November 15, 2012…
The Ha’apai Group of islands in Tonga is very different from the Vava’u group. While many of the Vava’u islands are large, flat-topped mountains, the Ha’apai islands are flat, much like islands that form an atoll. On the east side of the group is a long spit of land that’s actually broken into (sometimes barely) 5 islands. Spreading out to the west are more islands, reefs, coral heads, rocks, etc. This area is historically much less visited than Vava’u because it can be so hazardous to boats, but with modern navigation equipment and charts, more and more people are coming here. It has become a “must do.”
Even with modern navigation equipment and charts, it’s best to maneuver in the Ha’apai on a sunny day so you can keep an eye out for coral heads, reefs, and other hazards. We unfortunately had a gray and cloudy day ahead, but we were only heading to Ha’ano, the northernmost island in the long spit of land, which would let us put off the most difficult maneuvering for another day.
Ha’ano is a frequent first stop for boats heading into the Ha’apai, and some friends had recommended it to us. It was nearly noon by the time we got there, and we were tired and hungry after our long overnight passage and very anxious to get the hook down. It was a neat-looking place, and we headed into the anchorage and dropped the anchor. Unfortunately it landed on rocks so we had to try again. This time it held, but with the proper amount of scope (anchor chain) out, we were uncomfortably close to a reef. We had been told this anchorage can fit 2 boats. We felt it could fit maybe one nervous boat. In our case, we were too nervous–if we dragged at all we’d be on a reef. Unhappily, we pulled up our anchor and headed on.
The problem with heading on was that we weren’t prepared to do so. This long spit of land has rocks and coral along its shore and then a huge area of reefs and coral heads not far off shore. This leaves a somewhat narrow channel for boats to make their way down to the main island near the south end of the spit, about a 3-hour trip. As we headed that way, I grabbed the guidebook and read off the waypoints to Rich, who typed them into the chart plotter. There were a lot of waypoints! In an effort to make Rich feel better, I told him the guidebook said this channel is the most difficult part of the Ha’apai and if we can do this, we can do any of it. This news did not make Rich feel better; not at all.
(This sort of situation is the reason we had just gotten that medication we talked about in an earlier blog… link 1, link 2. In cruising, you have to be able to keep calm and roll with the punches. God was probably not trying to end our lives; God just wanted us to anchor someplace else—how about that island further down?)
Neither one of us was happy about having to do this today: aside from not being prepared, it was gray with low visibility into the water. On top of that, we originally planned on bypassing the main island, Lifuka, in favor of Uoleva just south of it, but now it was too late in the day to make it to Uoleva before evening.
The problem with Lifuka is that Pengai, the main town of this island group, is there and now we’d have to check in with the local customs officials. Everyone who comes through the Ha’apai group is supposed to check in with the officials, but most cruisers opt to see 2 or 3 anchorages in the area and not do the “city,” of Pengai and thus skip the check-in there. (Tonga is one country, but the north, middle, and south island groups have customs officials, and you are supposed to check in and out of each area.)
We carefully made our way down the channel, going from waypoint to waypoint and looking out for visible markers along the way (which thankfully matched what we were seeing on our chart). All in all, it wasn’t difficult; just a long and somewhat tedious process. It may have been a blessing that it was such a gray day in that we couldn’t see the bottom areas that were more shallow and rocky. We arrived in Pengai and its large anchoring area around 3:30pm, late enough that we could put off going into town until tomorrow.
Overnight passages can be exhausting and stressful as you aren’t in the rhythm of a longer ocean passage and aren’t far from the hazards of shore. You don’t get much sleep and have to barge straight through whatever conditions lay between you and your next destination (there is no falling off for more comfort), and often, these conditions are rough. Your destination is usually a place you’ve never been before; and no matter how much research you do, there are always confusing things to be figured out upon arrival. It’s not fun, but this cloud has a silver lining: there is no high like the high you feel when you finally arrive after a long overnight passage (especially if it was rough)!
You get the boat tied up or the anchor down, and you are settled. You now straighten up the boat, and then grab a shower and straighten up yourself. Next, it’s time for food. It may be a restaurant, a hot meal on board, or just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but whatever food it is, nothing ever tastes better. Of course this food is accompanied by some form of adult beverage. After that, you take your exhausted but clean, full-bellied self to bed for a nap. It doesn’t matter that it’s still light out–you’re finally getting sleep after pulling an all-nighter.
Today, our arrival meal was green chicken curry on board with a glass of white wine, then another glass in the cockpit as we took in our new surroundings. Then a little TV, a Twilight Zone episode, before falling asleep in the soft warm light of a cloudy evening. This trip suddenly didn’t seem so hard after all! -Cyndi
