Loving Savu Savu
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Tue 13 Jul 2010 20:45
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Tuesday 13th July
It's been a while I know but we've been very
busy - apologies for the delay!
We've been having great time in Savu Savu,
the place and people are fantastic. The town is bustling and full of lots of
chinese and indian restaurants and shops stocking all sorts of useless stuff,
it's very interesting. Our first night here we went for a romantic meal for 6
for mine and Paul's anniversary, the first of many meals ashore. As the food is
so cheap, around £3 for a superb curry, rice, naan, and popadom we're
finding it hard to resist, and the quality is very good too. The next day we
moved off the mooring buoy to back onto a pontoon at the Copra Shed, the
home of the yacht club, bar, restaurant, internet cafe and many more. There were
a few reasons for moving, one was because the boat needed a clean and there is
water on the pontoon, the other was because of the dinghy. After our meal we
came back to the dinghy and Amy noticed that the engine was tilting back into
the water then as Paul stepped into it the whole thing kind of folded in around
him, we think we've developed a few more leaks. It was so bad we had to use
someone else's dinghy to get home as everytime Paul tried to get going the prop
was forced underneath the boat!
 The high street
 A beautiful sunset looking out
from the Copra Shed
 The local buses
Wednesday when we started cleaning the boat
was fantastic weather, the sun was beaming down all day but for the
next 3-4 days it rained and rained, it just didn't stop! Amy randomly
met a dive instructor from the Jean Michel Custeau Resort and agreed to meet him
at 7:15 the next morning to get the bus and start a PADI Open Water
Dive Course. By 12:30 on Thursday she was back after spending a few hours
in the swimming pool learning the necessary skills, she also went out to the
Alice in Wonderland dive site for her first open water dive. Then most of the
boats arrived on Thursday so we had an afternoon/evening of
socialising.
On Friday Amy caught the bus down to the
resort again to do two more dives, one at Mystery Reef and Golden Nugget.
She loves getting the bus, everyone knows her name now and says hello to her as
she gets on at the bus station. She'd been paranoid about removing her
mask and putting it back on down at 12 metres but she completed all of
the tasks with no problem so all she needed to do after
that was one more dive, learn the theory and pass the
exam!
In the evening there was a Kava ceremony
with a local band playing late into the night so another good night was had.
 The ceremony
 Amy drinking the Kava next to
the village chief
On Saturday Amy had a day off
from diving so that she could learn some theory, that didn't quite go to plan
though as there was an action packed day planned. The rain stopped temporarily
so optomist and laser racers were organised, it was the Blue Water Rally against
young Fijians. It was a great afternoon, we were betting and eating hot dogs all
to raise money for the yacht club. A band started up for the evening and a free
keg of beer went down rather well as well as a few tequilas and tequila
slammers. Amy ended up at the nightclub!
 The optomists and the
lasers
 Hans had the right technique,
he flew but Charlie struggled to get back up the course because of the lack of
wind so she resorted to paddling!
 The hot dog stand
Sunday was Amy's final dive to
complete the course, Barracuda Point, where there were schools of barracuda
swimming around. She's been spoilt learning to dive here, it's fantastic diving!
Aqualuna organised an impromtu BBQ as they'd caught a large Tuna on the way
here. We ate the delicious food then sloped off to bed to catch up on some sleep
at around 21:00!
Monday Amy finally got around to
doing her exam and passed so she was able to join us for two dives at 09:30. We
set off to Namena Island which is a nature reserve and meant to be the best dive
on this island. The first dive was at a site called 'The Chimney's' the scenery
was superb and the coral and fish were very impressive but there was a strong
current which slightly spoilt it as we were all slightly pre-occupied
concentrating on that to pay attention to the scenery. The second dive was much
more relaxing and probably one of the best dives we have ever done. I'll upload
pictures another time as I need to get them from Brian.
Today there is another gathering
with everyone, a BBQ and the same band from the other night, we're looking
forward to it!
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