08/06/2008, Port Maurelle
After a ton of rain, the sun is finally out. We enjoyed a golden sunset last night and were greeted with a clear sky this morning. The opportunity was taken to go for a dive. This was done around a nearby island with a stunning array of underwater caves. Flying buttresses soared up from the depths offering wonderful swim throughs. Gorgeous fan corals glowed yellow and green. A nursery of baby white tipped reef sharks was inspected. But where were mum and dad? All too soon the dive was over. As we were near to Mariner's Cave an inspection was carried out. Being high tide the swim down and in was a bit more challenging than last time. It is about 2-3 metres down and 3-4 metres tunnel swim before popping up into a completely sealed air chamber. The cave remains very impressive. Back in the bay for the afternoon saw us filling dive bottles, further attempts at resuscitating my watch(unsuccessful), and then a good discussion with the crew of Runaway Bay about a passage plan for the trip to Fiji. At this stage we are looking at Tuesday morning departure. It is 260nm of open ocean, then 60 nm through the Lau group, then a further 80 nm to Savusavu. There is a fat high pressure cell coming across the Tasman which should give a good SE flow. Here's hoping.
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Comments [4]
I know a few who'll swap.
cheers Jen & Charles
Hope to meet up again in fiji.
Cheers
John M
Ps to all the others reading this blog site, only a fraction of what david has said is true....really.
08/06/2008, Port Maurelle
The weather has remained very poor here in Vava'u with a slow moving trough to the south bringing very wet conditions. 115mm of rain overnight. Yesterday saw us move from Lisa beach to Nuapapu in a 30 knot easterly. During the night a 25 knot SW front went through, completely unforecast. This put us on a lee shore in 6.5m of water with the anchor chain wrapped around coral heads. Worse still was the fact that we were in the middle of entertaining the crews of "Larissa" and "Windflower" with fresh fish and lobster. Our guests rightly abandoned the meal to high-tail it back to their similarly exposed yachts. We monitored our position to the nearby beach with radar (electronic charts of course being woefully inaccurate) and used the big spotlight for occasional visual checks through the watery veil. After a few anxious hours in the pitch black and teeming rain the wind backed and eased somewhat. We dozed through the night, popping out frequently for a check. By morning things had calmed down a bit and it was time to revisit the lobster. Andrea excelled herself making a lobster omelette which was followed by pikelets courtesy of Lyn, and bacon from Mark. Sadly the rain continues as we are firmly in the grip of the South Pacific tropical convergence zone. Normally this should have moved to the north by now but as you know, there are no weather norms. We are trying to make plans to get to Fiji soon. It is 260nm of open ocean to the first of the barrier islands and reefs. For this we need about 40 good hours of sailing. Hopefully a slot will present itself soon. This afternoon it is yet another pit-bash.
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04/06/2008, Lisa Beach, Vava'u
We abandoned the flesh pots of Neiafu for the wilds of the islands. Our first night saw us at Topana, near the famous La Paella restaurant. We had a delightful sail in 12-15knot SE breeze and FLAT water. A short squall to 25 saw two reefs go in and then it was one tack through the narrow coral pass. During the passage we were passed by Janice of Wyoming doing 12-15knots under power. Very impressive. The restaurant was closed so we ate on board. Possibly a safer option. During the evening a monster thunderstorm kept us awake for quite some time with a brilliant son et lumiere show. By the next morning the rain had backed off sufficiently for walk to the beach on the eastern side of the island. Hopeless. By the time we got back the local village had its all day disco running with the noise deafening from our position a full mile away. The party ended at sundown, thankfully. We then had an excellent BBQ on Windflower before an early start to Kenutu island, one of the easternmost in the group. It is a challenging navigational exercise to reach the anchorage. There is an initial zig zag coral pass marked by buoys which one only sees at 30 metre range. Then a series of dog legs into the final approach were made before dropping the hook between bommies in 10metres. The forward looking sonar was quite useful in the passes, giving one a sense of reassurrance as the shallow bits approached. In addition, we found the waypoints issued in the Sailingbird Guide to be spot on. To ease the pain on the return trip I used our track as the route back. This neat function makes it a real doddle to do all the twists and turns. The autopilot will track to each waypoint along the route and allow the helmsman to look around a bit more, to check radar positions, and to consult the sonar. One does have to manually tell the pilot to go to each new waypoint, i.e. the pilot will not make decisions for you. This is a very good safety feature. At Kenutu we were greeted by "Windpony" and "Cathartic". Once enjoined, all the crews set off to the nearby island of Umuna for a bushbash and mudfest to a beaut cave with a lake and from there to the stunning seacliffs. The cliffs are made of razor sharp limestone, partly capped by basalt. Walking requires great care as any brush with the rock will result in a laceration. With the weather slagging out and a forecast of 30knot SE wind overnight we quit this idyllic location and made our way to Lisa Beach. This beach, actually Aisea beach, provides outstanding shelter in SE conditions but of course does not prevent the rain! It is hosing down yet again. Looks like a quiet night. I hope your sky is not as leaden as ours is this evening.
