Ready Set Wait!

Tuesday was 'fuel' day! An early ferry into town, making the rounds of the Port Captain's office, customs and BP fuel depot were the steps involved in lining up delivery of 200 litres of dutyfree diesel to the wharf. Then ferry back to Pangaimotu and bring Toketie back to town to take on the fuel! It would have been much easier if we could have tied up to the wharf to do the paperwork but the only mooring is med style and with the breeze across the harbour it would have been more trouble to set
that twice than taking the ferry in! But we managed and then rafted to a catamaran, pumped the diesel out of the drum into our jerry jugs, lugged them across the catamaran and siphoned them into our tanks. Fortunately the rain held off for those two hours! Back to the anchorage in time to catch a special ferry back to town to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner with four other boats.
Wednesday was paperwork day again and we went in and cleared out of the country officially! But don't tell anyone as we are still here, waiting for the right weather window to leave. Tomorrow is All Hallows Eve and a party will be held at Big Mama's and Saturday night Big Mama has invited all the 'yachties' in the anchorage to a barbeque to celebrate her son and her husband's birthdays. So if we don't get out of here for a few days, we should be busy.
We also sent the water jugs in by ferry to be filled and transported them back on board. The infrastructure in this port is pretty bad. There are no taps for water at the dock and no pumps for fuel. It all has to be trucked down and loaded by hand or pumped out of the tanker truck in the case of a larger quantity.
But in spite of all this, we like Nuku'alofa and are glad we stopped here. Some boats left directly from Neiafu and passed us yesterday without stopping but a squall hit them and turned three or four of them back 100 miles to do some repairs in Nuku'alofa.
So other than the final stowing and lashing, we are ready to go. We are expecting McDavitt's weather report and routing plan in the next few days and will then head south to Opua, NZ!

Big Mama's

Preparations!

Last night was the 'bring your own'meat barbeque at Big Mama's! Lots of boats in here now, counted 26 yesterday and they are still arriving from the N islands. There were about 12 when we arrived a week ago. The theme for the Barbeque was 'pirates', kind of an early Halloween. We cobbled something together and had fun!
But there is an underlying tension here as everyone plans for the last 1000 miles to NZ. As I may have mentioned previously, this passage is less predictable weatherwise. Because it can take 8-10 days to complete it, the weather systems coming off the coast of Australia and moving E over NZ can develop in 4 or 5 days time so your best guess when you leave can change radically by the time you approach NZ. We have engaged Bob McDavitt who is the local weather guru to do a prognosis for us on the
best departure date. At this point we are targeting sometime in the first week of Nov! Meanwhile we have to figure out how to do the paperwork for the dutyfree diesel. As we have not taken fuel on since French Polynesia, we can now take 200 liters and the savings are about 1/3 the cost. As we will need to go into the harbour to top up our water tanks, we will top up the fuel tanks at the same time. It is complicated though because they will not issue the dutyfree form until you clear out of
the country and then they expect you to leave. We plan to do the formalities and then wait for our weather window with everything stowed and ready.
Repaired the windless! It was a terribly corroded wire under the foredeck which was difficult to diagnose, difficult to access and almost impossible to repair! But it's done and works and should last to NZ where I can replace the whole plug. The cooling water coming out of the engine exhaust vent hose on deck is not so easy. The checkvalve must have failed and I cannot replace it here. So other than pouring water down the side deck when we motor, there does not seem to be any harm in leaving
it till NZ.
Provisioning has begun, a couple of trips into Nuku'alofa, using the small launch from Big Mama's as a water taxi, has us about 80% ready. We will go in tomorrow (Mon) and get the rest of what we need for about 2 weeks of meals. Linda has it down to a science now where she figures out what we need and I just lug the heavy bags around in the hot sun!
Spent a couple of hours in the water with a plastic scraper lashed to a stick, scraping the growth off the bottom of the boat! Brian next to us was doing the same when he decided to quit after a 2' black tip reef shark was taking an interest in him! I carried on oblivious!
So life here continues! We work and party and visit with other cruisers we have met along the way, meanwhile hoping the weather down S is settling down for our arrival in NZ and no cyclones are developing up here before we depart! When we do leave, I plan to update the position reports along the way so all those vicarious voyagers can follow our progress. I will also log into Opua Offshore, a HAM radio net out of NZ daily to report where we are and what the conditions are like.
So pray the weather gods will be gentle with us.....15-20 knots on the beam would be nice!

