Family Vacation Day 8 & 9 June 2024

My husband was feeling a bit worse than he had the previous evening so we had a quiet morning at the rental property. He felt up to keeping our afternoon plans, kayaking at Salt Lake. This picture of Salt Lake is from Tourism Fiji (https://www.fiji.travel/places-to-go/vanua-levu/places/salt-lake)

The lake is an inland sea fed by the ocean's tides. It covers about 100 acres. We rented kayaks from Mangrove Jacks Kayaks. They were in the process of finishing building their dock area. The company is very safety conscious. Our guide Bandroo, led us down the tidal river to Salt Lake while another tour guide "followed at a discreet distance" in a small motor boat for our safety.

Waiting for everyone to get in their kayak.

Heading towards Salt Lake, we heard a lot of barking dogs and a loud squealing pig. Our guide told us there are lots of wild pigs in the mountains. Fijian locals hunt the pigs with dogs and spears. We were hearing an active hunt. 

This was such a peaceful way to spend the day. The weather was perfect - sunny and not too hot.

We kayaked around the perimeter of the lake.

Boogs was so relaxed that at one point I thought he had fallen asleep in his kayak. 

We were there for a couple of hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.

There was an island of mangrove trees in the middle of the lake. Our guide told us a story about how the island has been there since Fijians were still cannibals. He said a chief used the island to escape being eaten by his enemies. I could not quite understand his story and am not sure of its accuracy.

There were snails all over the trees on the mangrove island.

My co-worker gave me these glasses for my trip so I had to take a picture wearing them.

There is a floating dock on the lake. Our guide and the boat driver met up with some people they knew at the floating dock and started having a picnic. The owner of Mangrove Jacks said we were renting the kayaks for two hours. So at the two hour mark, we asked when we needed to head back. Bandroo told us it would be too difficult to head back for 3 hours because we needed to wait for the tide to turn before we paddled back. That did not sound right to us. The people at the floating dock offered us lunch. My husband was starting to feel worse, so we really were ready to go. After about half an hour of Boogs, my husband and me floating in one spot a little ways from the dock, Bandroo decided it would be a good time to go back. The paddle back was not difficult. I think he just wanted to hang out with his friends.

When we returned to Mangrove Jacks, they told us to paddle all the way down the side of the dock, instead of at the end where we first loaded into the kayaks, so it would be easier for them to get the kayaks out of the water. The waterway beside the dock was narrow, shallow, and difficult to navigate. There was not really enough room to properly use the paddles, The paddles kept hitting the dock and mud just below the surface. 

They told us to stay in the kayak while they tried to pull it up the bank by rolling it up and over some moving pvc pipes. They flipped the kayak sideways and dumped my husband into the muddy water. His foot got stuck in the mud, he almost lost his shoe, and had a hard time getting out of the mud to crawl up the bank. He was not happy at all! What a way to mess up a peaceful afternoon. 

The owner apologized and let my husband go into the house and take a shower. Luckily, we brought a dry change of clothes with us. The owner tried to get all of the mud off my husband's shoes. They picked some bananas off their tree and gave them to us as an apology. 

We spent part of the evening in the pool before dinner then watched another beautiful sunset.

There was a big rainstorm on the morning of day 9. We were supposed to be on a scuba boat at 8:30 but we canceled. Overcast skies and stirred up water does not make for good diving conditions, plus my husband was still not feeling well. He spent most of the day resting in bed. Boogs and I hung out in the pool for a good part of the day. During the afternoon, Boogs and I took a cab into town to go to the grocery store. It was a really quiet day.

Family Fiji Vacation Day 7 June 2024

Day 7 was another great day of diving for us. We were so happy we started diving with Koro Sun Dive. I think this was our best diving day of our trip. We dove at The Chimneys and Grand Central Station dive sites. We saw tons of fish, 7 sharks, lobsters, and starfish. Marine life was abundant and active. The current was not as strong at Grand Central Station as it was the last time we dove here. It made the dive less strenuous and more enjoyable.

The Koro Sun dive boat at the Savasi Island Resort lagoon.

Boogs and me rocking our big hats on the dive boat heading out to our first dive site.

Had to get an underwater photo with Boogs.

This starfish was big. I was surprised at how smooth it looked.

Such a healthy reef with tons of marine life and beautiful coral.

The fish kept scattering when I tried to get a picture with them.

We went looking for sharks and found many reef sharks. I signaled "shark" to my husband so he could film one. The shark he filmed was not very clear, so I didn't post it. I'll post shark videos on day 11. 

Close up of an eel.

Busy little clown fish.

There were so many colorful little fish on these reefs.

My husband started feeling a little sick the evening of day 7. We had a quiet evening with a beautiful sunset.

