Behind the Mast: New Faces and New Places in the Southern Hemisphere

Sweet Sailing all the way to Raki Raki

As change is the only constant, Slow Dance goes through yet another change of crew and it just keeps getting better! Marlyn was with us 60 days when she was offered a position on the super yacht Noble House, which she accepted; good luck to you Marlyn, we wish you fair winds and following seas. New to the crew are a great bunch of young folk; Eskil from Sweden and his lovely girl Elane, who we call Irish, as that is where she hails from. Also aboard, is their traveling buddy Josh, whom we call Wyoming, as that is where he is from. Josh is an advent fly fisherman and is due back in his home state at the end of June for his summer job of leading other enthusiastic fly fisherman to where a "River runs through it". It's wonderful to have Josh aboard as he has caught some tasty fish along the way to Kandavu Island. You can catch his blog at: www.joshgallivan.com Elane's band" is called Freezerroom", ranked number 8 in Ireland. Check her out at www.bandcamp.com/freezerroom.com Elaine Dowling. Seems I bought my flute just in time as we have had some great jams these past weeks around the camp fire on the beaches of Ono. Captain Sean found them working on a boat anchored in Denarau, for a sailor who promised them some sailing in exchange for work on his boat. Needless to say, they were happy to get off that boat as they did more work than sailing. It is a pleasure to have them aboard as the boat has not sailed this great in a very long time. Captain Sean has worked hard at restoring Slow Dance to all her former glory; the rigging is fixed, the sails are mended, the wenches are serviced, the generators run smooth, the water makers work like a charm, the evil odors are gone, and the rails are varnished. All in time for the Bollywood shoot.

Eskil and Elane

Wyoming

Josh's father is a CIA culinary grad and has a restaurant in Jackson Hole. Josh loves the food on Slow Dance and has been very complimentary of the meals served, which have included Indian, Italian, Thai, Mexican, Cajun, American and all the great fresh fish he has caught for us!

Nice going Josh! We hadn't seen a Mahi Mahi for a long time. We ate this guy up and he was delicious. Oh yeah, Josh did not catch him with his fly rod!

Elane play's us an original tune.

Slow Dance landed the Bollywood deal and we will need to report to Raki Raki on the north side of Vita Lavu June 20, to begin shooting. They have leased an entire resort to house the film crew coming in from all parts of the world, so we look forward to an interesting time of it.

Ron's friend Elaine came for a 10 day visit and we spent the time in Musket Cove and surrounding Islands. We had a blast visiting resorts and barbequing on shore, complete with jam sessions, fire dancing, and tight rope walking. Elaine is quite the acrobat.

Because your mine, I walk the line

BJ gives it a try at Musket Cove and was quite a natural! Even after a few brews

The kids found a great spot for the evening camp fire, near Ono Island.

This was an awesome spot on one of the small islands inside the reef, where Eskil climbed for coconuts

Elaine enjoyed the hospitality and company on Slow Dance

Breakfast at the resort with Elaine. Ron is always the happiest with his arms wrapped around two dolls!

Cookie mingles with the locals

Miss you already Elaine and hope you send us some of the great photo's you took.

After Elaine departed back to Los Angeles, Slow Dance didn't want to hang around Denarau, so we headed out for Kandavu island in the south of Fiji and although beautiful, it's damn cold here! We are all bundled up in sweatshirts and blue jeans. I keep forgetting I am in the Southern Hemisphere and to get warm you must go north NOT south. The reef here is amazing and hopefully we will be able to get in the water if the sun ever shines again. Having unusual rain for this time of the year.

Chart of Kandavu and Islands inside the reef

Kandavu is the fourth largest island in Fiji, a mountainous,varied island of waterfalls, outrageous vistas, deserted long stretches of beach, and home to the renowned Astrolabe reef.
There are three hilly sections of Kandavu joined by two low isthmuses and the sea cuts deep into the island. Ono is the smallest island northeast of the main island and here the amazing Astrolabe reef stretches halfway to Suva! Only 8000 people inhabit these three islands in the villages scattered across the 50-by-13 km island 100 km from Suva. In the 1800s Kandavu was a hub for steamers bound for New Zealand and was considered for the capital of Fiji, however, Suva was chosen as the capital and Kandavu was left to lead it's sleepy village life. Today only a handful of visitors come to the island which resembles a wasp on the map as the island makes a comeback with new roads and a small air strip. There are fabulous hiking trails and villages where woman still make pottery using a paddle to shape the pots, firing them in an open fire. They use sap from the mangrove trees to glaze the pots. Kandavu is also famous for the green and red parrots which can be readily seen and heard.
There are no banks anywhere on the islands and no restaurants. The resorts are not fancy and mostly cater to divers who come here for a remote dive vacation. You can get Padi certification, but the prices are high for Fiji.
Now here's the really cool thing guys; The woman of Namuna village to the west can summon giant sea turtles up from the sea with their songs and chants! They sing traditional chants to the vu (ancestral spirits) on a bluff 60 meters above the sea. The woman wear beautiful garlands around their necks and within 15 minutes of their song the giant turtles appear. The turtles and their mates swim up and down slowly just off shore below the overhanging rocks. Just south of the airstrip you can take a 10 minute hike to Walkana falls,where cool water flows down from a 10 meter cliff between 2 deep pools of delicious water which are perfect for a refreshing swim on a hot day. If only it were hot!
The villages have become hostile to unannounced tourist so you must present the chief with a sevusevu (gift) to engage in any hiking or surfing. We have plenty of Kava and Tabasco on board so this shouldn't be a problem for us. We also brought lots of books, writing tablets, colored pencils, and other school items for the children, because in remote places these items are hard to come by.

The great Astrolabe reef spans 30 km along the east side of the small islands north of Kandavu. The reef is 1 km wide and still alive with beautiful coral and marine-life. Because the reef is far from shore it has not been fished out so we hope to do some great fishing. Our fly fisher boy Wyoming (Josh) is eager to drop some lines. The reef surrounds a lagoon containing 10 small islands, the largest which is Ono as mentioned before. The reef was named after French explorer Dumont d' Urville who almost lost his ship in 1827 called "The Astrolabe".
There are numerous openings on the west side of the reef and the lagoon is never over 10 fathoms deep, which makes it perfect for diving and yachting. The Astrolabe reef features a vertical drop of 10 meters on the inside and 1,800 meters on the outside, with viability of about 75 meters the water is so clear! There are underwater caves and coral walls which MUST be seen to be believed!

Deserted beach where we had an amazing camp fire

Mexican Feast underway

Small Sea Bass Josh caught. I pan sauteed' it with cilantro, lime, and Mexican spices.

Private Island

The Wahoo Josh caught, prepared Cajun style

Mexican day on Slow Dance. The fish was still on the BBQ

Pirate Bar, Musket Cove

Josh with an awesome and delicious Yellow Jack, which is NOT a tuna but because of the one yellow fin on-top that's what the locals call it. The flesh was firm, white, and delicious.

Ron and Cookie color coordinated.

Eskil and Josh take five

Sun going down over the reef

Josh tries his hand at fly-fishing on Ono

The sail back from Kandavu was amazing to say the least. We had a good downhill run beam reach, with the wind at 25 knots from the back of the boat and sailed her at 9 knots the whole way. The crew really got it down and Sean had the crew practice every possible sail change, using every sail we have including the storm sail. We put out the Jib, Genoa, Genica, Mizzen, and the main. It was a beautiful sight indeed and quite thrilling. Ron was beaming from ear to ear! We sailed Wing and Wing catching the wind with ease.