Here in Savusavu, Fiji, the marina we’re hunkering down at for cyclone season is working hard to finish their huge pool, but in the meantime we found a good pool of our own. Just a few minutes away on the dinghy, on the backside of the island, is a nice spot for our daily swims. Dropping from ten feet to eighty feet fairly quickly we’ve been snorkeling, poking around looking for interesting reef characters, and also practicing our freediving. I admit, I’ve become a bit obsessed as of late. I’ve always enjoyed pushing myself, and freediving is just perfect for incremental improvements. We’ve even signed up for courses with the freedive school here. Unfortunately, I’m worried the kids are both way too advanced for the instruction they can receive in the Junior program, and they can’t take the adult level yet. We’ll see.
The view from the Planters’ Club. A simple place that welcomes non-members. I’ve been very enthusiastic about the food here in Fiji so far. I’ve become unwilling to eat anything other than curry everywhere we go. Fish, chicken, beef, it doesn’t matter, just spice it up and toss me a pile of naan and I am a happy man. Food throughout the Pacific has been less than exciting and when eating out we’ve found that 9 times out of ten (at least) it hasn’t been worth it. Here at the Planters’, four meals—large enough that you feel bad about the pile still remaining on your plate when you are stuffed—ran us $16. Wash that down with a Fiji Gold on tap for $1.50 and you’ve got everything you need. It’s so nice to get good quality, spicey food, at a great price again. All circumnavigators that leave from Mexico have one thing that they all miss, and that’s the food. Fiji is helping to alleviate that for us.
Looking for one girl to wok. Awesome.
Top notch fruits and vegetable market here in town.
The Bread Kitchen has quickly become a daily stop.
Mince pies and sausage rolls that make me feel like I’m in New Zealand, though the spicy chicken pies are the best. Always fresh bread and a daily rotation of sweets in the cooler. Best bakery in town.
We’ve only been in Fiji a few days, and so far it’s exceeded expectations across the board. That’s without even getting out and cruising the outlying islands yet. If we can get lucky and avoid any major cyclones I think we’ll be really happy here.
37 Comments on “Savusavu”
Those hot pies look so good, I’m heading to NZ in March and that’s the first thing on my list.
Enjoy your time in Fiji, the country has an interesting history, with the native Fijians not related to the rest of the pacific islanders, they are apparently from Africa originally, somewhere around Lake Tanganyika.
They are also the natives that Captain Bligh and his crew had to outrun in their long boat after Fletcher Christian and his mates took control of HMS Bounty and set Captain Bligh adrift in the Pacific in 1789.
Cheers, David.
Sausage rolls! We just left NZ & miss them already, along with those tasty meat pies! Bet they cost less in Fiji too? Glad you found your happy place there & hope the storm season passes you by. Enjoy!
Thanks for the lovely underwater pix! I’m impressed by your free diving skills! I can barely hold my breath a few seconds. 🙁 You must have great lung capacity. Stay safe. Have fun!
Ahhhh. Good times. 🙂
Fabulous Post! 💖
I still remember your description of meat pie’s in last circumnavigation post and still crave them. You and Aly getting dozens for your next crossing. 🤗
Best pic….the eggplant with the eggs. Clever.
After reading about the Sid,-Stewart crap, I have to revise my opinion about what difficulties you have to face. I had always figured the worst would be hurricanes and typhoons, but in reality, it’s idiots.
Sail on Pat.
Nothing better thank making hundreds of thousands of dollars an only having to pay pennies for meals from 3rd world countries.
Fiji isn’t a third-world country. If you visited here you’d know that (or even taken ten seconds to Google it). While it is still a developing country, it is decidedly NOT third-world, and is classified as an Upper Middle-Income country. I imagine the Fijians here wouldn’t appreciate your ignorant take. There is nothing about Savusavu that feels third-world. I’ve been raving about how much I enjoy Fiji ever since we arrived. The food is amazing, the people we’ve met are exceedingly friendly and happy to have a chat, the water is beautiful and clean, the fruits and vegetables abundant, and the list goes on.
So you take advantage of these what you say “developing country’s” your pennies on the dollars food and services.
I can’t make sense of what you are saying. By your reasoning, as Americans with a decent income, we should not be allowed to travel to the majority of the world’s countries?
Pennies on the dollars food and services? We paid what amounted to $30/hour for freedive lessons with a native Fijian and her husband. And we pay $4-10 per person for a meal in local restaurants. These are hardly pennies on the dollar versus the US. We aren’t haggling over prices for these things. I struggle to see your point, or why you feel the need to try and make it. Maybe you can enlighten us.
$30/hour for free dive lesson? $4-10/person meals. My gosh when was the last time your family has been back to the States? That’s pennies on the dollar compared to the States.
No, I have no qualms w/ travelling to other countries. What I am saying is that you definitely are taking advantage (why not I guess) of the lower cost.
So closed-minded. How much do you think it costs them for: haulout’s in any country, shipping anything to where they are at, emergency flights back to the US, buying a boat, boat maintenance, boat anything for saltwater, scuba diving lessons, frequent electronics replacements for a family of four, internet in the middle of the Pacific so Pat could make this post for you to rant about.
And I know that many of Pat’s favorite places have costs that are much higher than anything in the US. Why are you even following this blog? It is obvious you are jealous and found a place to attack without getting kicked in the throat.
