Day 27: Savusavu, Fiji

I think we really were wiped out last night. We both slept hard for over 9 hours and didn’t make it up to the Horizon Court Buffet for breakfast until 8:30am. I was feeling much better today with just occasional sneezes. It was warm even in the morning, and we were able to enjoy breakfast on the Terrace Deck, but we stayed under the covered part, because there were occasional rain showers. 

Savusavu (not to be confused with Suva, where we were yesterday) is located in the northern region of Fiji’s 320 islands (just over a hundred are inhabited) on the island of Vanua Levu. The population is around 5000, and it is actually a town, albeit a small one. It is located just south of the Waisali Rainforest Reserve, and the ship offered excursions there to see the reserve’s birds and orchids. 

We tendered over to Savusavu with only a couple of things in mind to do today. The tender pier is located right at a re-purposed copra shed (copra is dried coconut meat), so it’s rather unique in that we stepped off the tender and right into this historic building. We wanted to see the hot springs located on the west side of town, and we were told how to get to them, just a short walk away. After a stop in a small grocery store (G is always on the lookout for Mountain Dew, and actually found one in Suva yesterday), we walked up a hill to a small park where the two main hot springs were located. 

Golden Princess at anchor 

Typically Fijian buildings near the tender pier

Always, always a stop for potato chips for G

Well, sure enough, there was water bubbling up out of the ground in two places, but, unlike Yellowstone in the US, these springs did not have any smell at all. They were, however, very steamy. A representative of the local council was there to fill us in. The local legend is that a chief from a neighboring island came over to Vanua Levu with a bag carrying hot water. The local chief here threw a spear piercing the bag, and hot water flowed into the earth.

Somehow I think that the fact that the Vanua Levu is volcanic in origin might have something to do with it too. ;-)

Having seen the hot springs, our next stop was further up a steep hill at the Hot Springs Hotel, which had been recommended by blog reader Cheryl for a beer and a swim in their pool with a view. Unfortunately, since she and her husband had been here just over a month ago, the hotel has been sold to the Chinese and is in the process of being renovated. We saw evidence of Chinese investment in Suva yesterday also, where they are building two major bridges in the city to relieve some of the traffic congestion. Why are the Chinese investing in Fiji?  We think their vote in the UN might have something to do with it. 

Stymied on that count, we walked back down to the waterfront where we saw another steaming area, right on the edge of the sea. Just down from that was a restaurant that advertised cold beer and we could see it had a large patio directly on the water. We settled in there and G ordered a Fiji Gold beer (in a 750ml bottle!) for $5 AUD. We struck up a conversation with a couple sitting there who were originally from California (the Bay Area) but who had lived in Savusavu for 20 years. They recommended the fish and chips, so we ordered them and sat for a long while chatting with them about the thought process involved in moving to such a remote area and applying for Fijian citizenship (they are just a year away). Fascinating stuff, but not something that we would ever consider. They admitted that medical care was very lacking but they made a conscientious decision that they would live out their years in an area they love. 

Combination fish market, meat market, laundromat and waterfront bar/restaurant. 

More bubbling water along the shoreline. 

While we sat there on that covered patio, the rain and sun came and went intermittently, and the temperature and humidity soared. It’s the first time we’ve really felt uncomfortable in the heat, but I think the humidity was  more to blame. 

We wandered back to the Copra Shed/tender pier, perusing all the tables selling local handicrafts along the way (I was good, and still didn’t buy a thing), and, we boarded a tender back to the ship about 3pm. That first blast of AC as we stepped back on the ship felt heavenly.

After dinner in the Bernini Dining Room (salad, salmon, broccoli and a baked sweet potato) we rushed to the Vista Lounge to get good seats for the 6:45pm performance of production show Motor City. It’s the first time we’ve seen it this season (though we had seen a brief preview in the Piazza yesterday) and you know it’s a favorite. Apparently it’s the favorite of a lot of people, because the Vista Lounge filled up fast. 

We still had some energy and so joined the mass migration down to the Princess Theater where we were able to get seats for impressionist Keith Scott at 7:45pm. We had already seen him this year and he is very good, and though some of his impressions are of Australian politicians (which we totally missed), he also does several US presidents, actors and singers, and they are spot on. 

We swung through the Horizon Court Buffet on the way back to our cabin, where G grabbed a piece of pizza and ice cream and I had...crudités and watermelon (of course). We read the Port Guide about tomorrow’s port of Lautoka that came with our Princess Patter and were happy to see that the Golden Princess will be docked (so no tenders) but unhappy to see Lautoka is Fiji’s second largest city. We were hoping for another Dravuni Island experience, but that is obviously not going to happen. We have an early arrival and departure; we’ll check on the weather before deciding how to spend our day.