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.
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.
]]>We set off along the streets of Vava’u and [...]]]>
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.
]]>In the afternoon Helen and I went out, not going quite so deep, to explore the corals. The area is quite abundant with fish of many different species and numbers. Around each coral head was a blaze of colourful fish which made for a pleasant exploration.
After this I popped over to Zephyrus who had anchored nearby to pick up our diesel. It turned out our jerry can, which had held diesel all the way over from the Galapagos, had sprung a leak. Andy offered to replace the can but I declined his offer saying that it must have been faulty and would soon have gone on us. He did have our diesel in a can so I took that and tipped it into our tanks promising to drop off the can later on.
We’d decided to have a ‘Tonga Feast’ that evening as Barnacle Beach was nearby and they have a feast every Saturday evening. On the way there we dropped of the diesel can back at Zephyrus as well as loaning them our phone. We’d had reports of a boat than sunk 110nm to our south and it turned out to be very good friends of theirs. We knew the crew had been rescued but Andy needed to contact them. I’d bought some extra minutes expecting to be talking to the US to fix our charger (which we won’t be doing here now) so they’d have gone to waste any way. Hopefully Andy will have got through.
Next stop was Barnacle Beach for our feast. The first thing we learned that it was bring your own wine which we hadn’t. I had to whizz back to Dignity for a couple of bottles getting back late. There were a few folks there we knew – Jack from Anthem, Evy from Wonderland, the Bamboozles and we got to know Gary and Tiere from Pursuit.
The feast was very well laid out and very, very tasty. There were all sorts of meats, fruits and salads laid out in shells including a small roast pig. We felt quite full. After the food we had four Tongan solo dancers doing their thing. We were then given some time to mingle and chat before the evening was over.
The winds which have been blowing hard for the last 2-3 days have finally subsided. It is quite calm right now. We intend to move closer to Nieafu today before reentering the harbour tomorrow. Ben is quite pleased as Infinity is in town and they’ve already announced a party on Monday night.
]]>Ben wanted to cook up the fish he caught for lunch so we decided to snorkel again before lunch to see if we could add to our fare. It was an interesting swim with plenty of colourful coral around the 20-30ft mark. Ben bagged a couple of more fish which I threaded onto a line I’d bought which we took back to the boat, gutted, wrapped in tin foil and cooked along with one from the previous day. All three fish were quite tasty.
Recovering from the night before we all dozed off in the afternoon. Waking later we found the boats that had been here had left and Bamboozle had arrived. They invited us over to dinner which we accepted. We ended up staying until midnight, partly due to the torrential rain and thunder that kept us inside and partly because we were enjoying ourselves too much.
During the course of the day I fleshed out our plans and timetable for getting to New Zealand. We’re going back to Neiafu on Monday where we’ll stay 2-3 days to renew our visas and to use up our prizes from the regatta. We’ll then head out to the anchorages on the SW side of this group for a few days before spending the next 2 weeks or so heading down to Tongatapu where we’ll clear out. The trip down to New Zealand will take anywhere between one to two weeks largely depending on the weather which in turn will affect whether or not we stop at Minerva Reef on the way. We’ll arrive in NZ somewhere around the 20th of November.
]]>On the way out and on the way back we popped by a few of the boats we knew to invite them to come with us to Mariner’s Cave in the afternoon. It was about 3nm away which is quite far for dinghies. It was recommended to go by boat – perhaps sharing to make it easier. In the end we had quite a few agree to come up – 16 folks in all from Delos, Inspiration Lady, Vagabond, Callypso, Ludmilla, Anthem, Jackster, Imagine & Arctic.
Gary and Jackie from Inspiration Lady were a great help. Not only had they agreed to be the dinghy dock but they also came along just for the ride and social giving us someone to man the boat while everyone got in the water.
At 2pm we had everyone aboard and we motored off to the cave. We found it easily enough as there were two other boats there when we arrived although they left shortly after. Our drop off was a bit far from the cave so we had a bit of a swim to get there. To get into the cave one has to swim down a few feet then along about 12-14 surfacing in a sealed, dark cave. The entrance tunnel was quite large so by going deeper there was no risk of bumping into anything. Inside the cave it is quite amazing. Despite being dark it is well lit from the outside. The surf created changes in pressure that could be felt in the ears. When a partial vacuum was created by the surf going out a mist would form inside the cave momentarily.
