Close encounter with Tiger Sharks!
Safiya
Harvey & Sue Death
Fri 15 Sep 2017 05:58
Vanua Baluva which is the second largest island in Fiji. We moored in a
quaint little marina called the Copra Shed which is an old Copra (coconut
processing) factory. It was a real treat to be able to step off the boat to
dry land and to have electric hook up so that we could use the air
conditioning.
The population of Savusavu seems to be largely Indian and both Grace and I
were having Delhi deja vu as we walked along the Main Street with its
eclectic mix of Asian supermarkets and sari shops. As our boat provisions
were sadly depleted we desperately needed fresh food and we found the daily
market where we were able to restock with fruit and veggies and also buy
Kava just in case we arrive at an island where we need to barter it in
exchange for a mooring There were a handful of other Oysters in the marina
when we arrived and as it was one of the guys birthdays so we all went out
for a curry to celebrate. We'd been told about an amazing Indian restaurant
which was little more than a shack with its plastic table cloths and garden
chairs and bring your own booze But the food was superb and the bill for 16
people was just £170 - what a refreshing change from Tahiti We managed to
fit in one more dive with Grace before, on Friday we very sadly said good
bye to her. She flew from Savusavu to the main International airport of Nadi
and then on to Sydney for a couple of days and then finally home on
Wednesday. She starts work at the end of the month for the Civil Service on
their graduate training scheme in the DWP - policy and planning. So although
she was sad to leave us after 7 weeks sailing from Tahiti to Fiji, she's
very excited about starting work and living with Alice in London.
After Grace left we sailed the short distance east to the island of Taveuni,
which is called the garden island of Fiji and it is obvious why - the array
of beautiful trees and plants are beautiful, just like being in a huge
botanical garden. We picked up a mooring buoy attached to a small resort run
by 2 Australians who could not be more friendly and helpful toward yachties.
They arranged an island tour with a local guide who took us on a steep and
slippery hike to the top of a series of 3 waterfalls where we were able to
swim in the refreshing cool rock pools. The highlight of our day was a
natural rock water slide where much to the amusement of the local children
Harvey and I slid and bumped our way down the slide. We also visited the
International dateline, the exact point where the earth is bisected by 180
degrees although the actual dateline is more conveniently located so that it
does not cut an island in two. It was bizarre to think that we were on
exactly the opposite side of the world to Greenwich, London.
We left Taveuni and after a short night sail we arrived at the island of
Beqa where we met up with our American friends from SY Altair to do a shark
dive.
Now if you had told me 9 months ago before we set off on this trip that I
would be diving with tiger sharks, I would have said absolutely no way in
the world. This morning not only did I dive with tiger sharks but there was
a whole bunch of reef and bull sharks hanging around too! We went with a
specialist dive company who in a very controlled manner took us down to the
dive site about 20 metres. We stayed behind a low coral wall, while in front
of us the dive captain fed the sharks fish scraps. There ensued a mad
feeding frenzy between the bull sharks and then the tiger sharks glided in
for a piece of the action. There were 4 in total and these guys are huge,
the largest was about 4 metres long and weighed approx 400 kilos. We went
eyeball to eyeball with him but we felt completely safe, they were curious,
but more interested in fish food than human food!!
