June 7, 2014
Some certain person may accuse me of being “chronologically rigid,” but I prefer to think of it as “logical.” I mostly write about things in the order in which they happen. That said, I’ll take a moment to comment on where we are now, and the process of getting here.
The Decision: When we made the decision to return to Tonga a few months ago, it came as a surprise to both of us. Especially when we both got the idea at the same time, pretty much out of nowhere! Sometimes I think these things are divinely inspired. We’d heard stories about how numerous the whales are in July/August, and I think that idea nagged at both of us. The thing with Tonga, though, is it can be hard to get there from New Zealand if the winds are easterly and strong. This made Tonga more of a hope than a plan, and we did our pre-arrival paperwork for Fiji in the likely event that we’d end up there (Fiji requires that you notify them well before you arrive).
The Passage: This started off great, with days of motoring in very light winds and calm seas. Yes, sailing on a broad reach is ideal, but if we can’t have that, we’ll take motoring in glassy seas and no wind. After a few days, we had to avoid a weather system ahead of us. It was supposed to pass over us. It didn’t. This low was to our boat as Benny Hill is to a bikini-clad girl. When we stopped to avoid it, it came down and chased us around (I can practically hear that Benny Hill theme music). We ended up taking refuge in Minerva Reef while the winds and swells settled down. The low did give us one gift: nice southerly winds to get to Tonga. Our hope became a plan.
Surreal Moment: As an example of how surreal this lifestyle can be: one night we’re getting knocked around by winds and rough seas on a long passage; 24 hours later we’re in a calm anchorage behind a reef in the middle of the ocean, having dinner and drinks by lantern light under a starry sky with old and new friends on Alaeris. Looking back now it seems like a dream.
Our Tonga Arrival: We had a bumpy start when our customs officer specifically told us (and another boat) that we were done, didn’t need to see anyone else, and we could leave the wharf. We were thrilled until we heard from other cruisers that we should have seen two or three more agencies before leaving that wharf. Come Monday we had to go around town to three separate agencies to apologize and explain why we hadn’t stayed. Luckily they were pretty nice about it, but we weren’t off to a great start. It didn’t help hearing there’s an outbreak here of some sort of “chicken flu,” a mosquito-born illness that causes aching joints.
Re-Entry Syndrome: This is a pattern I’ve noticed and I’ve given it this name. After the initial high of arriving (that terrific feeling of dropping your anchor and celebrating with fun drinks), a sort of malaise can set in. It’s similar to that weird depression that can happen after finishing a major project, even though finishing such a project is always an accomplishment and relief. With cruising, the passage is the project, and the malaise can set in during those first days when you look around and think, and as a friend put so perfectly, “Is this my life now?” It’s not that things are bad; it’s that they’re so different.
A big part of our cruising lifestyle is making home bases. We don’t really travel constantly, but instead pick a hub from which we can go out and travel, then return to a familiar and comfortable place. Of course all old favorite places were once new, but we go through a process of making them ours. We pick our favorite hangouts, one of which is usually a cafe with good coffee, good food, and Internet service, and the other of which might be the sort of bar where cruisers congregate (near the water, with a view and a happy hour). We have our favorite eateries with foods we’ve come to crave and will miss when we’re gone. We have our market, our place to buy meat, our bakery, our laundromat (or laundry service), our favorite places to walk, and our now-treasured routines. In making a place ours, we also become part of the community. We have lots friendly acquaintances and maybe even some friends. We know how to get things done, or if not, whom to go to for help or advice. The place becomes home.
The time comes, though, when we need to head on. And so we set out on the next adventure, either to cruise before ending up in a new town, or to make passage to another country. After arriving in the next place we plan to stay awhile, everything and everyone is once again strange, and now we must adjust to the ways of our new base and figure out how everything works. Of course one of the joys of travel is the thrill of discovery, but discovery takes some effort, and when we have all that effort ahead of us it can feel daunting, especially after we had the last place so wired!
Our New Home Base at Big Mama’s and Tongatapu: Big Mama’s is a rustic resort and hangout on the small island of Pangaimotu about 1.5 miles from the city of Nuku’alofa on Tongatapu island. There’s med mooring available at the wharf near town, but the dangers of rat and cockroach infestation and the lack of cool breezes lead most cruisers to prefer the anchorage at Pangaimotu and take the daily ferry when they need to visit the city. Most cruisers pass through here because it’s the most convenient place to jump off to New Zealand. Few cruisers explore this area because they are either hurrying south or north.
We’d been here before but were only passing through, preparing to get checked out of the country and make the big jump to New Zealand. We didn’t really do any sightseeing, and the last thing on our minds was cruising. We just did our business in town and had sunset meetings with our group of cruisers to discuss weather, departure times, etc. over a few beers at Big Mama’s. Life was all about the people we were with and the things we had to do, not about Tongatapu.
Now we’ve returned to Tongatapu with the goal of staying long enough to explore the area while waiting for the whales to return to the Ha’apai. But we had to do some serious adjusting during our first days here. Aside from the customs snafu, re-entry syndrome and trying to figure out how big a threat the outbreak might be, we had to get over how strange it felt to be here amid strangers when last time we were here as part of a tight-knit group brought together by the common mission of making the passage to New Zealand. All our friends went to Fiji this year; and this may be the first time in the entire cruise when we’ve been someplace and not known anybody.
Over the course of the first week we settled in. We got to know the ferry schedule into town, re-established Friends Cafe as our coffee house, figured out how to get internet service on our boat in the anchorage (going a long way towards making this feel like home), took a tour of Tongatapu island, got to know the other cruisers in the anchorage, and came to realize that we’re under a protective wing here at Big Mama’s as she and Earl look out for the interests of the cruisers (the presence of people looking out for you also makes it feel like home). We even gave a small presentation about the Ha’apai to the other cruisers in the anchorage (not that we’re experts, but we were the only ones who’d been there and people asked if we would).
During week two, we set out to go where few cruisers have gone before: visiting some of the other islands in this area. We had a great time and are hoping now to do a little more cruising locally before we head off. For now, we feel like we have a home here at Big Mama’s and Nuku’alofa. After our presentation, Rich realized how much he could help people by making Google Earth charts of Tonga available on our website and teaching people how to integrate them into their programs. And we’re both excited about sharing information and encouraging people to spend more time in the area of Tongatapu.
For now, we’ll stay put here awhile longer, exploring the area and watching other cruisers come and go. We’ll hang out at Friends, surfing the Internet and drinking coffee drinks, or we’ll sit at Big Mama’s and enjoy a couple of beers. We’ll do more cruising, and when the time feels right, we’ll head north. Meanwhile Rich will continue to post stuff from the present, and I’ll go back to posting New Zealand stuff from last year and trying to get less behind.–Cyndi
