More on Sawa-i-Lau and Photos

We were treated to spectacular views of the rocky island of Sawa-i-Lau and the beautiful hills and water of the surrounding area. And we enjoyed the visit to the village and school (read more). But, one of the main tourist attractions to the area are some caves inside Sawa-i-Lau. Resorts and cruise ships regularly bring people to swim in the caves and charge FJ$10 per person. Chris on Stray Kitty spoke to one of the locals and suggested to them his kids should be for free – and they agreed. Cool move! There are two main caves – one with an open roof that is well lit, and the other (no pictures of this one) was all dark and you had to swim a short distance under the rock to get in. They say the caves go way back under the mountain, but we weren’t given the opportunity to explore far. But, it was still fun.

We also did some kayaking around Sawa-i-Lau. There’s a narrow passage between Sawa-i-Lau and an island just north, with spectacular views of the rock and tropical vegetation, beautiful waters, and a nice view of the mountain from the well-lit north side. The only problem was that we went near high tide and we had a strong current and the wind opposing us.

On another morning, I took the kayak to explore the west side of Sawa-i-Lau. I stopped off at a beautiful little rock-filled beach with soft white sand. I took a bunch of pictures of the beach and our anchorage. I also explored along other parts of the shore, but my battery died on the camera. There were signs of a small village off one beach that had been abandoned a few years earlier. On the way back, the tourist boats started showing up for the cave for another day’s income. They have to time it when the tide is low enough for people to swim through, so it is only open for a couple of hours each day.

It was time to move on to our next destination, so we left yesterday and moved over to an anchorage called the Blue Lagoon which is near Turtle Island. It was only about 10 miles away, so a short ride. Here is a big album of photos from Sawa-i-Lau. It includes photos from our passage to the island, our visit to the village and school, the scenic views, the cave, and the kayaking. Definitely one of our most scenic stops in Fiji. Read more from the first post.

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