Nuku'alofa

Anchored off Paingamotu in Nuku'alofa! This was probably the best passage we have had to date! A steady 15 knot breeze on the beam carried Toketie along comfortably at an average of six knots. Not bad for us! We are tired though and the windless won't work and salt water is coming out of the air vent hose to the engine...oh well I needed something to do anyway...tomorrow!

At sea again

Sailed out of Vava'u at dawn. Now underway with very comfortable 15 knot wind on the beam. Sun and clouds and not very big seas make for a pleasant passage to Nukualofa...so far!

On the move!

The turkey was great! We had five good nights in the lagoon of Hunga Island, got to know one of the locals, and met the schoolteacher and many primary school children who knocked fresh mangoes out of the trees for us to eat!
But we have checked out of the Vava'u Group of Tonga and plan to jump the 165 miles directly down to Nukualofa, the capital of Tonga. We are preparing to go to sea again after almost two and a half months in Vava'u. Nukualofa will be the last stop before NZ. So I am busy studying the weather patterns down south and they can be very interesting! As the stormy season comes to a close in NZ, the typhoon season begins in Tonga and we will try to time it to avoid the worst of both! There is lots
of weather information available fortunately and many other boats planning the crossing. The only concern is that once you set out on the ten day (for us anyway) passage, the situation can change in NZ when you are half way there. So the strategy is to pick the most favourable conditions and then pray!
Meanwhile the weather up here has been stable and the forecast is good for our passage down to Nukualofa. If I get a chance, I will submit a position report!

Gobble Gobble!

Thanksgiving is near! And we are prepared to give thanks, Canada style, from Tonga! We found a really nice turkey and shared the small fortune it cost with Anne & Barry on 'Cat's Paw IV'. 'Tarun' may be in the neighbourhood on Monday as well so Brian & Cathy along with their current NZ guests may join us for the feast.
Meanwhile after three nights in Neiafu Harbour with the 100+ other boats, we were more than ready to depart for quieter places. Water tanks are full again, gas for the outboard, laundry done, provisions....etc.... So yesterday we sailed around the outside of the Vavau'u Islands,to Hunga Island on the Western side and ducked into a tiny opening through a reef at high tide to find ourselves in a large, well protected lagoon and only two other boats way off on the far end! This morning we drift snorkelled
the pass at low tide and can see why they advise coming in at high tide! Lots of nice fish and the ubiquitous black and white striped coral sea snake just to keep Linda on her flippers!
The sun has been out for days now and although some clouds darken the horizons, we are enjoying warm weather with a gentle breeze for a change. In the afternoon we took the dinghy through another reef at high tide into the "Blue Lagoon"! Lots of interesting coral reefs and wave action from the exposed SE side. Some resort huts on a beach, very secluded. A walk on soft sand, a giant turtle checking us out.
So enjoy your Thanksgiving Feasts wherever you are and we will raise a toast to the friends and family we miss so far away.
Special greetings to Doug and Karen....our hearts are with you.

More news from Tonga!

We did the Tongan feast again and this time it was wonderful. Participated in a kava circle, sitting around on mats on the ground as the sun set. Several musicians playing guitars, a banjo and traditional drums from a log. Very relaxed atmosphere and friendly group. I had three bowls of the kava but felt no effect at all. The young dancers were very energetic and talented. Especially two young boys, maybe about 12 years old, who danced a traditional Tongan dance where they lunge with their
spears. One of the boys had lots of 'attitude' and seemed to really enjoy it. The girls that danced were also well decked out in beautiful clothes and jewellery and their enthusiasm was contagious. Then they piled the food on the long table and it was varied and bountiful! All sorts of seafoods, from octopus, clams, fishcakes, marinated raw fish to some less recognizable varieties. Packages of pork or lamb or beef all wrapped in leaves and tied with vine. And different kinds of taro and breadfruit,
bananas, etc... No cutlery or plates were used, everything was served wrapped in nature's bounty and eaten with fingers.
So we have been back in the Tapana anchorage for over two weeks again and rode out another squally night with high winds, heavy rain and lightning, though not as dramatic as we had when Abe was with us. We are finally getting restless and will probably wait till after the weekend to go back into Neiafu and take on water and butane before checking out to head down to the Hapai'i Group of Islands about 60 south of us. They are supposedly more remote and have small villages with fewer visitors. We
have had sunshine for two days in a row now so managed to get over to the small island around the corner and snorkel on the reef. It was interesting but not spectacular. The beaches and islands and clear turquoise waters make it a very beautiful place though. Yesterday we actually blew up the two kayaks, first time since the Tuamotus, and paddled around the bay, following the shoreline where the coral is visible only a few feet below you.
We have managed two great parties lately with 'Cat's Paw IV', 'Tarun' and two bachelors who are singlehanding at the moment; there is Ernst on 'Accord' who is from Switzerland and has spent time in more remote areas and even a year in Japan, and Mike on 'Kokoamo' who is shares his year between his home in Scotland and New Zealand. We play dice and pigs and dominoes, drink a bit and laugh a lot. Linda made her famous Red Snapper fish soup last night and it was well received by all.
So rumours that we are bored and don't know what to do with ourselves are greatly exaggerated and some days we even do more than read a book!