There was a second entrance which I’d heard about before. It was about 40 feet down and a little longer – about the limit of what I can do underwater. Forgetting that I’d just done a fairly long swim I went for it. This turned out to be a scary moment as I was gulping for air even when I still had rock over my head. Reaching the surface took forever. I decided to remove my weight belt to help. Just before doing so I realized I shouldn’t do it over the deep water outside of the tunnel exit so I swam over the roof of the tunnel to let it go. In hindsight I could probably have reached the surface in that time. Nevertheless I am here to tell the story but I’ve learned my lesson. The longer underwater stuff can only be done when I’m totally relaxed and not after an exertion. I was soon back in the cave spending a lot longer inside this time with everyone else who were now all inside. Feeling more relaxed I again exited via the lower tunnel finding it a lot easier. Ben also made the exit the same way.
On the way back Ben entertained us by playing on Bamboozle’s piano which we still have. We’d dragged a couple of dinghies out the the cave as a few folks wanted to visit Swallow’s Cave on the way back. We let them go about half way back and headed in.
We agreed to have a beach bonfire/BBQ at 6pm. A few of us went ashore to collect wood while others prepared food. Soon we had quite a crowd ashore and two fires going. We stayed quite late with chatting and some music – mostly furnished by Fergus from Paleides on his hand organ. It was well after midnight before we were finally back aboard. Ben went back to Delos but it looks like he swam back at some point as he’s aboard and there were wet foot prints all over the cabin this morning.
]]>Later in the afternoon I had a few of the net controllers over to discuss our last week of running the net. The net we started heading down from the Marquesas to the Tuamotus has had a good run and has been pretty successful in terms of the numbers of vessels checking in from time to time and certainly those listening. Now that the NZ bound boats are congregating in and around Tonga and the Australia bound boats have headed off west we’re beginning to find ourselves pulled in different directions. We’ve decided to call it a day but not without gathering some information together about other nets and weather sources and offering that out. Getting a few folks together we were able to get some ideas going about how we will communicate the information we have over this last week.
No partying for Sunday evening. We watched a movie and slept early.
Around 6:30am Monday morning we were off, heading back to Neiafu for the fun contest they’d named the ‘tridecagonathlon’. The contest comprised 13 separate events all of which had opportunities to get dirty and messy. It started with an egg tossing / spoon race and ended up with a pie eating contest. The point scoring was somewhat arbitrary and totally up to the judges with points being gained and lost for various things including flattery, complaining, bribery (drinks), etc. So many points were given out on the pie eating event that it largely determined the final result. We had been split into six teams which separated the three of us into different teams. For the last event one person had to represent each team and had to eat as much banana custard out of pies in six minutes without using their hands. Helen and Ben both represented their teams. Ben managed eight pies and Helen ten – sealing and overall win for her team. Needless to say, both of them lost their ‘lunch’ later on. It was all tremendous fun and once I have secured some pictures I’ll post them. (I have managed to upload some pics from the pub crawl and full moon party which I’ll add to previous blogs).
In the afternoon we had a nice surprise. Jamie and Lucy offered to lend us their electric piano so Ben could get his fix in. We found compatible power sources so were able to take them up on their offer. Ben is now very happy.
We ended the day with Jack from Anthem aboard for dinner, chat and beers. Somehow this lasted some time and we weren’t asleep until late.
Today (Tuesday) is the last day of the regatta. There is a prize-giving ceremony for all the things we collected points for over the last week and no doubt a little partying after.
We’re looking forward to slowing down and that we’ll do once we get out of here and out to some of the anchorages around here.
What’s a bit frustrating is that we still haven’t been given the tracking reference for our allegedly shipped charger by CatCo. Without this we won’t be able to appoint an agent to clear it through the capital and get it here. Furthermore we have no idea about how much time we have to wait and how to plan our time in the anchorages. Seems just stupid to me.
One other annoyance is one of my email services has been hijacked and a bunch of our contacts emailed/spammed. Sorry if you’ve received some unwanted email from us. I am doing what I can to track this one down.
]]>Around 6pm we headed ashore to Ano Beach for the ferry service to [...]]]>
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.
