Last few weeks in Tonga
Nickanddenisesailing
Sat 4 Nov 2017 02:19
So our passage down from the Hapais was one for the books - and not in a good way. We had to leave the day we did as Ruth was flying back to NZ and then on to Scotland shortly afterwards. The forecast did look better a few days later but we needed to get going. The morning started badly - which was probably a sign. We woke up at about 4am and ended up closing in closer and closer onto a boat in front of us - which had anchored ontop of our anchor. We had hoped the wind would swing them in a favorable direction but as we edged closer and closer we were starting to think about how we would wake them up. Luckily we managed to get it up with out making too much of a scene. We then headed out of the bay straight into the wind and waves. We struggled to make much head way as the wind was coming from exactly where we wanted to go. We decided that we should tack upwind with the engine running to try and make some progress. As I was settling in for a nap - Nick woke me to say that we
had a
tear in the main.
We woke Ruth up and between the 3 of us managed to take the torn sail down and replace it with the new back up sail that we have. This took us a good hour or so and by this stage we had made very little progress away from the island we had left. We talked about anchoring up in another island or even turning back and trying again at night - when the wind was due to drop. We decided instead to push on and by gradually tacking our way upwind we made slow progress.
It was looking more and more unlikley that we would make it in during day light hours so we decided to try and motor sail as much as we could - this seemed to be going ok until Nick realised that the fuel guage was misreading - we we were on such a lean. We promtly turned the engine off and decided that we better conserve as much as we could for the trip into the harbour.
After dinner and accepting that darkness was upon us we realised that the fuel situation was more serious then we origninally thought. We would have to sail during the night into the harbour and through the shipping channel. Thankfully it was well lit and there was very little in the way of boat traffic. It was a tense few hours and by the time we finally made it closer to the anchorage we were all dead tired. We finally dropped anchor at about 1am after one hell of a day.
Ruth managed to get away the next afternoon after a nice relaxed morning. One of our next crew members - Ryan - had arrived 5 days earlier than expected so we had to do a quick turn around to get the boat re organised for 4 of us, for the passage to NZ. We met Ryan the next day and he settled into life on the boat. Ben (the other crew member) was due to arrive a few days later so we spent the days imbetween getting customs and immigraton sorted - as well as doing some much needed provisioing.
The three of us hired a car one of the days, and had fun exploring the island. We found some impressive blow holes and some nice beaches. After a burger for lunch and some beers at a surf hostel type place I checked my phone and suddenly realised that Ben had arrived and I had totally screwed up the days! We was at the warf waiting for us!!! We raced back, dropped off the hire car and made our way back to 'Big Mammas resturant' where we met a very patient Ben.
We had intended to leave soon after Ben arrived (all weather dependant) so the next morning (which we found out was Bens Birthday) we headed over to the main warf to fuel up, water up and check out. It was all a bit stressful on the warf but after some people on real 'Tonga time' we managed to get it all done and head back to the anchorage.
After a weather check and info from Bob McDaviit (the weather guru) we realised we would not be leaving for at least a week. We decided to get some beers and birthday cake in to celebrate Bens day and also being able to relax a bit before heading to NZ.
So the last few weeks have mostly consited of us - checking weather, doing boat jobs, drinking, volley ball and even a bit of kitesurfing and windsurfing.
We managed to squeeze in a few nice days at a gorgeous little island about an hours sail away. Nice to have a private island to oursleves for a bit. Ryan caught a large blue fin Trevally off the beach and we all enjoyed the beautiful snorkelling around the island. The first night we got there we buit a fire on the beach and enjoyed some drinks as the sun set. The drinks continued into the night and the boys egged each other on into fire jumping and all sorts. 4 sandy drunk people made it back to the boat that night - even though the boys all very much wanted to sleep in their stupors on the beach.
Sporting good hangovers the next morning we managed to get some snorkeling in before some good naps. The boys squeezed in some more fishing on the beach before the sun got the better of them. We then started getting organised to move back to 'Big Mammas' the next day to get news on the weather.
So we have now been waiting about 10 days for a weather window to open up. So its been more than 2 weeks since the last window. Its not somthing that we are that used to - having to wait quite so long. We have managed to keep busy doing boat jobs and some ship wreck exploring etc. Most of all we have all been very sociable with the othe boats around. We made friends with a nice home built kit catamaran called 'Roam' with a young Aussie couple on board. They have a French girl crewing for them called Marie - who is mad into surfing and kitesurfing. Its been fun hanging out with her and Larissa. We even managed a boozy haloween on their boat after the plan of haloween on one of the ship wrecks fell through because the weather was so wild.
So here we are now - Nick has just been up the mast for a last check, I have made heaps of food for the passage and the boays have been busy today getting the last of the water and fuel for the passage. Dare I say it we are ready to go! So keep your eyes peeled - the first of the passage updates will come tomorrow when we are on our way. Bob says its a go - so we are go! There are a number of boats leaving with us so it should be a nice convoy.
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