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However, it is a lot colder here.
Regards Peter
02/06/2008, Neiafu, Vava'u
We left Hunga and went to Port Maurelle in dismal conditions and are now at Neiafu restocking the boat and catching up with business.
I have access to a reasonable internet connection finally and have updated the photo album. Please enjoy
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25/05: "there was this metallic bang. Alex in bunk instantly rigid, thinking oooh s..t! I know what that is - and so it turned out. The starboard inner shroud - the big heavy one that supports the lower half of the mast - had started to break, strand by strand" Sensibly a consultation from the Medicinal Compound Mangement Plan was partaken. Some freckle clenching but all good and Berri now safely in Alaskan waters.
And if it makes you feel any better, it's raining in Sydney. Getting wet on hols in Tonga may not be so bad! Jen xx
02/06/2008, Neiafu, Vava'u
The dismal weather continued in Hunga as Diomedea was lashed by 25-30knot SE with pouring rain. We awaited the high tide to make a hasty exit from the lagoon and after an hour or so of belting into the wind we arrived in Port Maurelle and the challenges of anchoring in 25metre depth. A wild night ensued and then it was on up to Neiafu for some restocking. The sun is out this morning and Diomedea lies to her mooring only a stone's throw from the 170 foot superyacht Janice of Wyoming. The crew is busily scrubbing her decks as I type. We are trying to work out the next week as the weather is a bit all over the place but we hope to sail north to the Niuas and then across to Fiji via the Nanuku passage. We finally have some internet access so I can upload some pix onto the blog. Sorry that we have not been able to do this more regularly but internet in Tonga is absolutely hopeless and very hard to find.
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31/05/2008, Hunga Lagoon, Vava'u
The crew of Diomedea were awake before first light for an early start to the 65nm passage to Vava'u today. The reef pass off Nukunamo was cleared at 0700 as dawn broke. Soon the main and jib were up and we were off in 15-20 knots of breeze over the starboard quarter. We had a gorgeous mahi mahi on the line for a few minutes but could not land it. Sob. Diomedea broad reached up the course doing 7's and 8's. We passed two catamarans going south, hobbyhorseing into the lumpy seas. Suckers. Late island with its distinctive 500 metre volcanic cone appeared an hour or so after Kao island finally sank astern. The miles peeled off as we lounged in the cockpit. Finally the main island of the Vava'u group rose out of the sea to the north, being much higher than the surrounding archipelago. We cruised past a rugged and precipitous island which most definitely was not in the position given on the electronic charts. We knew this as we "sailed" over the top of it. Fortunately radar confirmed our visual suspicions that it was about a quarter of mile to the SE of the GPS derived position. Within the hour we had arrived off the narrow rocky entrance to Hunga, popped through and picked up a mooring adjacent to the Ika Lahi lodge. Sadly the lodge was not serving meals so we could not enjoy a repeat of our visit here two years ago during the Kalia cup. All was not lost as Windflower appeared and invited us for sundowners. A fabulous evening light show ensued. The passage was completed in 8 hours. It was a very special moment for me to see our own yacht in this delightful harbour, itself an old collapsed volcanic crater. The best news of the day had to be the successful resuscitation of my watch following its cardiac arrest whilst diving. The treatment of vinegar, water and alcohol has it once again performing as expected. Unbelievable.
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