Monday, June 25, 2018

25 June. Va Va'u

Arrived Ovaka Island yesterday morning. Gotta love sailors never the right amount of wind.   This time too much, so we were getting here too fast. Tonga is not the place for arriving in unfamiliar anchorages in the dark. So at 0230 we practiced heaving to. After several tries we finally settled on a sail configuration.  Paul had the watch and Dennis and i went off. Dennis,went on at 0600 and got us back headed in the right direction. We had anchor down by 1130 and spent the rest of the day recovering. 
First impressions of this new group of islands is that they are younger in geological terms. There are reefs, but the islands themselves are rockier, lusher and taller. I'll post pictures when the internet is better. 
Not sure what is on the agenda today. Definitely need to provision in the near future which means heading to Nieafu. 

Big Happy Birthday to my nephew Eli!!

Saturday, June 23, 2018

Leaving Pangai

Leaving Paingai and the Ha'apai group as we speak. Next stop VaVau!  Should be there tomorrow morning.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Sunday service at the Wesleyan Church

Today we went to Church.  Didn't understand a single word, but we were welcomed with big smiles. The singing was amazing and well worth the 30 minute rant by the minister. Hahahaha. 

It isnt legal to do work/strenuous activity on Sundays here in Tonga. So we had a lazy day just on case the work police were out.

Sunset at Pangai, Ha'apai Tonga

Evergreen with the volcano in the background

Cruising social life

I think one of the best parts about cruising is meeting other cruisers.  
We had sundowners on sv Letting Go with the crews from Double Trouble and Citation. Lovely way to end the day.

Thursday, June 14, 2018

14 June 2018. Uoleva

Wow. Time flies. 

We are now anchored off Uoleva.  We finally got out of Uonukuohifohifa. It was pretty and we did some Snorkelling. Yikes the charts for this region are about as good as the grib files. Meaning not so good. Added a few gray hairs leaving our anchorage. On the chart we were no where near the reef, in reality we drove right over the top of one. Didn't hit bottom, but dang we were close. My poor stomach lining. Hahahaha.
It was a short hop to Uiha.  Spent the night there then another short hop to our current anchorage. 
Wednesday we met up with Jo & Rob on Double Trouble and walked around the Island - 10km. What was I thinking doing that?  Was worth it though. Saw my first sea snake of the trip and generally enjoyed the company and the exercise. Dennis is nursing a sciatica type pain, so did not join us.  Hoping that resolves itself quickly.  
Jo & Rob came for drinks that evening which was also quite enjoyable.  Yes this is the cruising life we like so well.

As it is actually 3am, not sure what we will do today. If its nice, we'll probably stay put and go to Pangai to check in and get greens/fresh food on Friday and Saturday, then head back out to maybe dive with DT & Citation. Who knows????  We are back in semi internet range. Not great but gets the job done all be it slowly. 

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Saturday 9 June

Friday - stayed where we were. was a blustery rainy day. Good day to just chill - which we did.

Today (Saturday) we are readying ourselves to head to Uonukuhihifo. Its about 3 hours from here. Hoping to catch up with Double Trouble.

More later

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Friday, June 8, 2018

Thursday 7 June

Still at Ha'afeva. turned into a work on the computer day. I helped Dennis enter uncharted reefs into the navigation software and he then uploaded to the system and then worked on our back up navigation. A little rant here on how Windows 10 is compatible with some of our navigation software. We installed windows 7 on the back up computer - which now has a dead screen. we are able to hook up to the TV, but yep I sure would love to be doing that in crap weather - NOT. Anyway, I hate software and software companies at the moment. It was a nice day too. Paul snorkeled the reef by shore, so at least one of us did something fun. LOL pity party over. Comes with not sleeping well.

Wanted to leave today (Friday 8 June), but at the moment we are in the midst of a squall. Maybe we will move - maybe not. Only need a 3-4 hour window. I could happen.... ]

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Thursday, June 7, 2018

Lessons in appreciation - Ha'aFeva

Wednesday 6 June
Rough night of sleep - wind died down and its been pretty muggy. Then we had to close up as it rained in the middle of the night - I assumed my customary position in the cockpit and after being rained on my legs for an hour I was cool enough to go back to the comfortable bed.

Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day, so we decided to swim into the beach and walk to the village. Paul took the paddle board because its not proper to walk in the village in our swimsuits, plus we needed water, camera and shoes. After a hearty breakfast we donned our gear, packed up the dry bag and took off.
Too bad the snorkel over was part of the plan to get to the village. The reef between us and shore was pretty amazing. The plan is to revisit it today.

