Fire-dance show

When we were in Savusavu, some other yachties strongly recommended that we leave Nimrod in Denarau rather than Vuda Marina, and also that we attend the fire-dance show at the Robinson Crusoe Resort on Likuri Island, just south of Nadi.

So after arriving at Denarau, and getting most of our jobs done, we rented a car to explore.

We loved a botanical garden called The Garden of the Sleeping Giant.

The fire-dance show involved being picked up from a jetty and taken by boat to Likuri Island. Yachties could anchor there themselves, but we had run out of time when we were in the area.

The show was indeed spectacular, and to be recommended. 

There were moments when it became a bit 'cruise-shippy', and we heard the chant 'Bula' more times than we needed, but the main effect was that the locals were making a good effort to monetise their culture in a world with limited need for the things that Fiji produces, while still keeping some level of authenticity. A very difficult balancing act!

Two worlds collide

There are various challenges involved in the cruising life.

Weather

Navigation, especially where the charts are dodgy

Sea-sickness

Stuff breaking and needing to be fixed

Provisioning and cooking

They all cause their moments, but by and large we get better at dealing with them.

The one I find most difficult, when cruising in the Third World, is poverty and inequality.

After Waya Island, we continued south down the Yasawa Chain to Musket Cove, which is a sophisticated port on the cruising circuit in the Mamanuca Islands, not far from the main Fiji Island of Viti Levu. Fiji is a country which has a GPD per capita of US$4,375. The equivalent figure for Australia is US$67,458. There is a lot of obvious poverty in the villages that we visited. Mere, the wife of our guide up the mountain on Waya Island, worked at a local resort for FJ$2.20 per hour. That is AU$1.40. She serves glasses of wine at $20 a glass.

But Fiji is also a favoured cruising ground for superyachts. Musket Cove is one of their stops.

'Encore'. 144 feet. Approx $50 million. The owners are Australian philanthropists.

I've got more balls than you!

Dragonfly, owned by a senior Google executive.

A Sunreef 60 catamaran

Likuliku Lagoon resort. Overwater bures for FJ$22,000 per week

'Atlantic' a three masted schooner 227 feet long. Available for charter.

Opulent, yes. But she sure does look pretty under sail. Here posing for a cameraman under the umbrella on the beach of a cay. 

A handsome Kiwi ketch in Musket Cove

Sheraton Denarau