14 to 16 Jun 14

Ha’afeva

Helen was not feeling too well with a bad stomach on the Saturday. After spending the morning tending to the boat, Paul went ashore in the dingy to the wharf. The wharf was in a ruinous state with almost all of the metal work corroded through, the concrete broken and cracked with, rusty, steel reinforcing rods showing. Even the concrete blocks holding the bollards were broken and at an angle. Nevertheless, the wharf was still solid, with good water depth. The rest of the beach seemed to have coral reef fringing it. At the end of the wharf was a dilapidated shed, with the doors held shut by nailed planks. In the long grass next to it was an old rusty JCB type machine. The track had been metalled, but now had a row of weeds and grass down the middle. It looked like the wharf had not been used in some time. Still, a plaque on a plinth close to the shed proclaimed that Pulotu Wharf was a joint project by the government of Tonga and Asian Development Bank. It was completed in 1998.
The track proved easy walking and wandered past luxurious bush, complete with many coconut trees, and a wet land with what looked like taro growing in it, to the gates to the village. Just outside the village was a cemetery with a variety of graves, some well kept and heavily decorated. Inside the village seemed well kept and fairly tidy; the people clearly had some pride in their houses and environment. The government primary school had some children outside, who all came over shouting hello. The conversation was limited to ‘where have you come from?’ and ‘what is your name?” A couple of white men in their mid-twenties came over and explained that they were missionaries from the USA (Hawaii and Utah) for the ‘LDS’ (Latter Day Saints) church. The village had about 200 people, and 4 vehicles (so not much traffic like Auckland or the USA!). Paul’s stroll continued with him noticing the village had many pigs, all again in very good condition, along with a few goats and several chickens. There were 3 churches, one small village shop, and a large aerial tower in the centre. Some houses were locked and deserted, as were another 2 shop-looking buildings. Talking to the villagers it seemed these people had gone away, sometimes to New Zealand. The village itself was on the Eastern shore of the island (the wharf was on the West). The shore was again fringed with coral reefs, extending some 150 m off shore. There seemed a route through the coral to a very dilapidated wharf. The locals explained that the ferry usually anchored off and transferred people and goods to smaller boats that then ferried them ashore. At times the ride could be exciting!
A large sign on the beach proclaimed a fishing zone around the island, with only locals allowed to fish. Indeed, there was even a marine reservation with no fishing or boat transit. Just as well we had not fished on the way in; the fine was up to $50,000! Paul was not sure how this was policed as the locals laughed at the sign!
A large launch had also anchored in the lagoon. Paul went and talked to them. Robert, Bronwyn, Dave and 3 other crew were all Kiwis on the ‘Escapade NZ’, a smart game fishing launch of about 60 feet. They were taking the boat to V’avau where she would be chartered. Along the way they had been fishing with some success. Our chat showed one interesting contrast. Tai Mo Shan is best when sailing and in a good wind will easily travel at 8 knots. Motoring she will typically do 5 to 6 knots at 3 to 4 litres per hour of diesel. Escapade motors typically at 8 knots, and burns 20 litres per hour at that speed (she could go much faster, but at a far greater fuel burn). A quick mental calculation of 1100 nm, at 8 knots shows some 2750 litres to get her to Tonga; Tai Mo Shan used a fair bit less! The chat ended with an offer of fresh fish which Paul readily accepted; a very nice hunk of Sailfish steak.