Tapana Island sunset

 

the traveller

 

Holy Crap!

Thanks Emma! Gramma really laughed when she saw your comment on the blog! "That's so like Emma", she said. We are not sure if it was the sea snakes or the lightning that got your attention but it was a fun time for sure!
Meanwhile, we seem to have settled down at Tapana Island. The weather cleared up for almost a week and we did some swimming and exploring by dinghy. Now it's rainy again so we try to keep busy. Linda walked into Neiafu the other day, a little over an hour walk and she got a lift in part of the way. I think the wine was the priority! I spent a half day in the water under Toketie with a young local fellow scraping the growth off the bottom of the boat. Was trying to arrange a haul out but even
though there are two rails to haul boats out in town, one only wants to do multihulls now (I think the sides that hold up the monohulls are rusted out) and the other is jammed in among the bars and restaurants so we are worried we would get rats or cockroaches on board....so we cleaned the bottom as best we could and hope to make it to NZ for a proper haul out.
We walked into the small village today to try to send some pictures to the blog but the internet in Vava'u is down again. We picked up some bread and milk and garlic! On the way back to the beach where we left the dinghy we met the young couple who were preparing for the 'other' Tongan feast tonight, the Ano Beach one! They seemed really nice and were willing to include us at the last minute as they said they had 34 people coming and lots of food. So we will try it again and hope it is a better
experience than the first one!
It's cloudy and muggy and I am trying to figure out how to catch rain water so we don't have to rush back into Neiafu's noisy crowded harbour. The Ark Gallery has taken a couple of our water jugs and has offered to fill them from their roof. Lots more rain is in the forecast over the weekend so we should be able to figure something out.
The days and weeks are flying by and soon we will have to start seriously thinking about the 1200 mile trek down to New Zealand. But today there are still good books to read and a feast to starve for.....

Gunk holing!

Ok, we are being very lazy! I admit it. Rather than scheming to move to the more remote areas and smaller atolls out there, we are pretty much hiding in the old harbour of Vava'u in Tonga, doing some boat chores and relaxing. Maybe it is the sudden realization that we have close to 10,000 miles under our keel since leaving Victoria in August of 2006. Or maybe 'racing through paradise' is just too tiring! I don't know but we have the luxury at the moment of being lazy so we are taking every advantage
of it! Our friends on 'Tarun' are down exploring the next group of islands in Tonga, the Ha'apai Group and another couple on 'Pacific Star' got itchy feet and headed for Fiji the other day. Meanwhile we had this bay to ourselves the first night, probably because the pass is inconvenient to access as you navigate with charts that are about half mile off and not completely accurate in marking reefs and coral heads. But with a small amount of hair pulling to find the small floats that mark the entrance
to it and perseverance driven from an overwhelming need to stay away from the crowded and noisy main harbour in Neiafu, we managed to get here and are quite comfortable anchored on the edge of a reef near the small village of Makave that none of the tourists seem to bother with. And today we discovered it is only a short walk into Neiafu if we really need supplies we can't get here, like tonic water to make the gin palatable.
Two other boats have now joined us in our isolation. A very small pocket cruiser, a Contessa, named 'Mamiti Vava'u' (the name of the native woman that Fletcher Christian married when the Bounty mutinied)....you all knew that though....and another young couple on 'Madeline' who have come through the South Pacific via the Panama Canal and the Galapagos. They are both very relaxed and also seem to be enjoying the solitude in this bay.
So until the water tanks run low, we intend to sit here and re-charge our batteries, both literally and figuratively and if I don't send too many updates.....well it's probably because there isn't much to say!

Cruising Tonga!

