Friday 11^th September 2015

With the laundry done and safely stowed in the dinghy, we went for a stroll around Port Denarau.   We found that there was to be a free fire-dancing show there at 6:30 and as we hadn’t so far seen any, we decided to stay and watch.  The show was held in the fountain area of the shopping mall, with a backdrop of brightly-lit shop windows, so the ambience was not terribly atmospheric, but if one concentrated on the dancers it was possible to fade these out.  There were four or five different dances, each from a different Pacific Island, performed by one group of four men and three women, which began to be a little repetitive and our interest was waning when the grand finale of the fire dancing began.  This was far more interesting, energetic and enjoyable, and we were glad we had persevered till the end!

The dancing was pleasant enough, but we struggled to keep our interest in it after the first couple of dances.

The grand finale!

The group were very accomplished in their fire twirling – the ladies in particular seemed at more risk of being burnt as the balls of fire they swung around had to be kept moving and couldn’t be left to dangle as the flames would then lick dangerously close to their fingers! 

By now it was too late to think about cooking a meal, so we decided instead to eat ashore – now we just needed to find somewhere that wasn’t charging silly tourist prices!  We settled on Cardo’s on the waterfront, where we had friendly service and a pleasant meal at not too ridiculous a price.

Surprisingly, even though this close to a Mojito bar, Steve did not indulge!

The final task of the day was to find our way back to the boat – no mean task in the dark along the channel and then out to the anchorage.  No wonder Steve didn’t go for a mojito!  As ever though, my intrepid skipper came up trumps and got us safely, if a little soggy, back to Scott-Free.