Tonga « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Last Day in Nieafu

by KC2RIY, on October 13th, 2010 (Bamboozle, Sympatica, Tonga)

Without spoiling it too much I can say it now – we have finally escaped from Nieafu. The last 24 hours has been as packed as ever. Early evening we had a curry evening. Joining us were Charlie, a delivery captain, and Kel & Adriana, a couple who run a local business who we’ve got to know. By 10pm we were all done but not finished. We went ashore for one final Wednesday night at Tonga Bob’s where we met the Bamboozles (Mum included) to watch the Faka Ladies. We had more than a few more beers and wore ourselves out laughing and dancing not returning until well after midnight.

This morning was another familiar Neiafu morning: hot, humid and hung over. That was no excuse not to get busy. I went ashore to clear us out while Helen and Ben cleared up from the night before. Then we returned the electric piano to the Bamboozles as our paths are now unsure to cross in the near term – we had to almost rip Ben off it as he got in his last few tinkles on the ivories. Then Helen and I provisioned for the next 3 weeks as we work our way down to Tongatapu.

As soon as we could we up anchored and headed off to Vaka’eitu where we are now anchored. We were able to sail most of the way in light winds only occasionally using battery power to nudge us through wind shadows.

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There are a few boats here – no surprise. But a nice surprise was running into Sympatica who we’ve not seen since we played volley ball together with the Kuna Indians back in the San Blas on the other side of Panama. I’ve over to say hello to Julie and Louis who are their same old selves. We’ve agreed we’re all partied out and will have a quiet night tonight but will be getting together tomorrow.

Neiafu has been a lot of fun but it’s good to be away and off to new adventures. We’ll stay around Vava’u for a few days before heading south to the Ha’apai group of islands where we can hopefully unwind from the past month’s debauchery.

Some good news of a sort regarding our charger. An address in Opua where we will check in the NZ has been agreed for delivery and it will hopefully be there when we arrive. Furthermore Lagoon has thrown in a few extra pieces free of charge which will be helpful.

Karting & Diving

by steve, on October 12th, 2010 (Bamboozle, Tonga)

Monday afternoon was our date for karting. Helen had decided to join in and partner with Lucy from Bamboozle letting Lucy do all the driving. With Jamie’s mother along we all set off in three two man karts with our guide on a single seater.

We set off along the streets of Vava’u and headed out of town. Our first stop was the stunning point that Ben and I had found while on scooters a few weeks ago.

Soon we were heading along tracks that Ben and I had not explored and were taken to a few more scenic views, each time having the opportunity to stop and look around. We had been told that the best part of the trip was driving around on a beach but unfortunately for us the gate to the beach was locked. Our guide made up for this by taking us to another island not normally on the trip where we stopped and hiked for a view of the east side of the cluster. We could see the islands of Umuna and Kentuka where we’d visited last week. Fun was had by all. Helen really enjoyed herself as, in her own words, she had a good chance to gossip with Lucy.

In the evening we went ashore to have pizza at Ovava’s. I thanked Laurence, the owner, for his involvement in the evacuation of the guy from infinity as it was he who I’d managed to contact to help get a ride to the hospital. There we met a lot of the regatta organizers as they were celebrating one of their birthday. We had a good evening. We learned a little more about the chap who injured himself the night before. He’s had a lot of stitches in his head but is up and about. There are still concerns about a possible skull injury and apparently a doctor is being flown in from New Zealand to interpret the results.

This morning Ben and I went diving using the two free tickets we’d also won in the regatta. The first dive featured some excellent corals, the second involved some fascinating swims through rocks and caverns. We had a cold spell with lots of rain between dives so the second dive was a little marred by us all getting into the water before we’d really warmed up.

Update

by steve, on October 11th, 2010 (Infinity, Tonga)

News on the injured person from yesterday is not encouraging. I won’t name him but it’s a chap we do know. He’s the boyfriend of a girl who works at one of the whale watching outfits here. We’ve seen him at a lot of the parties and is always energetic. He was up on the crows nest on Infinity when he fell, perhaps 30ft or so, landing on his back on the roof of the boat missing all deck hardware and other protuberances. Ben witnessed the landing as was soon alongside while helping to stabalize him while an on board doctor examined him more closely. There were clear head injuries but he was soon conscious and able to move fingers and toes. They got him ashore strapped to a surf board which was fortunate as the dock they landed on collapsed leaving the shore party in the water and the injured chap floating on the surf board. He is now currently in the hospital. There are medical staff here in Tonga but no specialists and calls have been made for additional help. It’s all very sobering.

