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by KC2RIY, on October 16th, 2010 ( Scream, Tonga) After we had properly woken up we took around to decide what to do. There was still a visible swell coming over the reef which threatened to keep us away from the snorkeling on the far side. We agreed that all we wanted to do was to hike a nearby trail then move on. Once the rain had subsided we dinghied ashore and found the trail at the east end of the beach. The trail climbed over the hill through very lush (and muddy) vegetation. We were lucky to find a fallen pamplemousse which we ate as we walked On the far side, after sliding down a muddy bank, we found another beach which we walked along heading further east towards the end of the island. At the far end we were able to again cross to the inward side. Not much to see bar a few goats.
Back on the boat we were soon on our way, motoring in light winds. We squeeze through the shallow pass between Langito’o and Lape to our east before rounding south into the channel and heading west. Our destination was the island group to our west and the area known as Hunga. To reach the sheltered, almost lake-like bay, we had to enter a narrow cut. Fortunately we had good instructions taking the worry out of passing from swelly seas in through a gap in the rocks 100ft wide. Inside the bay the waters were flat. We saw Scream anchored nearby and looked near them for a place to drop the hook. Their shallow shelf in the corner didn’t have a lot of extra room so we found the next shallow area to our east requiring two attempts to drop the hook.
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And that was it for the rest of the day. We’re still in need of a recharge – ourselves that is, not the boat. We just spent the day reading and relaxing. Scream invited us over for drinks but discovering they’ll be here for a few days we suggested postponing till today to which they agreed. In the evening we watched 4 episodes of Prison Watch which we’ve just started and got into already.
Hunga is likely to be our last stop in the Vava’u group. We’re going to wait here until we get a decent weather window to press on. Ha’ano, our first intended stop in the Ha’apai group to our south is 60nm away. Because of the nature of the area we’d want to arrive within a couple of hours of midday so this would require leaving early in the morning – around 1-2am perhaps. We’ll need to wait for the winds to settle before we go as we have no intention of motoring all the way unless we have to. If the wind forecast suggests some strong north easterlies we may take an alternate route via the island of Late 30nm to our west where we have been reliably informed that we’re practically guaranteed of seeing many whales.
For now we’ll just kick back and listen to the rain which continues to fall.
What a long and fun week this has been. The last day of the regatta finished with a prize giving party at the wharfside hotel in the evening. Before that we did have an interesting day. I spent 4 hours wrestling with the internet at the Aquarium Café. It is a favourite spot, it seems, for cruisers to buy a coffee and collectively wrestle with slow internet connections. It’s quite social as we each wait several minutes for each page to load. I managed to upload a bunch of pictures from the previous day’s events. I also managed to book a flight for Sam to join us in New Zealand. While I was ashore, Ben hosted a chemistry lesson for nine of the kids from Tyee, Kamaya, Stray Kitty & Mojo. Not all his experiments went as planned but from what I heard later it went over well.
Back to the party. At the beginning of the week we had to option to purchase passports which encouraged us to visit places around town and the island gaining points for each visit and even more if we bought things. We gained points for the events we joined in and more if we won any of them. The party included a prize-giving ceremony for the top 11 scorers. As we had stuck together most of the week (and we got Ben’s passport stamped while he was working on the Full Moon Party) we had similar points. Not only did we all make the top 11 we placed near the top gaining a good selection of prizes. Ben and Helen each won two tank dives. I won a 45km 2 person kart ride around the island which I’ll do with Ben. We each earned secondary prizes amounting to a free pizza, a map and a desert for 2 people. All in all this was quite a valuable haul – but very much the icing on the cake for a fun filled week.
The party had some local dancing and a live band. We stayed on till nearly midnight when Helen felt too tired to continue. On the way back to the dinghy it seemed she had a new burst of energy causing her to invite Brian, Brady & Erin from Delos, Jenny from Callisto and Steven and Dorusha back to the boat to carry on the festivities. We didn’t get to sleep until 1:30 – normally (but not recently) quite late for us.
We had planned on scooting out of Neiafu today and seeing some of the outer anchorages. We still don’t have the tracking number for our charger which is getting comical. The Delos crew have invited us to dive on a wreck in the bay here today and we have to sort out and book our prizes so maybe we won’t be out of here after all.
by KC2RIY, on September 25th, 2010 ( A Cappella, Anthem, Bamboozle, Callisto, Desue, Freezing Rain, Imagine, Inspiration Lady, Jackster, Kamaya, Mojo, Paleides, Passages, Scream, Sea Mist, Tonga, Trim, Tyee, Visions of Johanna) The Jackster’s showed up and anchored next to us around midday. We soon had them over to share our experiences of the last few months as well as abandoning our plans to hoist the main sail in favour of a few beers.