Sunday, Helen was feeling better so walked into the village with Paul. She had the same impression of civic pride around the village. As we passed one large and well kept house we talked to the people sitting outside. Suddenly a small girl asked us if we wanted to join them for lunch. We entered the garden and confirmed with the small girl’s aunt; yes, please come to lunch. And so we went into a single storey hall with a couple of dozen people sitting cross legged on the floor around what could only be described as a feast. We were made welcome and indicated to please sit at 2 empty places. There were prayers and then people started to eat whilst others stood up and talked. The talks were in Tongan and so we could not understand. However, they did appear to be long and involved sermons with occasional mumbles of assent from the other diners. The islanders English was fair, but massively better than our Tongan. We learned that this was the congregation of the Weslian church. The feast was special as the youth pastor had just returned from being in Hawaii for some months. The food was extensive and included a whole small pig, clams, taro root, beef in taro leaves, rice and sausages to name some of the treats. The drink was fresh fruit juice and coconut milk. Much of the food had been cooked in an ‘Umu’; that is slow cooked underground. It was delicious but with some self control we ate sparingly. The last speaker was the pastor and we noted our names and ‘New Zealand’. He also welcomed us in English. Paul returned the favour with a small speech thanking the congregation, saying the island was beautiful and that the friendly people made it even more special.
With many smiles we were told ‘You can go now’. The Kava was being prepared at the end of the room and the afternoon would clearly be for the men to discuss the world.
We continued our stroll through the village and headed back to the wharf. On the road we met with an island woman who was going to the wharf to read her bible; we chatted along the way. We asked if she would be upset if we swam and snorkeled, as it was Sunday. She was happy so we returned to Tai Mo Shan, got our snorkeling gear and went ashore again. Access to the water was tricky along much of the beach due to the reef at the shore line; however we could get into the water near the wharf and did so. The depth was only a few metres but with reasonable visibility we could see several fish and the coral rising pretty much vertically, often breaking the surface. We could easily see the coloured tips of the coral, so it was still alive and a healthy reef.
The anchorage had proven to be pretty good, especially in the East wind when the island gave some shelter. There was some movement in the water as the chop and swell came over and through the reef, but that was very tolerable. More importantly though the anchor had dug well into the extensive stretches of sand so we had good holding with a minimal chance of the anchor catching on coral. Come Sunday night though we concluded that the islanders were happy to see us, but that we had stayed our welcome and it was time to move on. Monday saw a fairly strong 20 knot breeze from the North East. We planned to go to Uoleva Island next, and that was North East; typical! Still Uoleva was only 20 miles away and we could tack in a fairly open stretch of water within the Ha’Api group. Our decision; to go.
The passage out through the reef was easy, now we knew the marker post showed the shallower patch in the middle of the opening. We headed around the reef into the open water and raised sail. There then began what can only be called an unpleasant passage. The wind was strong and on the nose; this would not normally have been an issue as we reefed sails to get the right amount of power and heel. The wind was also gusty and frequently changed direction by about 10 to 20 degrees. Again, not really a problem as that is upwind sailing. However, the wind also set up a very nasty steep chop. This was only about half a meter, but came from many windward directions. The result was a complex sea, with several whitecaps. Tai Mo Shan handled the conditions beautifully but still pitched markedly. This pitching slowed us as the chop robbed momentum. Still we pressesd on, zig- zaggng our way across the sea. The sea was charted as over 200 metres deep for most of the trip. However at one point the depth sounder suddenly came to life; the bottom was rising past 150 meters, then rapidly past 100, 75, 50, 40. We stalled Tai Mo Shan into wind and checked the chart; nothing on there. The bottom was now 35 metres under us; not normally an issue, but this was a coral sea; reefs rose vertically! Paul took sights and checked the chart again; nothing charted. We looked out but could only see the whitecaps, no tell-tale sign of breaking seas. Cautiously we sailed on, the bottom rose to 30 metres. Then it held 30 metres, on and on. We estimate for 200 to 300 metres before plunging back down below 150 metres depth again. This was an uncharted sunken reef/ island. No hazard to us, but still a bit of a shock. The rest of the passage was a push to wind, with the last few miles motoring through sizeable gaps between islands and reef. Uoleva came into view; the archetypal desert island with a beautiful sandy beach and even more beautiful sheltered bay with a flat sandy bottom. The pitching motion had been severe enough to dislodge the anchor chain in its locker and cause a jam. A minor inconvenience soon cleared and we anchored safely about 150m off the beach. The stats well 30 nm sailed to do the 20 nm straight to Uoleva, in 6 hours 20 minutes; slow but that is upwind sailing.
And beautiful Uoleva? Next blog!