Facebook recently reminded me of an election day post I put up after the 2016 (USA) election. Each candidate spent more on their campaign than the GDP of the Caribbean country I was visiting. I think the countries appreciate my dollars more than the candidates.
Developing or 3rd world doesn’t really matter even modern high tech countries have all classes.
Having all classes doesn’t make all countries equal, though, right? Income distribution amongst those classes certainly matters and is nowhere near equal between them.
However, I think Michelle’s point is many rich people are taking advantage of these countries very cheap goods and services when they visit. The locals are not as well off of course and the rich people or well off like you Pat are getting a wonderful deal.
This is so vague. Who are these “many rich people” that are visiting and taking advantage? What are the “very cheap goods and services” in Fiji? I doubt the very rich are spending thousands of dollars to fly to Fiji in order to get a meal at half the price of what they’d pay back home. We’re not talking about multinational corporations gobbling up cheap labor. We seem to be talking about a meal at a restaurant.
Vague? Pat you are wealthy beyond imagination to the people in Fiji. Who are you trying to kid?
I’m well aware of how fortunate I am to be an American earning American dollars. I’ve stated as much countless times. In fact, there was a big fight in the comments here in the past over me stating that exact thing. The argument against me then was that American’s have it tough, too.
If people want to think we’re taking advantage of Fijians by visiting here and living life, so be it. Nothing I can say will change your mind. I can only imagine what you think when we visit actual third world countries.
Just realized that some of the comments up above weren’t actually from Michelle, they are from a guy named Stuart who has been stalking me for over five years now, even going so far as to threaten to beat me up if he ever sees me. I know, it’s really weird. Even crazier than spending time following someone you claim to hate, is to do so from your job’s internet. I’ve edited his comments so he can get the credit he deserves.
Let me just say.. Holy Fucking Christ… You developed skills that have enabled you to make enough money to travel the world. In those travels you project a positive image for a country that desperately needs one, while enriching the vastly far flung local economies with love and respect. Not to mention making the possibility of such a dream seem attainable for so many. How dare you!
My apologies. 🙂
😂 Sail on Bumfuzzles!!
He isnt from that “Sailing” site from your sordid past is he? grin…hat, coat, exit stage left..
It’s your website and you can do with it and post your “twisted” words as you please without posting the truth of my words. You are fake news.
This is what I have to deal with. Like so many, his mind seems to have been taken over by boogiemen in the last few years. Everything is “fake news” now, even a simple family travel blog. Stuart, you aren’t anonymous. It took me ten seconds to find you online, find who you work for, see pictures of your seemingly nice family, and see that you’ve been harassing me for years now while you have been at work on the company’s internet and dime. It’s really time for you to stop. You bring nothing but a sinking unhappy feeling every time another message of yours is flagged in my system. I mean, you are now impersonating other people in order to try and sneak your comments through. It’s insane behavior. It would be so easy for you to quit. Just stop visiting Bumfuzzle. That’s literally all you have to do. My family shouldn’t have to deal with you any more. I don’t harass you and your family, so why in the world would you keep coming here to do it to us? Just stop following us. At some point I’m not going to be nice about it any more.
And of course, he couldn’t help himself. Minutes later he’s raging, “I’m just posting on your public site. You don’t have to reply to anything I post.”
Isn’t that the justification of every asshole on the internet?
Jesus, now I realized that the Sid Clark posts up above are also from Stuart. Guy is a full on psycho spending all day impersonating other people in order to sneak comments through onto our site and then post replies to himself. Having a full on conversation with his multiple personalities. Five years since he threatened to beat me up and he’s only getting crazier by the day.
My words are “raging” to you. Might want to look up the definition of raging. Asshole? I’m an asshole now? Post all my comments so others can be the judge if I’m raging and an asshole.
Pat, I apologize if you feel I’ve trolled your family. Feelings are true and I will recognize them as true to you. I promise you won’t hear from me again.
Stuart, you have been the literal definition of a troll for over five years! Now, when I make your trolling public, you suddenly have a change of heart? I won’t be holding my breath.
Pat, if you know where he works and if that IP address is from a company, simply send the data to his company who can forensically investigate. Data does not lie and sure the company wouldn’t appreciate abuse on their network. You can also contact the Cybersecurity tip line to report this as well.
Good grief…there are ‘Stuarts’ all over the place even on this great blog….How about hit the road Stuart and find someone else to harass…..Great answer Pat…Safe travels to the States….Maybe see you in Mexico in the Spring…Marilyn
I just checked in today and see that this guy has been impersonating me more than once. What kind of person does that ?? Thanks, Pat for recognizing that those posts were not me.
Greetings Pat, Ali, Ouest and Lowe!
We hope you made it out of Nadi before Mal’s winds came through. We are happy to report that Bumfuzzle is just as when you left. Mal went further west than predicted so things went well, even on the west coast of Viti Levu. Here in Savusavu, things were pretty benign. Here in the marina, the highest gusts we saw were 30 kn.
Let us know how you trip back to the US was and let us know if there is anything we can do for the boat.
Cheers,
Pam & Denis
GLIDE
Thanks for the update, Pam and Denis. All good here. Safe travels on GLIDE.
Hi Pat, Ali, Ouest, and Lowe, sorry to hear you have a crazy, stalker troll. If he continues, perhaps contact the police where he lives. Or his employer. Especially since threats are involved.
Keep on having fun! Miss you!
Came for the pictures, stayed for the crazy stalker story!