11/18/2009, Pangaimotu, Nuku'alofa, Tonga
There is a flair of hectic busyness on the boat today. Like a well oiled machine, but chaotic to the outsider, Erika and I are in our last preparation for the big push. Engine serviced, all filters and strainers replaced and/or cleaned, storm jib and try sail have flown about in this tranquil bay, all procedures fine tuned, food prepared, stores are full, only for this trip though, the New Zealanders are incredibly strict on what is brought into the country. We are already cleared out and New Zealand knows we are coming. The shroud coming from New Zealand is in town, coming on the next ferry to Big Mama's Yacht Club. (This message will have a part II with a shroud update) Hopefully this time it is going to go up. Tomorrow morning after breakfast, high tide we are going into town for the last time, filling up with water and then off we go. We are going to sail to Minerva Reef first and then wait for a good weather window to proceed to Opua in the Bay of Islands.
We have been sitting around here now for over two weeks kind of waiting for our part, and we can tell you we could not have wished for a better place. This has been by far the friendliest people we have met so far, Nuku'alofa is the place to get ready for the trip to New Zealand. A lot of the cruisers stopping here are very surprised and most of them promise to come back next season on their way North. This island has a bit of a bad rap, the rumors are that it is dirty (wrong, cleaner than any place in Tonga), the people are not friendly (wrong again, see my comments above), the officials are hard to work with (keep getting it wrong, the easiest clear in and out in the whole of our trip, including the US of A.) and I can keep going on,... which I wont.
Also we have met kind of a celebrity here. When Erika and I were shopping for veggies and fruit at the market we passed a stand with a friendly gentleman in his early 60's. He was selling souvenirs as quite a few others but what caught my attention was a book he put together claiming that he was a direct descendant of Captain Bligh. His family came from the island of Tofua, the closest place to the 1789 mutiny on the HMS Bounty. We started talking and it sounded very interesting. I have given him my copy of "The true story of the Mutiny on the Bounty" a well written book with a lot of historical research involved. He gave me his book, which is actually a collection of letters between him and an
Australian Captain of the Bounty replica that came around here in late 80's. They were doing the research together to get to the truth and nothing but the truth of this wonderful claim, I guess Capt. Bligh had a local mistress and did not use any protection.
Ok Part II. The Famous Shroud.
It arrived about 2 hours ago. I unpacked it and the first thing I saw was the right size threaded stud for the turnbuckle. Good! The length looked alright but I had to check that once on the boat. BUT the T-bar was a 10mm instead of a 8mm. I had to go up the mast and file away the sides of the mast piece. Lucky after a good 5 min. filing the piece it entered. So WE ARE READY!!!!
Next update, Miverva Reef...
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11/12/2009, Nuku'Alofa, Tonga
When we got back to the boat in the late afternoon, Erika jumped in the galley and started washing dishes while I put some tunes on. When Erika opened one of the cabinets to put away some dishes she got a little surprise, a flying rat.... Screaming on the top of her lungs, making me jump on my chair. From the corner of my eye I could see it scatter away under the table between all my boxes. Erika had already ran up the stairs to the cockpit and I was trying to see where it was. It showed its little scared snout from behind one of the table legs having a look what was happening. So we decided on not killing it but I was going to direct it out of the boat like a good sheepdog. Erika was on top of the deck with her head through the salon hatch to keep an eye on the little rodent. I moved boxes, cushions and planks around to create a hallway from her location to the stairs. That did not always work that well cause in such a small place there is always a gap somewhere. After a good half an hour it was sitting on the engine box just under the ladder. We could see it had a hard time getting up on it. So Erika lowered our mainsail sheet line down the hatch to where it was hiding. It got the message right away and started climbing up. The little bugger looked a lot cuter then most dirty rats we all grew up hating. She was not too big, maybe 15 cm long and a 20 cm tail behind it. It had a nice and clean fur, probably from the seawater when it swam over. So now that the rat jumped through the companionway unto the deck we closed everything up quickly to prevent a re-entry accident. Now we had to get it off the boat. It was hiding under our life raft. After pocking it a couple of times gently with the boat hook it understood that there was only one way to get off the boat, anchor chain, splash and a quick swim. It started sprinting and it took a dive in the water. The sun was setting by that time, I don't know if it was confused or not but it swam the wrong direction. It started swimming away from land and straight to the next boat, so Erika went down took the mic of the VHF and told the other 6 boats at anchor to be careful, there was a rat in the water and it was coming their way. Erika and myself were quiet happy that we did not have to kill it. We kind of felt sympathy for the little one. It was locked in our cupboard for over 13 hours and it did not do its business anywhere, we only lost some hours of sleep, 2 tomatoes and a bag of flower. A lot of people give us a lot more grief then our little one. Well it luck was starting to run out. It swam to the other boat and tried to get on but the owner and another sailor in his dingy had peddles and were not afraid to use them. So after a struggle of about 5 minutes, our little one gave up and drowned. My sweet little wife was in tears.