Not too much beach on the side of the wharf we swam to, so we tied the paddleboard up in the bushes and headed along the beach to the wharf. At some point it must have been pretty modern, but some cyclone at some point has taken care of that - and as we were to find out - only subsistence living on Ha'aFeva, so they are at the mercy of their government or aide from another country. The "road" into the village is an over grown double track, muddy in places from the rain overnight. So pretty though. First thing we noticed was the barbed wire fences. To keep animals in or people out? We eventually saw cows, so figured the fence was either to keep them in or as it turns out - keep them out. We passed a boggy spot, curved around and started seeing plantings of banana trees and yam/tapioca. I guess we had been walking about 20 minutes when we saw a man working in the trees and another man walking towards us. Both were friendly and the man on the road asked us if we wanted papaya - that was a definite "yes", so he asked us to follow him and so began the days lesson in appreciation.

Pita led us thru and to the "gardens". On the way he stopped and got a machete from his mother. Pita's english is not so good, and our Tongan is limited to Malo - thank you and "eyo" (sp?) - yes. But, we managed. We got to the Papaya "garden", which honestly just looked like more forest to me, but there lots of papaya trees. Pita cut us several papaya and then went to get us some bananas. OMG Dennis went with him and he said he was wondering how he was going to reach the bunch of bananas and "whack".... He cut down the whole tree, barely missing Dennis in the process. Meanwhile Paul and I were waiting in the clearing. Two small leantos, one covered with sides that had a bike in the back and one with just a corrugated roof made up the buildings there. Sadly with the ever present plastic bottles and soda cans littered about. This gave us some inkling that the village may have more in the way of modern conveniences than what we had seen so far. Pita brought me some yams (2 small ones, cuz I have no idea how to cook them), some spring onions and prize of the day - a watermelon. We offered him money, which he tried to decline, but at this point we had way more than $20 tongan dollars worth of fruit. I also gave him two of my granola bars - which I think he was happier about - those disappeared quickly into his pockets. We took pictures of all of us with him. It took a bit of doing, but we finally figured out he wanted us to print some for him. In the end we got his postal address - lol Pita Ta ufu'i Ha'aFeva. I guess with only 200 people on the island he won't be hard to find. He then asked if we wanted limes. We said yes so off we went to his "home". Pita may not be very tall, but man, he sets a grueling pace or maybe its the fact that we are boat bound and haven't spent much time on land in the last month.


We followed trails that barely qualify as such, but I guess there really aren't enough feet to keep the jungle at bay. Thankfully Pita knew where he was going. We passed cows and pigs (the pigs eat coconut, so bet they are yummy eating - can you say bacon? I know I am a terrible person...) We opened a fence, cut through a yard and boom we were on the main road in the village - on the opposite side of the island from our boat. Pita took us to his home. Running water and flush toilets, but no electricity in the "kitchen". We put our bags down, and finally said yes to a coconut. Pita has a stake in place and made quick work of the outer hull. Wish we could rig something like that on the boat. Then he sent us for a walk to see the village.

The village has a church, a medical center (about the size of a half container) manned by a nurse and with a generator running. When asked Pita said the generator was for a freezer - when I said medicine he said fish and laughed. We passed a building that looked like a school, but could have been a community center as there were no children there. There was also a big modern motor boat on a trailer. Of course we gravitated to the water. There we saw the remains of another wharf, some small fishing boats anchored - maybe some fish traps. There was a sign that said the work was done by Australia - must have been several cyclones ago. We caught up with Pita - on his way to the store to buy cigarettes for his dad. So we followed, curious to see the store. While we were waiting for the proprietress to open up Pita told us there are 3 stores - 2 Tongan and one Chinese. We were at one of the Tongan ones and the proprietress had a severe case of osteoporosis/scoleosis. We had a peek inside and besides cigarettes, she had nappies, cookies, oil, tinned corned beef, crackers, lollies, soda and lighters. There was another youngish woman with two small children there - I found a flower and gave it to her for her hair. Wish I would have snapped a picture. Her children were 2 and 4 and so cute. She said the school was further down the side street we were on. I guess that is where all the school age kids were.

Back to Pita's place to pick up our things. He showed us his hen with new baby chicks - I swear that hen was purring - never heard a chicken do that. cool. We took off back to our boat side of the island. Had a pit stop to drop off the cigarettes to his dad. Broken chain saw -and the tool they had didn't work - we promised a crescent wrench (had also promised a paint brush, lol should have taken more papaya, but we were loaded down as it was). They are building fence to surround a new yam garden. After looping back to the road, we passed a man cutting down bread fruit - dang I had to take one. They are a pain in the butt to cook, but I guess at some point we will have bread fruit fries.

