November 27, 2012
We woke up and listened to the Stragglers’ Net, getting confirmation we had made a good decision leaving today as everyone had a rough, bumpy ride last night. The weather outlook was better for today. We start getting ready to go and encountered a frequent phenomenon in cruising: the dreaded last-minute crisis. Why oh why do boat problems love to pop up just as we’re about to head out on a passage? In this case, it was fuel in the bilge, which meant a leak someplace. Not until we tracked down the cause would we know whether this was a big problem or a little problem.
Rich tracked down the leak quickly, and it turned out an o-ring had fallen off the fuel filter housing last time Rich had changed the filter. Fuel had been dripping out for a few days. Luckily we had lost very little fuel, and soon the problem was fixed and we were back on schedule.
By now, we were the only ones in the bay next to Big Mama’s. I think very, very few cruisers can ever say they’ve been alone here, and it is a strange feeling. Everyone had joked to us, telling us to turn out the lights when we left. As we pulled out at 9:45, leaving an empty bay behind us, I almost felt like we should be turning out a light! We may well have been the last boat to leave Tonga in 2012.
The wind was between 12 and 14 knots as we motored our way out of the Tongatapu island group, a process that took about 3 hours. Once we got out on the open ocean, it was a bumpy and somewhat uncomfortable ride, but much better than it would have been if we’d left yesterday. We were on our way. –Cyndi
Note: Well, here’s another opportunity for putting in more pictures that didn’t make the cut before. So along with a picture I have from us leaving, I am adding in some others from our time in Tonga.