We were happy that we got rid of the rat but sad to see our little one not make it back to land. And life goes on.....
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Did you get your spare part?
11/11/2009, Big Mamma's Yacht Club, Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Hallo world, Erika and myself are still here.... sitting in front of the beautiful Pangaimotu Resort better known as the Big Mama Yacht club. Well we have received our shroud 2 days ago. Unfortunately Murphy is here on a beach vacation with us and brought his law along. The bottom part of the cable has a crimped fitting with a threaded stud at the end that screws into the turnbuckle. Our original is 5/8"-18 and the new one was size 1/2". For some reason Kent from Yachtmaster NW up in Seattle and myself got everything double checked except the thread, just overlooked it.... Poor Kent, I am sure he feels very bad (don't worry man, shit happens). So now I have been calling and emailing back and forward with some New Zealand companies to get a new one made and mailed to here. There is just not enough time to have a new one shipped from Seattle. Today I finally had somebody on the phone that told me "No problem" so we will see....
We are keeping ourselves busy, lounging, little jobs here and there, I just fixed big mama's vhf radio, a matter of getting back in the game. I am also waiting for a job reply, commercial, tugboats and stuff.... it is getting realer with the day,...
Also Erika and I did not sleep very well last night,... reason.... we had a little visitor on the boat, let's just say an uninvited dinner guest. There has been hardly any wind for the last two days and we are only 200m from the beach. around 2 in the morning I hear little feet running over the deck, half asleep I thought about different things from chain rattle to smurphs and fell back asleep instead of leaping into action. I woke up again from plastic bag nibbling noises, and right away I knew... ERIKAAAAA....RRRRAAATTTTT!!!!!! I stuck my head out of our cabin and saw him jump around, shit scared, that made three of us. Don't we all imagine these angry cornered rats jumping in your face going for your eye balls, well we do. He was not too big. So from 3 in the morning till about 5 we removed all the bags, pots, pans, cushions, and much more but could not find it, the little bugger disappeared. This boat will never be the same again, we feel violated. Can you ever be sure she is gone. I say "she" cause she went around tasting a bit of everything, a little tomato here, a little flower there,... a he would have gone for the Nutella and finished it.
You have to give it to her, she swam 200m climbed up 2m of chain, jumped down quiet a couple of high steps and then scared shitless by two humans hunting you down.... well because it is the 11th of November we will not kill it, but tomorrow we are on the hunt again....sorry rat. In Tongan a rat is a Kuma'a.
Well we are going to clear out tomorrow and then sit here waiting for our shroud illegally 'cause that is the way ahuh ahuh we like it ahuh ahuh!!!