Hungry and tired and thirsty we made it back to the wharf/beach. Dennis and Paul went back to the boat and I sat with Pita and our haul. Kind of difficult to make small talk, but I did discover that Pita (his wife is currently in Nuku'Alofa) has one son in school in Nuku'Alofa. I also told my share of little white lies. He wanted to know if we had beer - I said no, if we had waterproof torches - only one I said (this would have been to use getting lobster on the reef) and if our little boat (dinghy) was working - I said no. I hate that, but was easier than trying to explain why we were not going to give him beer or a torch or put the dinghy in the water just for him. I did however promise to go by the new boat in the anchorage and give them his name. Dennis made it back in the kayak towing the paddleboard for me. The wharf managed to get a bite out of both of us - I slipped and fell when we first got there and Dennis cut his fingers getting back into the kayak. Definitely time to get back to the boat. We did stop at "Libertee" to give them the scoop on Pita and Ha'afeva. Shared our grib info and headed to the boat.

The fruit and veg were a great score, but needed to be salt water dunked to make sure no critters came aboard with them. But the first thing we did after that was cut up some fruit. Papaya and watermelon. Yum. We tried the green fruit Pita called limes - yeah not so much. Not sure what it is but really sour. Thin green coating over a thicker white rind then orange inside with black seeds. Will have to ask someone that speaks better english at some point.

Of course can't have such a good day without something not functioning properly - the generator was out of coolant - fixable, but what a chore after such a big day. Dennis got is sorted though. We had the rest of the Mahi grilled for dinner. I did half with cajun seasoning and the other in garlic,olive oil and lime. Consensus is that they were both good, but the cajun was the best. Need to catch another fish now.

Well today will be a semi rest day. Dennis is replacing the kitchen fan as we speak, so rest is a relative term I guess. Making water, running the generator, tidying up and maybe a snorkel later. Will probably leave tomorrow as the wind is supposed to be SE. Its about a 20 mile hop to Uonukuhihifo, then Uhia,Tatafa, and Uoleva before we hit Lifoka and Pangai.

Wow long winded today.....

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Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Ha 'afeva

Moved today. Short hop and uneventful at least until we got here. Motored the whole way as it was directly up wind from our last position, and not the 5-10 knots as suggested by the gribs - more like 15-20. OH well, we should be used to it by now.

On the plus side, the anchor went down and caught first try. On the "are we space cadets or what" side, we forgot to bring in the fishing lines. Lady Karma must have been in a super good mood, because we did not wrap the prop. AND we recovered the hand lures that snapped during our afternoon snorkel. Nice to have some good luck - thanks to whomever arranged that.

Its a little bouncy here, but those gribs suggest that the wind will clock around from north to east to southeast over the next 48 hours and then it will be better. Had a good snorkel - lots of pretty little fish. Sunset was amazing tonight - all fiery red with a volcano in the background.

WAs hoping for internet here to post some pictures - there is a tower, not sure what it is for, but definitely not internet. OH well we will cope- HAHAHA. We plan to stay here tomorrow and continue north the day after.

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Sunday, June 3, 2018

Sunday 3 June

Happy Birthday Mom - hope you are having a good party in heaven. Miss you as always. Thanks for sending us the MahiMahi - it was yum.... LOL

So we moved today - left the bouncy/rolly anchorage at Nomuka and came to O'ua about 15 miles north. Dennis hooked the aforementioned Mahi on the way out of the anchorage. Yum!! Fish tacos for dinner tonight. The sail here after the fish was pretty uneventful - anchoring was a little exciting. the anchor chain wouldn't come loose (probably fell on top of itself during the sail) and I let us drift to close in to the reef. - A few minutes of pandemonium, but no harm and we are now safely anchored in a nice calm place. And we are all still talking to each other. Its a bit wild working our way thru the myriad of reefs and small islands. Very pretty though. We will stay tomorrow and swim into the beach - maybe score some coconuts.

I made more homemade corn tortillas for the tacos - wish I would have brought more than the one bag of corn flour.........

Still no internet - no casualties or withdrawal symptoms noted. Will be nice to post pictures at some point.

Until tomorrow.....

