Current position is 19:56.460S 174:42.97W

 

We finally made it out of Nuke on the 18th May and headed up to the southern Ha’apai.

 

Our first day was around 60NM in some fairly boisterous conditions and we dropped anchor on the northern side of Nomuka Ika.  On paper the anchorage looks quite dodgy as there are only a few bits of reef as protection, especially as the winds are very east, but surprisingly it held up very well and the holding was excellent which was reassuring as we did have a reef not that far from the stern of the boat.

 

We headed off yesterday and spent last night at Ha’afeva Island which is a lovely anchorage with many small islands around and classic South Pacific with sandy beaches, palm trees, clear waters and lots of coral..  The only downside is that it does seem to be subject to a bit of roll.

 

Unfortunately the weather gods are not playing all that fair in this part of the world and we have a nasty depression forming to the west of us and heading our way so rather than risky a belting in the Ha’apai, which is very low and flat with not many good anchorages to sit out a low we are heading up to Vava’u this evening which provides a lot more shelter and protection.   As it is only around 80NM we will be departing around 4pm this evening and arriving at first light into the Vava’u area after a slow night of sailing.

 

After listening to the daily weather report from Gulf Harbour Radio this  morning on HF 8752 we do have to consider ourselves lucky as we are in the islands and it sounds like they are having all sorts of weather issues for yachts coming out of New Zealand – some of them have already been delayed by up to 2weeks and may still have a wait in front of them. 

 

Whistler, with Margy and Monty on board, who have been sailing with us for the last couple of days, are staying in the Ha’apai but may also head up north depending on the weather update tomorrow morning.

 

We are hoping to get back down to the H’apai late next week before we head back to Vava’u mid June to meet up with our first guest, Amanda as we really are keen to see a bit more of this area and Mark definitely wants to be able to say that we have been kite boarding in the Ha’apai.