Sam Snaaps

On dry land.

As I begin to write this, it has been one week since I arrived in Savusavu. Since I had experienced living here 5 years ago, I had good memories of what the town was like. As with any old memory there are gaps and mistakes which I was excited to reconnect with, simple things like the layout of the town, where each shop was, and the names of the key places within the town. The clearest memory I had was the airport, perhaps due to how frequently I passed it on the bus on my way to work, or perhaps due to how shocked I was that an airport could be so small! As simple as a stretch of tarmac with space for one small plane, and an arrivals/departures waiting area, with only one wall, just big enough for 10 people.

The following evening I drove through town, to my temporary place of stay, as my permanent place is hosting wedding guests. Colin chucked me into his truck and told me to follow him down steep dirt roads so he can make sure my van was operational. After over 30 hours of flying I had to summon all my remaining energy and focus to navigate those uneven roads. While travelling, all of my memories, emotions, and feelings came flooding back as I reconnected with my former time here, which, after 30 hours of travel on almost no sleep was quite overwhelming and emotional. Unable to get a SIM for internet, I was totally disconnected and unable to tell my loved ones at home I had arrived safely, and for the first time, I felt alone and a long way from home.

The outside of “The Townhouse” from the water as I passed by boat, and the interior – kitchen and living space. And who wouldn’t love having breakfast with that view?

I took the following day as rest, to recover from my long journey. I was eager to talk to home so I took a trip into town in my van to get a SIM, and fill up my fridge with some comfort. While on foot, I felt that my senses were recognising this place, but it was as if someone turned up the intensity of everything, there were more cars, more people, more noise. The smell of the town in my memory was not far different from any natural coastal environment, salty sea air with tropical humidity, yet this time it smells different from mother natures intention. The town has clearly developed an enormous amount since I was last here, perhaps due to the attractive wealth from the new marina development on an Island adjacent to town. Sleepy-old Savusavu is clearly waking up and looking for breakfast.

The Savusavu town market is open every day except Sunday, the perfect place to go for veggies!

Speaking to people who call Savusavu home, the opinions of these changes are mixed. Many say that the rise in development has taken away from the small town atmosphere they used to know, and the destruction of natural spaces (such as mangroves) that has happened to facilitate this growth is sickening. However some say that prosperity for the locals is important, and more jobs/money for locals is not to be denied, and if this development is the answer then it must be accepted. As a passionate ecologist I side with the former arguments currently, but I do understand these ecological implications might need to be balanced with the growth, for the sake of the society.

Left: 5 years ago, very early stages of the marina development, the deforestation can be seen on the island. Right: present day showing the same island that has been totally transformed and dredged into a marina for large sailing yachts.

Taking a dip.

I was relieved to start working. I really needed to start my routine by getting underwater, doing what I’m good at, and what I know best. It was, after all, the reason I came here.

Before I got back into the water, I was incredibly apprehensive towards what I might or might not find down there. I am no stranger to the challenges faced by coral reefs, following my studies in marine conservation, and I was just hoping with every fiber of my being that so far Fiji has found a way to escape the wrath of our climate disaster. I was not able to find any monitoring data for the area before my arrival, so I had no idea what stat

Much like in the rest of Savusavu, I am immediately noticing the changes that have slowly yet persistently occurred on the reef. One of my all time favorite sites to dive; “Dreamhouse” stayed in my memory as a beautiful oasis of soft coral, standing tall and proud in the surrounding blue. Yet my first reaction upon returning was – where is all the soft coral? I can’t tell you yet if this is good or bad, as the hard corals have seemingly flourished into the dominant substrate, yet by their size and population density they are clearly young. Thankfully the fish populations are continuing their success on this reef as I was elated to see diversity and abundance on the productive side of the reef, where the currents are delivering food from afar.

Some of the soft corals on show have really stunning colours, these photos are from my first time in Savusavu. The soft corals are still present, but not as common as I remember. The anthias on show (upper right tile) made their home within the habitat provided by the complex hard coral structures.

Closer to shore, another one of my favorite sites- “Purple Garden“, named after the impressive pinnacles which rise from the seabed covered in purple soft coral leaves me a little less reassured than dreamhouse. The soft coral seems healthy, and whilst I have only dived it twice so far I have felt there are fish missing. At this stage I can’t say for certain if it is the case, and what may be the cause, perhaps the current was simply going the wrong way and the fish were somewhere else feeding. Curiously it wasn’t just the large fish that I was missing, such as humphead wrasse, which you would expect if fishing was the culprit. I felt that at all trophic levels, from the tiny algae eating anthias and damselfish to the larger predatory groupers and snappers, the site was at about 50% fish biomass of how I remember it. I remain hopeful that it can be put down the the conditions on the day, but I will keep monitoring the situation.

Otherwise, the diving is still incredibly beautiful, with good visibility on a sunny day reaching above 20 meters, and I have been lucky enough to see the school of hammerheads, and a large manta ray already.

Here we have some image from above the school of scalloped hammerhead sharks, photo taken between 25 and 30 meters deep.

Overall my first impressions are positive. I think it may take some time to get myself fully settled in, and when I move out of the townhouse into my permanent place, I hope I will be able to settle a lot quicker. For now at least I am listening to my needs to help the settling process go as smoothly as possible, as it is difficult to be so far from my family and loved ones, so if you’re reading this and you’re a Franks/Foltynie team member or someone close to my heart, Bula from Fiji and I miss you all!