Friday 8 July Sawa-i-Lau caves

Sawa-i-lau cave

The caves on Sawa_I-Lau have been formed by rainwater falling on the limestone mount and filtering through to erode a series of caves in the base. They are a big tourist attraction with many boats coming with guests from nearby resorts and usually a handful of yachts anchored off in this stunning location. The local villagers man the attraction one man collecting the F$10 fee, two young guys down in the caves guiding and a small army of ladies selling shell necklaces on the beach in front.

There's a flight of concrete steps up into the entrance and then a flight down through over hanging rocks to reach the first pool. We visitors floated in the pool clad in masks, snorkels and some (us) with fins ready to be called forward and be pushed through the swim through. At Mariners Cave in Tonga we had to swim down a couple of metres and in 4m to reach the inner cave. Sawa is much easier, in fact one had only to duck ones head to access the inner labyrinth. We went a short way in but the full cave system has not been explored because it extends too far – possibly miles. Inside it was dark and you needed a torch to illuminate the high cathedral roof vault, to see the stalactites descending to water level and under the water the stalagmites reaching up from the depths. The presence of stalagmites would suggest the cave system was formed when the sea level was lower.

Sawa lagoon

By midday the bay was quiet once more. The day trippers had cleared off on their jet skis and skiffs back to their resorts, the village ladies packed up their shells and gone home to prepare meals. The sea was that perfect blue that invites more exploration and an intriguing lagoon over a shallow sand bar demanded further investigation. A perfect time to launch the kayak. David and I headed out first in our racing kayak with the Stray Kitties and Tahina close by. The far side of the lagoon is open to the sea with waves and current falling over the coral bar giving us a good work out paddling into wind and tide. It was beautiful; I could have lingered all afternoon but the sun was too fierce for that and we wanted to give Amy and Andrew the kayak so they could explore too.

My first impressions of the Yasawa are all positive; the villagers are as warm and welcoming as those in the northern parts though more economically savvy with shells sales, the landscape quite different, drier, higher islands and the water that shade of blue you only see on tourist posters. What it does have in common with the places we've visited before is an anchorage littered with coral outcrops to snag one's chain on. At least we know we'll never drag....