Vava'u Island Group in Tonga continued

Nuapapu Island, Sept 9th
We went ashore to drop off a thank you note to the classes for their warm reception the day before.  However, school had been dismissed early for a 2 week break.  Back at the wharf a couple boys helped us with our dinghy and just jumped in.  So we brought them out to the boat.  The older boy asked if we had some rice.  After a pause, I realized he just wanted something to eat.  So I fixed them peanut butter sandwiches and gatorade, and gave them each a granola bar.  The younger boy was well dressed, but the older was raggedy, so I have him a beautiful green t-shirt with a big boy scout insignia and dragon on it. They had a good time helping us raise the anchor and Bill ran them back to shore in the dinghy.

We motored across the bay (1/2 mile?) to the wee island of Lape.  It is a very deep spot and a challenge to anchor.  But we managed.  Lape's little jetty was busted up by the last cyclone, so they are raising money by putting on a monthly feast.  The island was lovely and well-tended. The school is even smaller than Nuapapu's, 5 pupils in 4 grades.  But they have a good one-room school house, a dedicated teacher and a beautiful view of the bay.

The feast was prepared by the several families on the island and was delicious and well organized.  The men had a kava circle and the children performed a dance accompanied by the older women singing.  There were 35 yachties there, and a good time was had by all.  The feast raised approx $1500, to be matched 3 to 1 by the Canadian government.  (I wonder if the wealthy Tongan royal family is chipping in.)

The next day was really blustery and too rough for snorkeling in the nearby "Coral Garden" site.

Kids at the school

More tiny dancers

Monday, Sept 13th
Monday was calm and sunny, so we sailed the long way round to Hunga Island on the west side of Vava'u. There is a tiny, shallow pass into an enclosed bay from the ocean.  We just barely squeaked through (8.5ft!) before low tide. 

Again, the bay is very deep, so you have to nibble around the edge to find a reasonable spot to anchor.  However, it was beautiful and calm and quiet.  No barking dogs, cars, stereos.  Just one old guy paddled up in a canoe to trade for fruit.  He made a killing:  he got 2 cans of Mexican beef and a big pouch of powdered milk.  I got a bunch of green bananas and 2 delicious papayas.

That night we went ashore to the small resort (6-12 guests?) for a delicious dinner.  We chatted with a young British couple on their honeymoon, who had a Sunsail charter.  There's a surprising amount of tide here, and they hadn't secured their dinghy, so it was gone when we came out after dinner.  But no worries.  The bay is almost completely enclosed and the resort fishing guide took them down the beach to retrieve it.  Too bad it was out of gas.  The guide towed them back to their boat.
All this took place in pitch dark, except right in front of the resort.

Tuesday, Sept 14th, Hunga, continued
The next morning was calm, so we dinghied outside the pass into the ocean for a spectacular snorkel.  There was a brisk easterly breeze, but the snorkel site is sheltered from both the east wind and the northerly swell.

The water is cool and very clear.  It seems strange underwater to look to the side and see Bill looking very small, a long ways away.  There were lots of fish and very rugged coral.

We went back to the boat as the weather turned squally, pulled up the anchor and went on our way.  Bill noticed a whale watch boat putting some people in the water and moments later a big humpback swam between them and us.

We arrived at beautiful Ano Beach and Tapana Island and anchored next to our friends on Pylades.   The British honeymooners were anchored on the other side of them.

Vava'u Tonga

Monday September 6th, (Labor Day in the US),
We took the laundry to the Coconet Cafe/Laundry service. It cost half as much as Bora Bora YC, and smells better! When we started this trip, I never dreamed we'd be able to have our laundry done for us once every month or so. But it's worked out well. It's kind of expensive, but it's infrequent enough, that it doesn't seem significant. (Except Bora Bora which was $50! and didn't come out that good.)

Later in the afternoon we met some French friends at a wine bar owned by a Tongan woman and had a nice evening. They sell mainly New Zealand wines and beer. Later, they showed the _Pulp Fiction_ movie out on their covered patio. They had a projector and screen, and it was pretty neat.

Tuesday, September 7th
A Tongan man approached us in his small boat and we invited him aboard. He requested a cup of coffee and presented his array of carved necklaces, pendants on black cord. He didn't want to trade for fishing lures and the items were expensive. He kept asking about pearls, but e couldn't tell if he was asking if we had any or if we wanted to buy some. We got off that subject, and bought a pendant and he went on his way.  We had lunch in town and shopped at the vegetable market. I paid $5 Tongan for a papaya and when I got it home, I noticed it was marked $2. Nice! I wonder if the vendor will try that again next time.

It was treat that night to meet friends at an expat bar for tacos! Yum. We miss Mexican food. The bars and cafes are mostly on the waterfront with big decks with nice tentlike or fixed covers.

