Savusavu, Fiji

J Hunter Pearl tour, take 2. Yesterday we tried to go for our tour, but realized I had messed up the booking, and it was actually today.

It was just the two of us on a tour again today. First got a spiel about how Justin Hunter founded the place, and a little bit on pearl production.

Then we saw how the oysters are surgically seeded with a starter, around which the pearl will grow.

Next was a boat ride into the bay, where we snorkeled to see the oyster farms. It had rained a lot yesterday and the water was pretty murky. Even if it was clear, I don’t think it’s worth the effort to get geared up and wet for about 30 seconds of looking. You could probably see most of it from the boat.

Back to J Hunter, where there was no sales pitch at all, to our surprise. The least expensive item on display was around $2,000 FJD (over $1,000 CAD) so maybe they had already pegged us as not potential customers. We asked to see the $80 and $100 FJD bins (Radhika had given us this tip) and picked out a mostly round one for a souvenir.

We went back to our Airbnb to quickly shower (after the snorkeling). Then we drove out to see the Flora Tropica Botanical Gardens. The gate was locked, with a phone number to call. So we drove 15 minutes back to the Airbnb, called the number, arranged to meet at the gates shortly, and drive back.

Finally we got in :) The friendly gatekeeper chatted us up for a few minutes and then we were off.

The path is mostly a wooden walkway, up and down the hillside. They did have quite the variety of palms, but the star of the show for us were the parrots. We had a really good view of them eating something from a pink flowered tree.

We drove back to town, filled up the gas tank (we hadn’t driven much, just $30 FJD worth). We were glad we had the rental though; stuff is far enough away that it’s not walkable, and hailing taxis isn’t really a thing here (you have to phone for a taxi).

So it ended up being a full day. It was also the first nice sunny day we had (it’s getting into rainy season so we weren’t expecting such a nice day). Finally had a nice sunset view over the bay too.