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Friday, June 1, 2018

Nuku'Alofa

So where did I leave off?
Last Thursday waiting for a part? Picking up what we thought was a fixed rebuilt starter/solenoid?

Well the part did arrive in Tonga on Friday, sadly we could not pick it up until Saturday. Spare Parts zone guy promised it would be ready first thing and that he would then call the guy at the Ministry of Industry to put the bearing into the housing. The waterpump fix was a bust, so we collected our parts to bring back to the boat. The solenoid/starter was ready from Phoenix electric. So we headed back to the wharf to wait for the ferry. Dennis was able to get packing gland material from Johnny, the engineer at the place that fixes boats at the wharf. Nice knowledgeable guy. And then, Lo and behold, who did we see there but our new friends on Double Trouble, getting ready to head to Big Mama's as they had just finished checking in. So, we hitched a ride with them - sweet deal for us. They had a crap run up from NZ too - same winds on the nose plus rain.

Back at the boat Dennis replaced the engine raw water pump with the spare - working like a charm. Rebuild kit ordered from NZ for Josh to bring when he comes in July. - wow can you believe it's June already!!
Starter/solenoid, not so much.

Saturday we were up and on the way to town on the 0900 ferry. We divided up - I went to the market and Dennis and Paul went to pick up the part and a solenoid (yay they had the one we needed) and go to MOI (ministry of industry) to have the rudder parts put together. Let me stop here to give a plug to Razak (head guy) at Spare Parts Zone - he was very helpful. He let us take the solenoid and the bearing (at varying times) to try before we paid. Very cool. That place has tons of parts. The guys picked me up and we headed back to the boat.

Saturday afternoon we installed the new rudder bearing - was not totally straightforward, but it is back together and working great. The solenoid went onto the starter and after some fiddling is working well too.

Sunday - rest day and a walk around the Island followed by cold beer at Big Mama's. AHHHHHHH......

Monday - back to town to pick up our visa's, get our money back from Phoenix electric. No go to both of those - Visa's not ready until the afternoon, so we decided to head back to the boat.

Tuesday - back to town - Visa's ready, starter money returned, jerry jugs filled with diesel - oh and did I mention that Sunday after everything was all back together and running - then the refrigerator thermostat fully died. Sigh. Fortunately we were able to pick up a thermostat (for free) from a place next door to the Total station (which takes credit cards)by the Small Industries Park. Next up was provisioning. There is a place out by the Hospital called CostLow - you guessed it - imports from Costco. I swear I got things here cheaper than in New Zealand. Lol - don't get me started. Anyway we stocked up from a variety of places - veggies and fruit from the market, dry goods - costlow and meat from the place next to Cowley's (which is a bakery - sweets and only white bread when we were there). A busy day ended with an 1.5 hour wait for the ferry. The digicel tower is right there, so we called and talked to Josh.

Wednesday - beautiful sunny day. We checked out of Tongatapu -don't forget to pay the Port Authority fees. Headed to Ata for a head start jump to the Ha'apai. We are having to remember how to navigate through coral and reefs again - yuck! Hard on the stomach. We had good light, so getting in was not too bad. It is coming back to us how the color of the water changes indicating depth and presence of coral heads close to the surface.

Yesterday we left early in flat light to head to Kelefesia Island. Had a great day of beam/behind the beam sailing. As we approached Kelefesia, the swell got big and then - breaking waves in the distance. Looking at the chart and the guide and the view in front of us - yeah - not so much. They are not kidding when they say the anchorage is only good in calm seas..... Pretty sure it would have to be absolutely flat calm before I would even attempt that entrance. Being smarter than the average bears, we did have plan B and hence the reason we chose to leave so early in flat light. 15 miles further to Nomuka and still lots of daylight. And here we are. Its a pretty rolly anchorage, but no breaking waves at the entrance. Lots of them that you can see, but that comes with the reef. I am sure it would be awesome here in calmer weather. We haven't even put the dinghy in the water, and won't unless it calms down. Poor Dennis - borderline motion sick. No internet. We were spoiled in Nuku'Alofa.

Another work day today. Dennis fixed the freezer - the hard ride up to Tonga from NZ, created a few leaks. He also installed the new thermostat for the fridge and worked on the water pump. I shudder to think about how it would be if Dennis was not so handy. Electrician, plumber, mechanic, captain........
Paul has now completed seal replacement on 4 port holes. I did my usual cooking and cleaning and general assisting where ever needed. Cockpit looks pretty good - I have to say.

Okay - all caught up. Hope you all had a good three day weekend (in the states) and are not freezing to death in NZ.

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