Golden Shellbackers !
09 September 2017 | 17 46.275'S:177 11.271'E, Suva to Musket Cove, Fiji
JD
17.30 and we have left Suva behind us. Sailing out through the narrow reef channel on mega alert and we turn to starboard direction Musket Cove, one of the top resorts in Fiji. A 110 nm, 18 hours sailing/motoring as the winds were not on the menu, and I must say am quite happy with that for once.
00.00 - 03.00am My second watch started off in the pitch dark and now with the big red moon rising, we can actually read a book without a light! The whole sea around us is lit up and I enjoy once again one of nature's wonders. To starboard I can hear the reef gushing, relaxing and alerting at the same time. The sails have just come up again and my new baked break, recipe generously given to us by Bill Gunn, Bistro Tatau in Apia, is still warm and smelling nicely. Not sure it will make the morning !
Suva.. not very interesting in itself but one gets attached to it in a strange way. People over friendly but one is more alert in the streets here. With the big cyclone 3 years ago many lost their homes and crime is high. A small capital with the bus station as central attraction point, buses in all colours as all the school children who all wear skirts. Straight skirts boys and girls, just below the knee, but many men do too...The vegetable market with unrecognizable fruits, 3 new shopping malls for the cruise liners and just a few streets makes up this capital, which is mostly a port. Most travel by bus, few cars around. With a minimum salary of 1.05 US$, compared to 15 in Australia or NZ, makes most young ones leave. A very nice museum to visit and we have met some lovely friends of friends. Charles Fisher, thank you ! Ken & Lyn Mcdonald made our stay a memorable one, and being invited guests to their 50/60th birthday party at their wonderful restaurant 'The Governors' we got introduced to real Fiji island life.
06.10 , so 10 minutes into my next watch, the ocean has turned into a lake, this magical orange ball just showed up and looks at its most intense... it actually showed up behind us to the right and the moon right ahead of us seemed to have just turned off. From now on the moon as the sun will stay to starboard side which is a big change.
Reading about shellbackers gave a wonderful surprise as to find out that we are actually 'Golden Shellbackers'... 'Another rare status is the Golden Shellback, a person who has crossed the Equator at the 180th meridian. The rarest Shellback status is that of the Emerald Shellback, or Royal Diamond Shellbeck, which is received after crossing the equator at the prime meridian 00*00 ( this being south on Togo) A next trip maybe ??
13.30 we anchored in Muskat... a true bounty island...what more can I say !