]]>We spent a bit of time standing under banana leaves before searching out a more permanent shelter under the roof of a small shack. After a break in the rain we pushed onwards only to get caught out again. This time we made crude umbrellas out of banana leaves and made our way back to our earlier shelter where we waited out the next period of intense rain.
After exhausting our I-Spy options the rain died and we decided to head back the way we came. It was a good decision as the skies began to darken again as we approached the dinghy. The winds were blowing quite strongly into the harbour we were in so the dinghy ride back to the boat was against the wind and chop. If we had a dry patch on us before the dinghy ride we didn’t when we reached the boat.
We settled down for a boat day as the outside weather remained grey and occasionally wet. We heard from Bamboozle who were on their way to this anchorage. We’d heard that they had a good keyboard on their boat and Ben was already in withdrawal. We soon had ourselves invited over for sundowners.
In the evening we had better luck working our way upwind to where Bamboozle was anchored arriving only slightly wet. There we met their friends Mark & Genevieve with their twin daughters. Both Ben and Lucy played the piano for us while we enjoyed good company and the occasional beer. Helen had a small tinkle on the electric ivories too.
Today we may go for another hike. Not sure yet. The weather overnight has again been windy and wet. The wind gen has been really earning it’s keep. The easterly horizon is looking quite gray so we may have to pass on this idea. We’ll see.
]]>We tied up in a small [...]]]>
We tied up in a small marina and walked to the main road. Even though we were less than two miles from the end of the road it was a properly tarmacked road no doubt courtesy of the French taxpayer. The whole area is very lush which we reckoned was due to the geography precipitating a lot of rainfall. At the end of the road was a small river, muddy beach and a footbridge. We crossed the bridge and walked along a path through a settlement. We felt transported back in time. The place seemed so different from elsewhere with some pretty little homes.
On the way back we were caught by a bit of rain but were able to wait it out in a store where we picked up some baguettes. We again popped by Bamboozle to pick up some DVDs they were going to lend us. They invited us aboard for coffee but we declined as we wanted to push on.
When Jamie and Lucy from Bamboozle had been aboard the night before they had told us about the area behind the reef to our east. It sounded very attractive. As the skies were still overcast we wanted to enter the reef with as much light as possible. As soon as we were aboard we raised anchor and were off. Outside the nearby pass we turned east into 25 knot winds. We motored the 4nm to the next pass which only looked passable when we were on top of it. We found a spot to anchor close to the pass.
The area is indeed impressive. The landscape is rugged but lush. Steep volcanic crags with high waterfalls are all around. With the bumpy passage and misty air we took few pictures on the way round. If the weather clears we may dinghy around inside the reef and get some more pictures of the stunning scenery here. The weather stayed pretty grim for the afternoon so we were unable or at least unwilling to go out.
Near to where we are anchored is a small river up which there is supposed to be an ancient grotto we can visit. It is supposed to have had some spiritual significance to the Polynesians. We will be visiting that today for sure.
We are quite happy with this position as a staging point for our trip south to the eclipse. The extra 4nm upwind means we’ll have an easier run. The edge of the totality is just over 10nm SSE from the pass although if we head south it’s nearer 11nm. We aim to be out of the pass before 5:30am tomorrow, an hour before sunrise and 3 hours before the eclipse. If we make 5 knots then we’ll be 5nm inside the umbra which should give us a minute of darkness. If we make 6 knots we’ll get nearer 90 seconds. I have the edge of the umbral path already entered onto the chart plotter so we’ll know when we’re in the path of the shadow.
Hopefully the weather system that has been going over us for the last few days will lead to clearer air. Certainly, once we’re away from the land we’ll lose the clouds created by the uplift of air over the land so it can only get better. My next blog will probably be after we have experienced the eclipse so keep your fingers crossed for us.
]]>Shortly after arriving [...]]]>
Shortly after arriving John and Kara, a young couple sailing on Orca a Cape Dory 30, rowed over. They’d bought one too many baguettes and offered us their spare. We invited them aboard and ended up sharing a beer and lunch with them. As they travel without a fridge the cold beer was a real treat for them.
We relaxed the afternoon away before preparing for a curry dinner with the Bamboozles in the evening. A jolly time was had.
This morning I’ve brought myself up to date with our passage log. Currently we stand at 9,384nm sailed to date with John covering over 6,100nm of that with us.
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