Day 75, Year 2: Snorkeling Off the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort
Date: Sunday, July 8, 2007
Weather: Partly Sunny with Sprinkles Here and There
Location: Savusavu, Vanua Levu
The weather today was not pristine, but it was certainly good enough. We had a lazy start to the day, and then at 11 AM Paul and Marie of Ranger came over and we headed out to the point on Windbird. Safina, Scot Free II, and Maggie Drum had second thoughts about going on the snorkeling expedition, so it was just us. It took less than an hour to get down to the point and anchor off the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort. The resort is one of those beautiful South Pacific resorts with individual cottages
built in the traditional style. A one-bedbroom unit costs about $1,000 a night, so we felt really good about sitting on the Windbird “resort” which is considerably cheaper! This resort sits at the end of the eastern end of the Savusavu Bay where it meets the Koro Sea. It is a beautiful setting. Our goal today was to anchor and take our dinghies out toward the lighthouse at the very end of the point. We got about halfway out there and found one of the Cousteau moorings for their dive boats and
decided to hook on to that and snorkel from there. It was a bit windy and choppy today, so the water was not as clear as we would have liked. but still there were lots of beautiful little fish swimming amongst the coral. It was an okay first snorkel here for Steve, but it certainly was not as good as other experiences we have had in Fiji. We are sure hoping for a fantastic Fiji underwater experience for Steve in the next few days. After snorkeling, we had lunch on Windbird and then headed back
to our Copra Shed Marina mooring.
Mark, Steve, and I had dinner at the Cafe Bula Re. There was live music by the same group that was at the Yacht Club last night and the food and service was superb. Tomorrow we have to be at the bus terminal at 7 AM in order to get a seat on the 7:30 bus across the island to Labasa. They say the scenery on the way is fantastic, so this is another of those experiences where the journey is much more important than the destination. Labasa is the largest city on the island of Vanua Levu and is mostly
Indo-Fijian. I’m sure we will enjoy the market there and will hopefully have a great Indian lunch before returning to Savusavu.
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| 070708 Day 75a Vanua Levu, Fiji–Underwater at Cousteau Resort |
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| 070708 Day 75b Vanua Levu, Fiji–Savusavu Anchorage and Dinner |