Wednesday, September 8th
We were ready to head out to the islands. We set out for Nuapapu, just a few miles away, to meet our friends on Paikea Mist. They had befriended the teachers at the school there and were going back to fix the school's generator. So we tagged along.
The island has a small wharf on the beach. There are often kids around to help you tie up and escort you around. Or boys swim out to the yachts, sometimes a long ways. After a visit and a snack, we take them back to shore in the dinghy. The islands don't have electricity and most homes don't have generators. So often, just the school and maybe the church have generators. There are aging, solar panels around. We're told Japan is donating new ones.

The school is small: 23 students in two classes: grades 1-3 and 4-6. As with our friends who had previously visited the island's school, we were treated to introductions by the young students in English, telling their names, names of their parents and teacher, what grade they are in and what the want to be when they grow up (nurses, soldiers, police, pilots, engineers and teachers). Interestingly, male teacher's class, several boys wanted to be teachers. Also, the class sang for a few girls to perform a traditional dance. It was really lovely.

In the 1-3rd grade class, even younger children wander in and out. The schools have single textbooks, so the teachers are very please to receive a laptop and copier for each school so they can prepare materials for their classes. The equipment is donated by Japan. The school buildings were paid for by the European Community.
The teacher lives next door in a modest home. Attendance in primary school is compulsary and free. After 6th grade, those who continue must go to Neifu for high school. High school is not free and a parent or relative must move with the child, since some are just 12 years old. Not all families can afford it.

We have been told that Japan has been asking the International Whaling Commission to permit commercial whaling. Tonga has voted against this, but Japan has been lobbying them to change their position. Hence the aid to schools, apparently. This has inspired the local whale watch businesses to start taking local school kids out to see and appreciate the visiting humpbacks.
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Tonga, at last

Friday, September 3rd
Vava'u is known for it's humpback whales. But we just saw a really big shark swim under the boat as we approached. The ocean is very deep (several thousand feet deep) right up to the entrance.

We arrived in Neiafu, in the Vava'u group of the Kingdom of Tonga, on a mild sunny day. We found a usable spot at the commercial wharf for the formalities: visits by the Health Officer, (he asked if we were healthy), the Quarantine Officer (biosecurity - he examined our fruits and vegetables and took away the garbage), the Immigration Officer and the Customs Officer.

Fortunately, we was advised by a friend to serve coffee and cookies, so we were prepared. It might have been hard for me to catch on to that necessity. Although now we've learned that Tongans just ask for food and drink, so they probably would have asked if I hadn't offered. In fact, the customs officer asked for a whole bottle of wine. OK, whatever, not a problem. We later found that wasn't the usual "fee". They were all very pleasant to work with.

Neiafu is a pleasant, small town with the necessities near the waterfront: the vegetable and crafts market, banks, stores, restaurants and bars, and internet. Yay! Prices are much lower here, so we feel free to eat out a lot. However, the grocery stores are really limited. The harbor is completely protected and very deep. Fortunately, there are many mooring buoys for rent, so that makes it easy.

There was a church near our mooring and we could often hear the choir singing. And hardly any barking dogs. Yay again!, no jetskis, or loud stereos.

The Vava'u Island group has few coral reefs like we've seen in French Polynesia and Suwarrow. The islands are close together and separated by deep passages, not unlike the San Juan or Gulf Islands. It is very humid here, though not very hot. The waves don't build up much. The weather is windy and showery, but usually the showers are so light and short you don't have time to put on a jacket.

Tongans are very conservative and soft spoken and there are many churches. Sundays are special days and no business is allowed (except bars!). Even the Seventh Day Adventists have church on Sunday! Many Tongans speak some English, communications are not too hard. There is a lively expatriat community here that run many restaurants, charter and dive services. Because Tonga wants to have the same dates as Fiji, we skipped a day ahead when we arrived. So Monday night football is on Tuesday. And because there are so many kiwis and aussies, there is rugby on other days. Cricket hasn't been mentioned, so we don't know when they watch that.

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Passage from Niue to Tonga

Thursday, September 2nd

Who knew? An upwind passage is a pleasant change from all the downwind sailing we've done. We were en route from Niue to Tonga. The anchorage is open to all but E wind and had become very annoying when the wind went North. Later the night we left, a number of other boats had to get out when wind and seas switched to the west.

This might be the first upwind leg we've done since Fatu Hiva to Nuku Hiva. (We shoulda skipped FH and gone to directly to NH though). This passage had light wind, mostly SW 8-10kts, 8-10 deg heel, normal wind waves and very long low swells from the south. It started out on Stbd tack on a NNE breeze and tacked when it went south (for a while). Just what the J-42s are made for. We did have to pass through a dead convergence zone. (no mountains required)

However, all good things must come to an end: the wind moved south and gave us a rolly, lumpy beam reach.

