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With bad weather threatened in the afternoon we went ashore in the morning to get a few things done. On the way out we dropped by Emily Grace to say hello. He’d been reading our blog and had a spare irrigation syringe for us and our efforts against the leak. Ashore we dropped off some trash and then checked our the Bursco chandlers. I was able to pick up an off cut piece of hose which I can use as a chaff presenter for our sea anchor. Their prices for a new reefing line was a bit steep.
We then said hello to Phil at Cars for Cruisers before heading onto the customs office to double check procedures for exiting the country. We then visited the marina office to pick up a key for the facilities before going to Catermarine to look around there. Their prices for lines were much cheaper so I bough the replacement line for our 1st reef. Our seal hadn’t arrived yet but nosing around the store we set out eyes upon a good man over board pole which we’ve been looking for for ages. I also had a discussion with one of the staff about trolling rods/reels as I want to lose fewer lures and catch more fish. Before leaving we asked to have the pole set aside. Later Helen acquiesced and allowed me my new fishing rod which I picked up in the afternoon.
As a treat we had a late breakfast/lunch ashore before heading back to the boat. When I returned in the afternoon to pick up the pole/rod I ran into March/Pam from Passages as well as Gary from Pursuit IV. On the way back to the boat I dropped by Imagine as I’d heard they’d had dinghy motor problems but that was now resolved.
The threatened bad weather never arrived but we ended up moving the boat anyway. The boats near where we were were all on submerged moorings which was not obvious until we swung on our anchor/chain and they didn’t. We’re a bit more exposed now but feel safer.
The shaft seal didn’t arrive yesterday but I’ve received confirmation it was signed for by Catermarine this morning. We’ll pick it up today. I need to pick up some fishing line. I could have sworn I had a reel but couldn’t find it when I looked yesterday. I’m looking forward to using that on our next passage.
The long term weather outlook still offers no sign of a passage opportunity. A low is projected to barrel down from the tropics a few days from now but it turns and heads west of New Zealand. If it goes east instead we may have a chance. Slim hopes indeed. The upside is that while we wait for our window it’s inevitable more and more of our friends will show up here in and around Opua.
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.
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.
by steve, on September 18th, 2010 ( Passages, Tonga)  After cleaning up the main salon we had a reasonably relaxing day. We did go for a walkabout around town taking the camera to capture a few pics including some of the aftermath of the morning fire.
In the evening we went ashore to meet John and Pam from Passages for a beer at the mermaid.
Ben was out all day returning late at night after a hard day’s work on party construction and rehearsal. He was particularly pleased as he’d spent a good deal of time with a chainsaw. I can understand.
Another busy day here in Fatu Hiva. In the morning we headed ashore principally to visit the falls nearby. We picked up Ruth and her daughter from Kamaya as we wanted to see some more Tapas together and arrange dinner for the evening.
The Tapas we saw this time were the most inferior and pricey of the bunch we’ve seen so we passed on them. We let Ruth know where we’d seen the better ones so she could look them up. We then found the lady who Ruth had seen previously and discussed dinner. We had 9 people from Passages, Kamaya, Victoria and us to eat together. The deal was around $11 each which was about half the price others were charging. It seems a lot of folks offer cruisers dinner in their homes but usually it’s around $20 to $25 each.
We parted company with Ruth and headed off to the falls. It was about an hours hike along the same paved road followed by a dirt track then a path over rocks and under fallen down trees. The falls were quite pleasant and we had them and the pool below to ourselves. They were a couple of hundred feet high at least but not a lot of water falling over. The pool was nice and cool to swim in. I tried to find a ledge to stand on under the falls but put my foot on something slimy that wriggled so I abandoned that idea.
After lying around and relaxing for a while we headed back passing the folks from Victoria and Passages along the way. Passing our chosen Tapa maker we popped in and picked up for a reasonably decent price. There are a lot of people it seems working on rose wood carvings and making Tapa in this village. There are also quite a few large private satellite dishes and 4×4 trucks around which suggests they may be making a lot of cash from their wares. We suspect many get sent on to the cruise ship stops where they get a good price for their work.
Back on the boat we had lunch of pancakes which was enjoyable. After a brief nap I set about a few boat chores. We now have tracking info for the new water maker pump which I forwarded to our agent. I took a look at removing the old pump but it involves more disassembly than I thought. It will be best to do the whole pump switch over at once minimizing the amount of work to be done and reduce the risk of losing or damaging loose items. I also looked at the outhaul which broke during passage. I noticed that around the gooseneck where the line runs into the boom there is no pulley. I don’t know if there ever was one but as it stands I can’t the line back in else it will chaff on the metal soon enough. So I deferred that task until I could do a proper job on it.
John had done some snorkeling off the side of the boat and spotted an octopus. I joined him and saw it too. It was pretty large. On the way out I saw a white tipped reef shark swimming below me. We also saw a huge green moray eel.
During the day more boats left the anchorage than arrived. At one point we were down to 12 boats. It feels a lot less crowded now.
In the evening we went ashore for dinner. We met the folks from other boats including two more who tagged along. We were picked up in a truck and taken to one of the houses in the village where we had a local dinner prepared including sword fish, chicken and lots of starchy vegetables. It was all fried or cooked in coconut milk. We can see why many of the locals have enhanced waist lines. The company was good and we had a great time. Walking back to the dock we approached the sound of drums beating. We found many of the locals practicing their tribal dancing in one of the village halls. The drumming and dancing was very energetic. Hopefully we’ll see more of this, complete with the traditional costumes, during the festival in Hiva Oa.
On that subject we’ve learned that we can only clear in Monday to Friday and then only in the mornings. Because we need to email a copy of our clearance papers to our agent in Tahiti to clear the pump before it can be sent here we want to save time and ensure we clear in this week. Helen wanted to sail today but John and I want to snorkel the area some more today and sail overnight to Hiva Oa. We’ve settled on the latter allowing Helen to sleep through and take the last shift. Hiva Oa has internet so hopefully we shall soon be publishing our photos from and since Isabella.
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