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11/08/2009, Nuku'Alofa, Tonga
It was Erika's birthday yesterday and we had a good time!!! We did the tour of the island in the morning with our friend Lolo, the man who takes care of everything, if he can not do it no one can, from the Kings Palace to the spot where Captain Cook landed. Then took a little nap and went for dinner. We invited our friends from Blue Dawn, Geoff and Geraldine to join us in our Birthday Celebrating Dinner. The girls and Lolo at Big Mama's took really good care of us. We had a chocolate cake with 4 candles (one for each 7 years). Erika is thanking all the people sending emails, blogs and thoughts wishing her a great birthday. Check the pics....
Well this morning we fueled up in town and came back to our anchorage in front of Big Mamma's. No word so far on our shroud, so we are just doing little jobs here and there. Our visa expires on November 15th.
Talk to you all soon....
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Van
11/03/2009, Nuku'Alofa, Tonga
We arrived yesterday in Nuku'alofa, capital of Tonga. A little sooner then we expected but there is an explanation for that anomaly. Since the last blog what happened was we arrived at the island of Uiha. A long story short, we left the next day, the water was dirty, the people were not very welcoming except for one lady that gave us some freshwater, the vibe was not right.... So we left the next morning early for Ha'afeva about another 18 Nm in the Southwesterly direction. That was a different story, beautiful island with the most amazing local community. We met an American couple from Fargo, North Dakota working for the Peace Corps on the island. Great people and they took us to a Kava meeting. Kava is a significant ceremonial and social custom. Kava is a species of pepper tree prevalent in the South Pacific. The pepper is dried and grounded to a fine powder,mixed with water, it is not alcoholic but it gives you a good buzz. It is drank out of a big bowl that sits in the middle of the circle of men. A coconut cup is filled and handed around. Women are usually not allowed. An exception was made for Erika but she did not drink. All important matters are handled this way, a bowl of Kava and a good chat.
We also met up with friends from Gilleroo and Imagine. They were getting ready to leave for New Zealand the next day, direct. Imagine has three children on board and they were all dressed up to celebrate Halowe'en. TrickerTreatin' in their dingy from boat to boat, cruisers life is great!!! We only stayed two more days, the weather was not cooperating, overcast, a little sprinkle,... so we decided to split the difference between Ha'afeva and Nuku'alofa, about 80Nm and have another stop about midway in Kelefesia. Apparently the most picturesque of them all!!! that sounds promising doesn't it? Well there was a little warning in the local guide. When the winds are above 15-20 Kts (for whom wind is not as much of a mystery as others, that is an amazingly wide margin as wind grows exponentially) and the anchorage is only good in NE to SE winds. Ok we thought, the conditions are not great but they will do.... So we sailed down, great sail by the way, we have great pictures that a boat called "Blue Dawn" took of us and even a little video, check the photo gallery. Now you have to understand too that Kelefesia is the last island in the Ha'apai group, beyond it is open sea to the next group Tongatapu with Nuku'alofa as the principle town. To get to Kelefesia we have to cross a bunch of reefs stretching E to W with here and there open patches. Ones crossed the reefs you approach the island from the West in between two reefs, one on each side. So there is a corridor of about a 150m at the entrance, about 1 Nm long and gradually narrows to maybe 60m finishing in a small area where you can anchor. Now as the reefs are very shallow and the water around it is very deep, the water is pushed up and you get big waves. The wind was about 13-15 Kts from the SE, not bad, BUT the swell came from the S, in deep water maybe 2 m, hitting those reefs it went up to 5 m. So we are brave (or stupid, the way you want to look at it) and moved through the large reef lining up to go through the corridor and I can tell you we were impressed by the violence and size of the waves (we actually filmed it, to be seen in theaters near you when Babalu is in town). We passed no problem, overcame the 2 Kts current in between the reefs. Now we line up to go through the corridor, by that time, Erika who is on the bow looking out for shallow patches, gives me a look and I knew exactly what she meant...this is awesomely crazy!!!! Once we were halfway the hallway of surfers paradise the waves in front of us were up to 6m on the starboard side and connecting directly to the waves on our Port side, there was no way we were going to anchor in the Lagoon of Doom that night. Erika turned around again and started saying, "If we anchor here, that would be the stupi ...." before she finished her sentence I was already halfway my180 turn. Let's get the hell out of here!!!!
