Hunga

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.

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.