Well, our crew member has gone back to that other world! About 36 hours each way was a really long way to go for a three week holiday but we are sure glad that Abe made the journey. Although we did not get to do all the things we had planned, due to weather (more about that later), I think he had a good time overall and we managed to work in a few experiences one usually only reads about!
We found some reasonably interesting reefs to snorkel on, had whales blowing in the bay we were in on two occasions, were chased out of the water by sea snakes twice, managed a couple of hikes and resolved most of the world's problems over several bottles of rum!
But the weather, assisting another boater in trouble and the yacht race were memories to carry away to that other world.
A high pressure system, higher than any on record (1040 on the barometer), formed East of Australia, and a low pressure system north of us combined with the South Pacific Convergence Zone to give us some very interesting weather. None of the local forecasts seemed to capture it accurately but you just had to look out the window to see something unusual was going on. I think we were playing scrabble one night with the wind howling in the rigging when Linda thought she saw a light flashing out the
porthole. We ignored it for a while but eventually it got our attention and looking out the cockpit we saw what looked like broadsides from HMS Surprise off in the distance. The clouds would light up then blackness would swallow it. Strange! Couldn't be lightning? An hour or so later the sky lit up like broad daylight, sheet lightning everywhere, fairly constant and obviously getting closer. Every now and then a bolt would come to earth and we began wondering whether we might possibly be struck!
This went on all night! I have never seen anything to compare. Then the rain came and although we had the full enclosure in the cockpit, it came down so hard the zipper seams leaked! All this time the winds had been slowly building till at one point our neighbour registered 47 knots. We had seen 42 knots which was impressive enough in a sheltered anchorage! Fortunately the moorings we were on were sound and because we were tucked in behind and island, we had no seas to contend with.
The game was interrupted again by the sound of a sail flapping violently in the wind! About two boats over in the anchorage, we could see several people under lights on the foredeck trying to wrestle with an obviously out of control headsail! Not able to resist an opportunity to help out, Abe and I jumped in the dinghy and hoped our 4 horse Johnson could hold its own in the wind and waves! About six of us fought for two hours to try to get half of a fairly large headsail under control. Seems
they had fouled the furling line somehow when they came into the anchorage. We won but not without some bruises and bleeding knuckles. The boat, Gecko, was very grateful and thanked us again the next day! Further on in the bay, another boat dragged anchor, their engine failed and when they attempted to sail back to anchor, they struck the reef! I don't think too much damage was done but it was a wild night!
Can't remember who won the scrabble game.....
For his last night in Tonga, we took Abe into town and he got himself on to a sailboat named 'Macy' for the Friday yacht race in Neiafu Harbour! It's a fun event that occurs every week and ends in the Vava'u Yacht Club's Mermaid Bar for beers and tall stories! They took third place and had great fun doing it!
We were sorry to see him go, wishing he could have stayed for the next 1000 miles to NZ, but duty calls and I guess his PHD is a higher priority at the moment than bashing around the ocean! There is always the Indian Ocean Abe....and at the rate we are going, you may have your degree by the time we get there!
So here we sit, the weather has calmed down, a quick trip to town to renew our visas today, buy some beer and cheese (cruiser staples), and relaxed visiting with friends nearby.
Not sure where we will go from here, too early to head for NZ as the weather down there is still unpredictable. More to explore locally and another island group south of us to check out. Will keep you posted!
Cruising Tonga!

Rain & Wind

Hunkered down behind a small island, 20 knots winds howling overhead and forecast to increase over the weekend. Lots of clouds and rain too! But we are well provisioned and have managed to explore all the reefs here. Today we walked a trail up the hill to find what used to be a resort but has been abandoned for some time. We picked a few coconuts and hacked them up with a hatchet to get at the juice inside!
Had hoped to do more sailing but weather is making it a challenge! Reading lots of books!

King George Tupou V

Crew arrived after 36 hour odyssey via Fiji!
King arrived as well to great celebrations in the streets, along with singing in the church and lunch in the school! We escaped to the quieter more secluded anchorages nearby. Only a couple of hours away, we had the place to ourselves briefly before another boat showed up. Snorkelling on the reef between two motus! The navy showed up late at night and were very busy erecting some structure on the spit of white sand. A couple with a child in a dugout came by to sell us some carvings and told
us the king was coming to the beach for lunch! Sure enough, a small procession of boats arrived and to great cheering and singing, the king stepped off onto the beach to be greeted by the locals. The navy boat hung out all their flags and hovered nearby! We took some pictures and moved to another anchorage!
Have booked a Tongan feast for Saturday night!

Hiking in Niue

 

Mt Talau hike

 

Humpback whales in Niue

 

Togo chasm, Niue

 

swimming in Niue