So whilst we’re generally waiting for a decent window to sail to New Zealand, and it still being a bit early, we decided to head up to Sawa-i-Lau towards the top of the Yasawa chain. Neither of us had been there before - the main draw being the caves that seem to have turned into a major tourist attraction in the area.

We had a pretty good sail up there, and anchored near a couple of super yachts and a few cruisers.

It was quite windy, so we passed on the first day. The second day a cruise ship arrived. Then another. So it took us a while before we headed over to the large limestone, tree covered island (close to the big sailing superyacht). There the negotiations started! The opening gambit was FJ$50/person. This is quite an uplift on the FJ$10/person in the guide! And we didn’t have that much cash anyway, as we’re running down the fiji dollars. The immediate comeback was that they charge the resorts FJ$35/person - and so we could pay the same. We didn’t have that much either (well, without going back to the boat - but we didn’t tell them that!). So they settled on FJ$45 total. And into the caves we went.

The first cave is down some steps with a short ladder into the water. The water is much cooler than outside - but it is sea water and does rise/fall with the tide. It was a bit strange, I guess because of our reduced fee, but we had no guide - so we swam around for a bit. Found what we thought was the tunnel to the next cave (which is a short duck dive) but we heard another group coming. We spoke to their guide, and he confirmed our thoughts - so I ducked into the next cave and had it all to myself until their guide arrived.

The inner cave was quite large, with some shallow spots. I think there’s a 3rd cave but the tunnel is a bit longer - I had a look but couldn’t confirm that there was air at the far end, so didn’t risk the swim. Plus by this point we were getting a bit chilly! So as the new group swam into the cave, we opted to head back out. Once back into the sun and sea (which felt so warm in comparison!) we soon warmed up.

After the caves, we started south - and we’re now basically loitering in the Musket Cove area until we see a weather window. A big group left a week or so ago, but had a lot of head winds. More are leaving this week but its looking like 4-5 days motoring, which isn’t much fun. We have a few jobs we can be doing anyway, so we’ll wait for another window.