covid tests to ensure we are “clean.”  After a stick to the brain, we get the all clear.  Then we are handed (2) invoices.  One is for $40F (which is about $20 U.S.) per person for the covid tests.  We pay this to the marina and the nurse picks it up later.  The other invoice is for $163.50F ($82 U.S.) which has to be paid at the hospital which is 1.2 miles from the marina.  Then we can either email the paid receipt to the nurse or we can drop it off at the hospital court office (we emailed it).  Once we email the paid receipt, they email us our negative covid certificate.

The marina comes to pick them up and take them to their next boat.  A few minutes later, Customs and Immigration are delivered to us.

Customs and Immigration

Two people come for customs and immigration.  We have to provide a lot of paperwork to them including our boat registration, passports, exit paperwork from French Polynesia, vaccine cards, negative test. C2-C entry form, crew list, and we sign a few more forms.  They stamp our passports (sweet) and tell us that we need to go to Customs in a few days to pick up our cruising permit.  We are charged $40F because they came to our boat during their lunch break (we did not have a choice in the matter).

The marina picks them up and whisks them to their next boat and then they bring biosecurity.

Biosecurity

Biosecurity is responsible for ensuring we do not bring anything “illegal” into the country.  Are you thinking guns, pets, weapons?  Well that too, but they are looking for honey, seeds, shells, feathers, meats, produce.  Yep, all of that is against the law to bring into Fiji!  We pass with flying colors, mostly because it is Friday afternoon and I think he wants to call it a day.  He gives us an invoice and tells us to go to his office to pay $85F ($43 U.S.).          

The Race

It is now close to 2:45pm and all of the offices close at 4:00pm.  We have to go to shore, find a bank, and pay all of the invoices.    The race is on!  Lucky for us, Fiji makes it easy in Savusavu.  There is only one main road and everything can be found in the small town.

We find the bank, go to a market to buy some drinks (mostly to get change) as the offices want exact payment.  We first hoof it to the hospital as it is the furthest. The guy was super nice and made us laugh.

We manage to hit all the offices in time and then we reward ourselves with some cold drinks.

The next few days are spent exploring the town, finding the fresh market (see photo below), and visiting with a few friends who we met in French Polynesia.

We had drinks and snacks at the neighboring marina, Copra Shed Marina.  Our friends on Major Tom (Anki and Sivert) joined us for many a cocktail.

Can you guess where I am?

View from the boat opposite the marina.

They are building a new marina which they hope to be ready before cyclone season (in 4 months).

They have lots of hot springs in Fiji.  Some of them are right next to the mooring fields. 

In our last blog we transit across the Pacific from French Polynesia to Fiji.  Our blogs run 10-12 weeks behind schedule.  This blog occurred mid-June, 2022.