From what I heard of the effort to get the patient ashore and my involvement with the individuals coordinating the effort I was very impressed with how they handled the very difficult situation in a less than perfect environment. The crew of Infinity deserve a lot of credit for their response to the wayward antics of one of their guests which could have been tragically worse.

Ben and I are currently ashore enjoying the free internet at the Aquarium Cafe. I have managed to upload a lot of recent photos so if you page back through the last few entries you should see some new pics. The earliest uploaded are those of Ben’s chemistry lesson.

Party time

by KC2RIY, on October 11th, 2010 (Infinity, Tonga)

Can’t say too much about the afternoon as I did get down to some paperwork. Always frustrating on labouriously slow internet connections but I made a fair bit of progress. Ben did some snorkeling under the boat and managed to snag a fish which he tossed back as it was not as big as the ones we have still in the freezer.

In the afternoon Ben and I went ashore to find the local distillery where we’d heard we could get some cheap rum. We did find it and after some samples bought a few bottles.

In the evening we went ashore to eat at the local Chinese. The food was again excellent and we ate perhaps a little too much as we ended up quite bloated. At 8:30 we dinghied over to Infinity as they are here in the harbour and again had a party. Helen and I stayed until 11:30 and Ben brought us back to Dignity before returning to Infinity to finish off his rum.

Around 12:30 we were woken to a call from Infinity for an ambulance to meet them ashore. We don’t know the details yet but there had been an injury, possibly spinal, and they needed assistance. The hospital wouldn’t answer their number but I managed to call one of the local restauranteurs who drove to the hospital. I did manage to confirm the injured party was not Ben and when he called later to confirm he was ok we were fully relieved. I put the person coordinating the evacuation aboard Infinity directly in touch with the local I had contacted and listened in for a little longer in case there was any other help required.

Ben returned in the early hours waking us up with his crashing around in the galley and his loud apologies. We didn’t inquire then into the specifics of the accident but it sounded serious. Hopefully the light of day will show things in a better light.

Today we’re off karting around the island. The Bamboozles are joining us and Helen has decided to come too. Should be fun.

Back to Neiafu

by KC2RIY, on October 10th, 2010 (Passages, Tonga)

Our plan was to head back to Neiafu stopping for one night on the way. After some deliberation we decided to stop by the island of Utungake. There really wasn’t much wind so we motored all of the way there.

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Shortly after arrival and making sure the boat was sitting well at anchor we dinghied around the corner to the Tongan Beach Resort to look around and see if we wanted to eat there. It turned out they were doing a lunch time BBQ so we decided to hang around. We ended up spending a peaceful three hours there reading magazines and books as well has having the BBQ washed down with a couple of beers.

When we got back to the boat we found it had swung around 90 degrees and was now dangerously close to the reef. It would have been on it if the chain hadn’t have wrapped around a coral head. Needing no better excuse we up anchored and completed our trip to Neiafu where we anchored more or less at the same place as before.

Not a lot to say about the rest of the day. I did pop over to see March on Passages who is now out of hospital having earlier been in for a leg infection. I also popped by Stella Maris to help them with a computer problem which he solved in the process of showing me his problem – it’s often the way. I didn’t escape without being plied with a beer and receiving some useful advice about the passage to New Zealand.

This morning we’ve been a bit busy. We’ve extended our Tonga visas for another month and booked our karting for tomorrow and dive the day after. Our evening schedules are bouncing around a bit but it now looks like party on Infinity tonight, Ovavu’s pizza tomorrow (one of the local’s birthday) and possibly curry evening aboard Dignity on Wednesday followed by Tonga Bob’s and the fakaleitis. We’ve also done some provisioning but not all we need to do. Once we leave here it will be nearly three weeks before we will see a half decent supermarket / store so we do need more. I’ve also started the paperwork for New Zealand which is nearly complete. I may just get around to doing some tax work this afternoon – it has to be done sometime.

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