Around 6pm we headed ashore to Ano Beach for the ferry service to the Full Moon Party. Sadly, the ferry service was the weak link of the whole evening requiring some folks to wait over two hours for their turn to board and make the passage round to the party. Fortunately we made it over on the second one out so we didn’t have to wait too long.
The party was a lot of fun. A lot of the people we have previously mentioned on our blog were there. Most people on their way to New Zealand this year are either now in Tonga or soon to be arriving. I’m probably missing a few but those that we can put our heads together and remember are : A Cappella, Anthem, Bamboozle, Callisto, Delos, Freezing Rain, Imagine, Inspiration Lady, Jackster, Kamaya, Mojo, Paleides, Passages, Scream, Sea Mist, Trim, Tyee & Visions of Johanna. There were many others and we made some new acquaintances along the way.
A lot of effort had been put into things including three 10 minute shows of which Ben played a part (dressed as a skeleton) in the first and third. Not everything went smoothly but it was all appreciated.
We didn’t get back until after midnight. We didn’t see Ben until the following morning around 11am which I saw him on the ferry. I dinghied over and he jumped in the water to avoid the trip to the beach. He hadn’t slept at all having had the beer and food go free around 3am and partying into the morning followed by helping to clear up.
We have some pictures, courtesy of Ann from Callisto, which will be posted when we can get a connection.
Tomorrow the fun continues so we’ll be off early round to Neiafu.
Turned out there was plenty of interest to go and see the sting rays and sharks. Shortly after 10am we rendezvoused at the sunken tiki heads (about half way to the rays) with Steve & Dorusha from Scream, David & Suzie from Sidewinder and Jim & Brendan from Escapade. We were carrying Mike and Naomi from Renova. Snorkeling on the tiki heads was fun for most but soon we were back on our way to see the sting rays. It was not hard to find the spot as there were two tourist boats already there and lots of people already standing around in the water with rays swimming amongst them and sharks patrolling the perimeter.
Earlier in the day I had chopped up the month old skip jack tuna occupying a corner of our freezer and put the pieces in a container. In the water the sting rays were intensely interested in the fishy morsels. (Note – I would not normally feed wild animals but these have been fed for the tourists for so long I feel the damage is already done so we may as well enjoy). The rays would come up to us and try and take the fish from our hands. Holding them in our fingers was not so smart as the rays had tough gums and gave quite a nip if they caught our fingers. I was bitten twice and Ben once which caused a bit of bleeding.
Apart from that it was a huge amount of fun. At times we were blanketed in four or five rays each trying to find something to eat. They were so tame we could hold onto their edges and stroke their backs and bellies. I shared the fish around with our party although it took some some time to brave holding onto raw fish while surrounded by rays and sharks.
After a while everyone got a little chilly – it is winter here after all. Heading back three miles into wind was never going to be fun. We’d agreed to drop Mike and Naomi off so they could hitch a ride back to the beach near where we were anchored. Ben and I pounded the waves all the way back arriving soaked and colder still. The cold water showers on the boat felt warm and refreshing.
We stayed on the boat for the afternoon prepping for the trip to Huahine. The wind forecast suggested the wind was going to drop in 24 hours and we wanted to catch what we could. One of my tasks was to change the zinc on the generator. For a while I couldn’t get the new one back in leak free but in the end I succeeded. Shortly before 5pm we were off. As Ben has yet to have some recent practice sailing during the day we decided to sail with the head sail only. This would mean there was less to watch and less to go wrong. At some points overnight the winds reached 30 knots so this ended up being a fortuitous decision. During my early morning shift I raised the main once there was light to see. We arrived at Fare, Huahine around 10:30 in the morning.
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We’ve already been ashore to pick up baguettes for lunch. Our guidebook suggests there will be lots of outdoor food choices available this evening so we plan to go ashore again then.
This afternoon we have a few things to do. First we all need a nap as none of us slept well last night. Next, we want to bring down the headsail, restitch a part of the sun cover and put some tape over some parts that look tatty. We also want to swim the reef which we hope will be more alive than the one surrounding Moorea.
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