Now the problem was the following, it is 15.00 in the afternoon and only 30 Nm to the entrance of the harbor to Nuku'alofa. It is too late to make it in daylight time and it is too close to do an overnighter. So we set the sails like it was going to blow 40 Kts, double reef in the main and triple reef in the headsail to go as slow as possible. We went all night at 2 Kts and safely arrived the next morning in Nuku'alofa....Yiipppyyy!!! Ciao
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10/29/2009, 19 53.640'S:174 24.810'W, Uiha, Ha'apai Group, Tonga
Hello, Can you smell the pancakes? Erika is cooking pancakes (crepes for me) this morning for breakfast, sweeeeetttt!!!! We arrived yesterday from Uoleva island, simply amazing... a bay about 700m wide with nothing but white sandy beach, palmtrees, the most beautiful colored water and maybe ten people living on the island..... we stayed for 4 days, just chillin' out. Well we did some work, cleaning the hull. What a job, the growth increased exponentially in the last three weeks. We had a relative slow passage from Neiafu and now we know why. There is a whole forest under the boat!!! Scraping it away is not an easy job, holding your breath long enough is the problem here.... everyday a little is our motto.... We also had the privilege of housing a family of fluo-green colored squid, mom and 10 babies. You see when you stop somewhere for more then a couple of hours you become part of nature. You are an object that provides shade and a hide out for smaller fish... Well we are moving today, a 18 Nm sail west to the next island. Ohh Erika is calling the pancakes are ready!!!! Talk to you guys later....
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10/22/2009, 19 40.260'S:174 17.390'W, Ha'ano, Ha'apai Group, Tonga
Last Sunday we went to visit the Mariners' Cave. We had a bunch of cruisers all on Martins' boat. Anima 3 is perfect for little excursions like that. She has a wonderful large aft deck. It was about a 1 hour ride to Nuapapu Island. Mariners' cave is located on the North West side, according to the guides right under a lonesome palm tree, easy right? Mariners' cave is a cave that can only be reached by diving. There is a legend to it. "It is the tale of a young Tongan chief who, having fallen in love with a beautiful maiden of a family who was due for extermination in the civic broils of the time, spirited here away from danger and hid her for two weeks in the cave. There he brought food and protestations of love to sustain the girl until he was able to prepare an expedition to Fiji. Then he picked her up en route, married her and when the time of trouble had passed, brought her back to Vava'u and lived happily ever after." The entrance is about 2 m deep and 4 m long. Once braved the deep and dark you enter a beautiful cavern full of cavy things that point up and down. The room itself was about 25m long, 15m wide and about 20m high. One of the nice spectacles inside is the fog that appears every time a wave pushes itself inside, compressing the air. So one moment you see a cave the next thing your ears are popping and you are blinking wondering why you can not see a thing. That was a great experience. We left on Tuesday morning at 3 am!!! That was a little bit of a challenge as it was pitch black, no moon. The water was so flat that you could see the stars reflected in it, even the shooting ones. Now we are anchored in front of Ha'ano island in the Ha'apai group of Tonga. This is suppose to be a less traveled area, WRONG... the first night we arrived we were in a race for the anchorage with 6 other boats. There is only room for a couple of boats and when we got here there were already 7 other boats parked. A little crowded. There was the Brazilian armada, 9 of them, the Quebecoises, 3 of them, some swedes, Americans and us, Belgo-American. Lucky for us most of them left the next day. We just hang out here and snorkel. For me this is the nicest snorkeling grounds I have ever seen.... Today Erika, myself and Tyrone, and Irish friend from the boat Gilleroo went snorkeling on the entrance reef. Waauuuuw, we saw at least 7 different fish we had never seen before and other fish that had totally different colors then the ones previously observed, also amazing coral, untouched, flashy colors,... We are making our way South very slowely. We are in no rush, it is still way too cold in New Zealand... Hope all of you are well, talk to you soon....
