Rarotonga to Tonga:
We set sail for Tonga on Tuesday 5th around miday with a plan if possible to stop off at Beveridge Reef and hopefully Nuie. However the winds weren't favourable for us and progress was fairly slow with us hoving to at one point for 18 hours as we were going backwards! However we made it to Beveridge, arriving at 10.00 pm at night. Fortunately there was a full moon so we had Manton and Chris up in the cross trees spotting the outline of the waves breaking (and the gap where we could pass through). Russell and Mark were glued to the radar where the water crashing through the gap was clearly visible and I was at the helm. Everyone else was up on deck with eyes peeled to spot the gap and in we went.
After anchoring up, we all had a celebratory drink before retiring for the first night not bobbing around on the ocean. Truly it was a bath tub in the middle of the ocean! Calm, warm gentle waters, beautiful coral and fish. Half the crew went snorkelling off the reef and another party went to investigated a wrecked boat at the edge of the reef. They discovered a newly wrecked New Zealand fishing vessel complete with most of her longline gear and even New Zealand Women's Weekly magazines in her lockers (doesn't sound like the kind of reading material fisherman would normally read so go figure). We took the opportunity to adjust our dateline and timezone back to NZST to ensure fairness among the watches, losing the 9th July in the process.
After the pleasant 12 hour interlude it was back out to the high seas, by this time a day late against our schedule, and off to Vav'au with an anticipated ETA of 13th July - a further 380 nautical miles and probable 3 days assuming fair winds. A double strike of tuna shortly after leaving the reef prompted the unusual action of throwing them back (BAD mistake, they were the last fish of the trip as it turned out) and the winds came round in our favour for some great sailing.
We reached Va'vau on the morning of 13th and as we headed in, we heard Kate Martin who was waiting to join the ship at the port of Neiafu call us up on the radio. Where were we? She headed off to the customs and MAF and called us back with instructions and we tied up at the container dock at 2.30 - although we subsequently discovered in fact that in Tonga it was 3.30 pm! Just time for a clearance, a quick change and down to the Mermaid Bar to celebrate after 8 days at sea.
The following day we set off island hopping with a plan on Sunday to visit the Spanish restaurant in Te Pania. Russell had been there in 1992 and although it was quite pricey, we decided damn the expense we would have a night out. Sunday afternoon the weather wasn't great so we played Mafia (Chris learned this game in Nepal of all places!) and then donned our best party finery and bling before setting off in the zodiac for dinner.
As we arrived, we saw the paella in the oven and realised it was veritable spanish banquet with tapas to start and desert. Fish pate, cheese croquettes, gazpacho and tortilla were all served and then to our surprise, the guy cooking the paella arrived in a beribboned black cape, a Guadia Seville hat and a guitar and proceeded to dance on the floor - we presume to honour the incoming paella - which was in fact delicious. After desert, Maria offered us an assortment of percussion instruments so we could all make lots of noise to accompany the floorshow of music. Much drink was consumed by all, including those playing the music and we staggered back to the ship very late. Suffice to say some people (no names will mentioned here) had great difficulty being woken up to do their watch! A word about the toilet at the restaurant - it was without doubt the best toilet we encountered in the entire Tonga group, and that included Nukualofa.
Unfortunately we had to head down towards Nuku'alofa on the Tuesday as the wind yet again wasn't favourable and 5 of us were flying out on Friday morning at ohgodearly o'clock. We fortunately had time to have a quick break at the Ha'apai Group, probably some of the nicest snorkelling and beaches we encountered. Here is where we started to encounter a number of whales, a shark and some dolphins. Not to mention the enormous fish that got away....
And finally on to Nuku'alofa were we had the day to kill before leaving for the airport at 0100.
After anchoring up, we all had a celebratory drink before retiring for the first night not bobbing around on the ocean. Truly it was a bath tub in the middle of the ocean! Calm, warm gentle waters, beautiful coral and fish. Half the crew went snorkelling off the reef and another party went to investigated a wrecked boat at the edge of the reef. They discovered a newly wrecked New Zealand fishing vessel complete with most of her longline gear and even New Zealand Women's Weekly magazines in her lockers (doesn't sound like the kind of reading material fisherman would normally read so go figure). We took the opportunity to adjust our dateline and timezone back to NZST to ensure fairness among the watches, losing the 9th July in the process.
After the pleasant 12 hour interlude it was back out to the high seas, by this time a day late against our schedule, and off to Vav'au with an anticipated ETA of 13th July - a further 380 nautical miles and probable 3 days assuming fair winds. A double strike of tuna shortly after leaving the reef prompted the unusual action of throwing them back (BAD mistake, they were the last fish of the trip as it turned out) and the winds came round in our favour for some great sailing.
We reached Va'vau on the morning of 13th and as we headed in, we heard Kate Martin who was waiting to join the ship at the port of Neiafu call us up on the radio. Where were we? She headed off to the customs and MAF and called us back with instructions and we tied up at the container dock at 2.30 - although we subsequently discovered in fact that in Tonga it was 3.30 pm! Just time for a clearance, a quick change and down to the Mermaid Bar to celebrate after 8 days at sea.
The following day we set off island hopping with a plan on Sunday to visit the Spanish restaurant in Te Pania. Russell had been there in 1992 and although it was quite pricey, we decided damn the expense we would have a night out. Sunday afternoon the weather wasn't great so we played Mafia (Chris learned this game in Nepal of all places!) and then donned our best party finery and bling before setting off in the zodiac for dinner.
As we arrived, we saw the paella in the oven and realised it was veritable spanish banquet with tapas to start and desert. Fish pate, cheese croquettes, gazpacho and tortilla were all served and then to our surprise, the guy cooking the paella arrived in a beribboned black cape, a Guadia Seville hat and a guitar and proceeded to dance on the floor - we presume to honour the incoming paella - which was in fact delicious. After desert, Maria offered us an assortment of percussion instruments so we could all make lots of noise to accompany the floorshow of music. Much drink was consumed by all, including those playing the music and we staggered back to the ship very late. Suffice to say some people (no names will mentioned here) had great difficulty being woken up to do their watch! A word about the toilet at the restaurant - it was without doubt the best toilet we encountered in the entire Tonga group, and that included Nukualofa.
Unfortunately we had to head down towards Nuku'alofa on the Tuesday as the wind yet again wasn't favourable and 5 of us were flying out on Friday morning at ohgodearly o'clock. We fortunately had time to have a quick break at the Ha'apai Group, probably some of the nicest snorkelling and beaches we encountered. Here is where we started to encounter a number of whales, a shark and some dolphins. Not to mention the enormous fish that got away....
And finally on to Nuku'alofa were we had the day to kill before leaving for the airport at 0100.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home