Savusavu, a farewell and some remote diving.

We spent a couple of days chilling and establishing the lie of the land. Savusavu is a great town and Fijians are super friendly. It was time to re-provision for the next part of the trip. 

We found the fresh food markets but Raj's greengrocer was also pretty good. After the often miserly fresh produce offerings in French Poly it was a cornucopia of green delights.  The butcher had all the pretty decent looking cuts of meat handily snap frozen in cryovac bags. 

Savusavu pubic markets.

We knew we'd be needing kava to present to the chiefs in the remote anchorages we'd be heading to. Sevusevu is the process of coming ashore, politely requesting permission to anchor and fish in the village's waters,  and presenting a gift of kava to the village head.  

Easso scores the kava at the kava market.

However, first it was time for Sandrine to head off on the next leg of her ambitious world journey. We got her and her kit ashore in the dinghy, and helped assemble her reclined bike.  

It is an interesting contraption which is designed to be super ergonomically efficient. Once we had it together I thought I'd give it a go. The first assisted circuit was OK so I thought I'd try it unassisted. That ended embarrassingly, my hubris exposed with an even blend of blood and humiliation.   

 

Au revoir Sandy, fly well.

After saying farewell, Paul and I decided to head to Namena for a few days. 

Namena is a marine reserve famous for coral and marine life, much favoured by the divers, including those paying big bucks staying at the nearby Michael Costeau resort. We consulted the guides and headed to a site called "the Chimneys", two giant coral columns in the middle of the south west passage. 

We located the recommended anchoring location and found some sand amongst the bommies. We were nowhere near land or any above water feature, which felt a bit confronting. We were a little relieved with a boat full of Costeau acolytes appeared to dive the same spot. 

After another dive the next day and a fair bit of sunburn (is the sun hotter in Fiji?) we headed back to Savusavu in the forecast 20kt sou-easter. We thought we'd give the staysail an airing. Which was good to do because we'd forgot the battens and run the sheets wrong. After tidying things up we set off at a cracking pace under full canvas. Evenstar is a big girl and the forces at play to get her furiously close reaching at 9kts are a little confronting. But jeez she goes.  

Sunday night is band night at the Yacht club. We hung out in the garden with the musos and I even got up for a sing. Today I'm on the plane, having another flying visit to reconnect with everyone at home. 

Au revoir.