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More about Niue

Posted by Bill:

As with anyplace, Niue has its strengths and weaknesses. Niue is independent, but protected by New Zealand and the Niueans enjoy dual citizenship. There is one flight a week to New Zealand and many of the Niueans took it and never came back.

Currently most Niueans live in New Zealand and the islands population is 1/3 what it was in 2004, so there are a lot of empty houses and things are almost too quiet here.

The island is a coral atoll that has been uplifted to a maximum height of about 60 meters. Most of the island has a very steep rugged coastline, then flat all the way across the top. It's really strange to see a coral head sticking up in the middle of a forest! Access to the water is very limited, and there are almost no beaches on the island.

It has a roadstead anchorage at the main town on the west side that it fine as long as we have easterly trade winds, but low pressure systems passing to the South can cause the wind to reverse and the anchorage becomes untenable. It is looking like that will happen to us on Monday or Tuesday, so we will soon be on our way. The island was pounded by a hurricane from the west in 2005 which caused a lot of wind and wave damage to the town (which is at the top of the bluff) and probably contributed to some of the population loss.
I had hoped to do some diving here, but there is only one dive company with a tiny boat and they are booked up, so we're having to take a pass. It's too bad. The water is very clear here, though cooler than our prior stops.

When we were in Mexico, we ran into a number of cruisers who had set off to go around the Pacific or all the way around the world, but never got out of Mexico. From what I've seen on this trip, I think that was a huge mistake for them. Every island seems to offer something new and different.
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Niue

Thurs, Aug 26th Niue
Niue is a lovely, small, island nation between Cook Islands and Tonga. We had pleasant passage here from Suwarrow. It was a downwind run with very moderate seas, much easier than the 24 hour a day roller coaster of the last few passages.
We arrived in Niue Tuesday morning. Completing the formalities here is easy and the Immigration Officer, Judith, gave us the warmest and most gracious welcome. What a nice way to start our visit.

Niue has the same relationship with New Zealand as does Cook Islands, so everybody speaks English. People are very friendly and helpful. The island is neat and tidy, with no starving, mangy, pathetic dogs that we have seen previously (Thank God). There is a strong environmental ethic here, and they are attempting to become the first completely organic, pesticide free country.

Niue Yacht Club provides stout moorings in deep water near the town wharf. It's the clearest water we have seen in some time. There is no lagoon enclosed by a reef, like in the Society Islands, so the mooring field is in a shallow bight on the west side of the island. The water is also a cool but refreshing, as we are very near the very deep water of the Tonga trench, which wells up under us.

There many caves around the shore.  The wind comes from off the shore, perpendicular to the swells. Although the swells are very small here, the boat still rocks. Bill rigged a flopper-stopper: a big bucket with the dinghy anchor for weight hanging from the end of the boom as far out as possible over the side of the boat and several feet down in the water. It doesn't completely stop the boat from rocking, but it sure helps. If the weather gets rough, we'll have to leave, though, because there is no protection from swells. We're really mooring right in the ocean.

The tiny yacht club has a hospitable clubhouse and garden with ICE CREAM, ESPRESSO AND NEW ZEALAND BEER! All these make us very happy. The yacht club members provide all kinds of information and assistance and make us feel very welcome. A number of people we've met before are also moored here, so we have lots of company. There are several modest, but good local restaurants, which gives a welcome break from the ship's mess.

Getting ashore is interesting as conditions are similar to the Marquesas, ie, ocean swells at the dinghy landing. Here, however, there is a landing with good footing (not slippery) and a ladder for getting ourselves up on the pier. There is a hoist to lift the tender up onto the dock and a dolly to move it to a parking place.

Niue is known for its visiting whales. We haven't seen them yet, but we can hear them both when swimming, and - get this - in the boat! Last night, after the wind died, the only other sound was the gentle swish of the waves on the coral shelf that serves as a beach. We could clearly hear the whales! It was just magic.
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Passage to Niue

Tuesday, August 24th.
We left Suwarrow on Friday and are en route to Niue. This passage is more pleasant than the last, because the seas are calmer and it's not 5 day roller coaster ride. Also, we are getting a little further south, and temperatures are slightly cooler. It's nearly a full moon, which is beautiful, but it blots out the stars.

We've had to start baking our own bread. We need practice I guess. It comes out pretty heavy. The oven temperature is very hard to regulate so that doesn't help.

We started dragging a fishing line again, but no luck so far. The wind has just died and the autopilot was playing dead too for a while. So we were dreading a night of having to actually steer the boat by hand. Heaven forfend! However, Auto revived, so that's a relief. I hope it lasts.

We should arrive tomorrow. I hope we can find a parking place (a mooring). Anchoring is apparently not great there. Niue is an uplifted coral island, with practically no encircling reef, like the leeward Society Islands (Bora Bora, et al).

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