Cave Diving: Sawailau Caves, Fiji
- Girl Wanderlusting
- Jan 19, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 21, 2018
A 'must do' activity for anyone travelling to Fiji is the Sawailau Cave diving experience. Who doesn't want bragging rights to say they've done cave diving in Fiji?
The Sawailau Island is located in the Yasawa Island group, which is known for it's beautiful beaches, friendly (and some not so friendly) sea wildlife, crystal clear waters to snorkel or dive in, hiking trails and volcanic mountains (which we climbed up one) and being 1000 miles from civilisation. In other words, it's the perfect place to completely unwind and do some "once in a lifetime" activities.
The Sawailau Island has a really cool ancient story that adds to the mystic and beauty of this island. Legend has it that a young Chief and his lady hid in the cave after her family threatened to marry her off to a rival Chief. He would swim into this cave everyday to bring her food until they both could escape to an island and live happily ever after. The caves are also rumoured to be the resting place of the 10 headed ancient god, Ulutini.
We arrived to Sawailau Caves by boat which you can book either with your travel agent when booking your trip or with your resort.
To get into the caves we had to walk down some stairs into the caves entrance where a pool of deliciously cold water was waiting for us (it was a typical hot Fijian day). We took a moment to just enjoy the scenery and swim around the open cave for a little while - I mean - we were swimming in a goddamn cave!
Chilling out in the first cave before we made our way to the second cave
The guides then gave us a little safety brief and lead everyone to the opening of the completely submerged entrance to the second cave that we needed to swim through...yep...SWIM THROUGH. The cave entrance is tight and dark with only the actual torchlight at the end of the tunnel to guide us to the next cave. As we got closer to the entrance of the second cave I soon saw a big Fijian hand reach out to grab my hand (and head so I didn't hit it on the top of the cave tunnel) and he led me safely through to the second cave.
Once we were in the second cave the first thought I had was "damn i just swam through a freaking cave!" followed by "it's dark a.f. in here guys".
We were then be guided to a buoy that can hold about 10 people on it and you'll just float/swim through the cave as the guides told us the legend of the Chief with his betrothed and the 10 headed god Ulutini. We then swam our way back through the cave (this time it wasn't so scary).
If you're not comfortable with idea of having to swim through a tight dark place, don't worry you're not forced to do this at all and are encouraged to spend the time enjoying the first cave.
Stay Outdoors,
L x
Hot Tips
The caves are located in the south of the Yasawa Islands
It is best accessed with a guide, so don't try and do this one on your own
You can get to this island via a seaplane but if you're a budget conscious traveller the boat ride is wallet-friendly, beautiful and a chance to see Manta Rays (and if you're lucky the guides might stop the boat ride for everyone to jump in and swim with them!)
Don't forget your camera!
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