Family Vacation Fiji - Day 6 June 2024

We had another great dive day with Kor Sun Dives. We went to two dive sites - Dream House and Turtle Alley. Both were incredible dives. We enjoyed the abundance and variety of small fish and the beautiful coral formations.

Dive master Jeff led us thorough a passageway at Turtle Alley dive site. We saw three turtles at this dive site.

These butterfly fish were so graceful. They followed us around for almost 20 minutes. At one point, a pair of them swam right over my head and cast a little bit of a shadow. I freaked out a little because I could sense something right above me and was hoping it wasn't a shark. I was so happy to see that it was just these fish.

Today's dive sites were perfect. We had such a good time.

During our first dive, we went searching for hammerhead sharks. Jeff led the group out into the deep blue water at around 85 feet.

It was a bit unsettling being out in the deep blue water away from the coral reefs. Every direction you looked (up, down, left, right, forward, backward) was just empty blue water. It was very disorienting. My husband set his camera to record and let it run. This is a portion of that video. My husband said he felt dizzy like he had vertigo, that is why the video is so jerky. We all stayed close to Jeff so we would not get lost or left behind. It was amazing how small and vulnerable you felt being out in the deep blue water, not sure if anything (sharks) was coming towards you. It certainly made our hearts beat a bit faster. Unfortunately, we did not see any hammerheads. But we did see some large striped barracudas.

After we finished our dives, we went to the Savusavu Farmer's Market. I wish I would have taken a picture of the rows and rows of produce and goods laid out on wooden tables. We bought potatoes, papaya, passion fruit, eggplant, pineapple, and bok choy. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool. I made a spicy meal using the bok choy and eggplant with ground turkey. It was delicious. 

We watched the sunset while we enjoyed our dinner. I cannot imagine ever getting tired of the view of the ocean from the back deck of Sega Na Leqa.

Family Vacation to Fiji - Day 5 June 2024

Today was a fun day of exploring. Bablu, the taxi driver our host has a contract with, picked us up and drove us 40 minutes to the Vuodomo Village and Waterfall. The road to Vuodomo was filled with potholes. We were happy to let Bablu drive us there. I think it would have been difficult to find our way if we had driven ourselves. When we arrived, we stopped at the village community center to buy tickets to the falls. There were handmade items and souvenirs for sale. My husband bought a small hand carved bowl. Boogs bought a carved wooden necklace. I bought two sulus (sarongs). Then we drove to the head of the trail to the waterfall. 

The area was absolutely gorgeous! There were many colorful plants and trees.

The trail to the waterfall was well manicured. There were parts of the trail that were a bit steep but not too difficult for my arthritic knees.

Bablu led the way. I was, of course, falling behind because I like to stop and take pictures.

We were lucky, only one other family was on the trail with us. It was so serene and beautiful.

The area around the waterfall is lush. There was a worker making sure the area was clean and the pool around the waterfall free of leaves.

We enjoyed swimming near and underneath the waterfall. The water was about 74 degrees Fahrenheit. 

After about an hour of swimming, we were beginning to get too cold to continue to stay in the water. 

We changed into dry clothes in the little three sided shed near the waterfall. Then, Bablu drove us to the see the awesome view at Urata Lookout Cafe. 

The view was amazing!

We had a little bite to eat at the cafe. The outdoor seating had a beautiful view. I had a delicious spicy potato wrap while my guys and Bablu had baked goods.

We returned to Sega Na Leqa and swam for a while in our pool. We didn't have anything else planned for the day so we took some time to explore the property and beach near Sega Na Leqa. There are several benches on the property. They are great for sitting and listening to the birds and the ocean waves.

There are many different kinds of trees on the property - banana, lemon, lime coconut, and papaya. The property handbook says guests are allowed to collect and eat any fruit on the trees that they can reach. There is also a garden. The owners have two workers that are on-site taking care of the property most days.

We learned that the letter "q" is pronounce and "ng". Sega Na Leqa means "no worries".

The driveway up to the house was a beast! It took a bit of practice to easily drive up the narrow driveway with a manual transmission vechicle.

We walked along the beach below the house. Some guests snorkel in this area. We prefer scuba diving over snorkeling.

This tree was huge. Local built wooden steps up and over the trunk end. We enjoyed climbing on it.

This is the view of Sega Na Leqa from the road in front of the house. You can see my blue towel drying on the deck railing. While down near the road, we saw someone sleeping in a tarp tent on the property near the fence line. We asked Dee, the house cleaner/manager, about it. She said the men that work on the property rest in the shade in the tarp tent when there are guests. When there are no guests, they rest on the decks of the house during the hottest part of the day.

There was only one ripe (yellow) papaya on the trees while we stayed on the property. It was too tall for us to reach. We enjoyed our fresh papaya from the farmer's market in Savusavu.

It was good day. We really enjoy the peacefulness of Vanua Levu island and exploring more of the island.