PS we are right accross the vulcanic island of Tofua where the Mutiny on the Bounty took place, nooo not the movie the real deal....
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10/15/2009, Neiafu, Kingdom Of Tonga
Hi Y'all,
All is well with us, kind of lounging around waiting for that break to go down south to New Zealand. NZ is holding on to their winter, and spring can have a few surprises, but as long as the hurricanes do not get generated around here we are good and can take our time....
We have been spending some time going around the islands and then head back for the weekend to the main place here in the Vava'u group, Neiafu. Yachts are still coming in, all gathering here to get ready to go to NZ. It is great to see some of our friends and make new ones.
We cleared out today and will start going down South in Tonga to the next Island group. We probably will take about 2 weeks to slowly head down to the capital Nuku'alofa. We have just updated the pictures so enjoy, I know we did!!!
Take care all, we should be leaving tomorrow. Tonight we are going to race in the local yacht race, just for fun. Will let you know how it goes,....
Malo
Hans
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10/06/2009, 18 40.200'S:173 57.470'W, Olo'ua Island, Vava'u Group, Tonga
Hi All, It has been a little while, communications are not always easy. Once out of the main town, Neiafu, all Western facilities stop, this is a place considerd being a third world country. Just a little update on the tsunami. As you have seen in the news, the area up north, American Samoa, Western Samoa and the islands belonging to Tonga, Niuatoputapu were hit severaly. Here in Neiafu, the local community and all the cruisers have been collecting food, clothes, fuel, etc... for the people from Niuatoputapu. Erika and I bought some clothes and blankets to donate, all of the stuff was gathered and sent by eather private plane (at no cost) or some sailboats that went up there to help. This has been working fine and the people have received most of it. On these small islands most of the people lost their homes, that means their clothes too. Now the announcement on the cruisers net was to get clothes, but not our own, that could only be given to highschool students, you see Tongans have a certain size that is slightly bigger than the average cruisers that comes by. The French Navy have a fregat that went around Tonga collecting goods and are now serving and helping the Tongans in the dissarter area. I have heard that New Zealand and Australia have troops or planes helping out. That is good news. On a note that came very sad to Erika and I is that we have lost a friend in all this. His name is Dan from the sailboat "Mainly". Dan and his wife, Joan, were in American Samoa when the tsunami hit. She was still on the boat when he went ashore to losen the lines as the the whole basin of the harbour drained in a couple of minutes and filled in less than that with a couple of waves 4 m above the dock, he was not able to hold on and was swept away and drowned. We met this lovely couple in Hiva Oa, our first port in the Marqueses and bumped into eachother a few times along the road. We had a good vibe. He will be missed. He was 69 years young. Very sad....
We are now sailing around the islands here in the Vava'u group. It is so beautiful around here and peaceful. Lot's of whales around, the coral very alive (just small damage from the Tsunami), most islands inhabited, and when there are people they have this amazing smile on their faces.... We see here the beauty and the uglyness of nature, but that is not very objectif. I don't believe Nature is cruel, it just is.....
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10/01/2009, Vava'u, Tonga
Hi Everybody,
We just got back to the capital, Neiafu of the Vava'u group in Tonga.
We are in good health and after all we have never been in real danger.
We just have internet for the first time. The only info we had so far was on our local radio. We know that the Northern group of Tonga was hit and has 9 dead, 3 missing and about 1600 people lost their homes. This group of islands were already in pretty bad shape after the ferry sank a couple of months ago. They were out of provisioning for a while. Poor people. The locals and the cruisers around here are organizing some supplies for them but the problem of course is how is it going to get there and who is going to get it? We are dealing with a third world country here, so corruption is bliss....
So for now all is well.... will be in touch soon...
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