Month: October 2012

October 30, 2012

After some morning provisioning in town, we headed out for a final trip to the islands. Our goal: Anchorage 16 (on Vaka’eitu Island), which this year was the most popular and busy anchorage in Vava’u. One reason for for this was its proximity to two of the best snorkeling areas in Tonga: the Coral Gardens and the Coral Wonder. This would be our third attempt at the anchorage, but with the winds down and most of the boats gone, we were confident.

You have to wind your way into anchorage #16. It’s near the bottom of a large C-shaped area formed by two long, thin islands, and there’s a big island and several small rock islands in the middle. It takes about 20 minutes to get to #16 once you enter the C, and you can’t get a good look at it until you’re pretty much there. As a result, once you’re in there, it feels like its own little world.

We arrived to find a beautiful anchorage with lots of room. There were only a few scattered boats, and they were very spread out. We had discovered yet another reason to wait as long as possible before heading to New Zealand: roomy anchorages! We dropped our hook and took a dingy ride around to explore. Wow, what a beautiful spot! I was glad we finally made it here. -Cyndi

October 29, 2012

While others were planning their passages, we decided to head out to the local islands one more time. There was a period of very light winds predicted–perfect for going out to some of the anchorages! Plus, with so many people gone or leaving; we’d have a much better chance of finding room at the one anchorage we hadn’t been able to get into: #16.

In the days before we left, we had some nice times, and one in particular was an outing to the Tongan Beach Resort. After hearing about our lunch there, our friends Bob and Linda had gone for their anniversary dinner and raved about it. We decided to splurge and invited our friends Alex and Iris along. Iris had a birthday coming up, and this would be a perfect place to celebrate. It turned out to be a wonderful night.

We started with sunset drinks on the beach before moving into the more formal dining area for a wonderful dinner; then it was back to the beach for a nightcap under the moon and stars. La Paella (the Spanish restaurant in Ano Beach) may win the award for making the most unique and once-in-a-lifetime sort of experience, but for beauty and romance, the Tongan Beach wins hands down! This place is truly a treasure.

The night before our trip the the local islands, the old gang was here and gathered at The Balcony restaurant for pie night (meat pies). It was October 29, and it would be our last time together before we headed off in separate directions, some heading for New Zealand in the next weather window (looking to open in the next few days), some (well, us) heading to the local islands, and some still undecided but probably heading south. (Many boats in the fleet had already headed off to the Ha’apai group.) One thing Rich and I knew: it would be a very different town when we got back as most of the boats would be gone. -Cyndi

October 27, 2012

As the days went by, it felt as if the fleet were a flock of birds, and the first birds were breaking off to fly south. Most of them headed for the Ha’apai island group, about a day south of our Vava’u group. A few skipped Ha’apai and went straight to Nuku’alofa, about two days south and a great place make the jump to New Zealand. Many others were preparing to leave for New Zealand directly from here. Still, there were plenty of boats around, coming and going from the local islands.

I was surprised when I realized we were going to be here for the Halloween party at the Aquarium. I remembered seeing their fliers early on and thinking we’d be long gone by then! But Oct. 27th (the party night) had arrived, and we were still here. It was now 5pm, and we hadn’t come up with a costume. (We hadn’t actually thought we’d go, but some friends talked us into it.)

Finally, I had an idea. I wrapped us in some toilet paper, broke some eggs and taped the shells to the paper, and declared that we were a house that had been TP’d and egged on Halloween. OK, so we wouldn’t be in danger of winning the Best Costume award, but it was better than wearing our regular clothes and calling ourselves tourists.

We went to the party and had a nice time, but our favorite part of the evening happened on the way back to our boat. We were motoring along in our dinghy when we noticed the air was perfectly still and the water like glass, which was unusual here as it’s generally breezy. A full moon shone above us, and the boat and surrounding hills were perfectly reflected in the still water. Rich turned off the engine, and we sat awhile in this serene and beautiful scene, the loud party music now a distant sound. It was a magical moment, a time-out between a lively party and Alfred Hitchcock reruns in bed. -Cyndi

October 24, 2012

Rich and I decided to wait before doing the passage to New Zealand, but other cruisers were ready to go! Some of them would be heading for the Ha’apai group, but many people were beginning to study the weather and wait for a weather window directly from Vava’u to New Zealand. This changed the mood at the Aquarium a bit: instead of leisurely surfing the internet, people were anxiously watching and analyzing weather patterns. -Cyndi

More details from Rich… There are several sources of weather information that we, and other cruisers use. Some, including us, use weather routers. These are experienced meteorologists, either amateur or professional, that provide weather and course advice. Ultimately, the responsibility is your own as these weather routers aren’t on the boat suffering with you if they happen to get it wrong. Almost everyone, including us, watch other weather information as well.

Another great source of weather information are GRIB files (GRIded Binary files). These are computer model predictions of the weather and, when away from land effects, are incredibly accurate. A GRIB file is pictured below. There are also several other types of files available from the various weather services including satellite pictures, surface analysis charts and even text weather outlooks. (If you’re planning this kind of trip, also learn about Nadi Fleet Codes – another type of weather file.) The valuable files in this part of the pacific are from Fiji and New Zealand.

Some people get these files via the HAM radio, like us, while others use satellite phones to retrieve these files. Both are slow and the latter is expensive, so anytime there’s internet access available, especially free internet access, cruisers flock to the signal to download their particular flavor of weather information. Such was the scene most days at the Aquarium Cafe. Much of the consternation you see on the faces here is because, for the most part, few of these varied sources of weather information are in agreement with each other. Much vehement, though good-natured arguing resulted in defending one’s weather conclusions. –Rich

October 25, 2012

We just thought we’d give you a little tour around the neighborhood here in Neiafu (Vava’u, Tonga). This was the view this morning.

Looking south from our boat, there are a few more moorings and several boats at anchor. There’s also a pearl farm. It has about a hundred small buoys. Some of the cruisers call it the mooring buoy nursery.

Looking north towards town. There are about 50 boats at moorings to the north of us.

Across the bay there are also moorings. The number of boats moored and anchored here ranges from zero to about fifteen. It’s been pretty empty but it’s starting to fill up again.

Across the bay, a beautiful motor-sailor named Ice is moored. I’ve been wanting to talk to them. I’m curious how much fuel they use when under power alone.

We also get some superyachts. This is a smaller sample of the species. It’s anchored out by itself in the southern end of the bay.

Right next to us are a couple of catamarans. The blue one is called Cyber and I think it belongs to a local. Next to that is Segue with Collin and Mercedes on board. They are a wonderful couple who met through one of the crew-finder web sites.

A little further away is Alaeris. That’s Alex and Iris (now you get the boat name?). We first met them what seems like a lifetime ago in the Marquesas where we first made landfall. They have been good friends ever since and we’ve shared a lot of fun times together. They are from New York so we’ve spent some happy times talking about H&H Bagles and Zabars nova and Barnes & Nobel stores that are open all night.

Just back from cruising the local islands are Bob and Linda on Bright Angel. We’ve really enjoyed their company and it’s nice to have them back in the bay.

This is one of the smaller boats in the fleet – La Luz – a Francis 26. Doug and Zulaka met in Panama and are also headed for New Zealand. They are among the people we seem to meet up with in almost every place we visit.

Behind the boats, you can see the Aquarium Cafe where we spend a lot of time eating and socializing with the people we’ve mentioned here.

And as I was taking pictures, I was treated to this school of fish jumping. I wonder what was below chasing them? Here’s a close-up. -Rich