Yahoo! A Wahoo!
13 October 2008 | Uoleva - Ha'Apai, Kingdom of Tonga
Sally
Yeah! Glen finally caught the fish of his dreams - a 5' Wahoo (Ono). He hooked it Friday on our way south from the Vava'u island group of Tonga (Northern group) to the Ha'apai group (middle group). I am going to try to send a picture along so you can see the teeth on this guy - he put up quite a fight, but Glen was able to get him onboard without too much trouble. One of the other lures he had out was pretty chewed up, so another one must have been hitting it as well. After getting it all cleaned and filleted, we bagged over 20 pounds of nice steaks. It has been delightful eating - broiled with some olive oil and garlic, then topped with a fresh papaya and pineapple salsa. Yum! We had it Friday night on our own, then shared some with Charisma on Saturday night for Alan's birthday.
Our trip from Vava'u was lovely. We spent Wednesday night at an anchorage close to Neiafu called Port Maurelle. (It was later than we had expected to leave from Neiafu because I wanted to use up every last minute of my internet time!) We had been there before and it was one of our favorites. We moved on Thursday to an anchorage further south within Vava'u to a little island called Ovalau (or #40!). It had a gorgeous beach, lots of papaya trees, some wild goats (they didn't bother us, but we heard from another boat that the goats had chased them into the water!), lots of little cowry shells, and a gazillion mosquitos! We had a great time exploring and Glen provisioned us with several papayas while I beach combed (and got what we think must be about 200 mosquito bites!). The snorkeling there wasn't as pretty, but we did see a different kind of coral than we had seen before - it looks like big railroad spikes all stuck together.
We left early Friday morning (early for us, that is - 5:45) and went back out into the big blue. We headed south and arrived at the island of Ha'ano around 3:30 in the afternoon. There are so many reefs in the Ha'apai group of islands, it is important to leave and arrive during good daylight hours. The sail down was wonderful - about 15 - 17 knots of wind heading in the right direction. The seas were fairly calm, so it wasn't too bumpy. If the picture made it with this entry, check out how much we're heeling over - and that's when we were slowed down to land the fish! We are certainly hoping that our New Zealand crossing will be just as nice! :) We didn't put the dinghy in the water Friday, so stayed aboard and just enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings. A few games of Rummycubes were played and our wonderful wahoo dinner was enjoyed in the cockpit while listening to the cries of a bunch of bats (flying foxes). It was fascinating to watch them fly overhead and land in one particular tree - I'm guessing maybe 50-60 of them. Their cries were a cross between a seagull and a cat. A very cool experience.
Saturday morning we got the dink put back in the water and went for "coffee" on a big powerboat named New Paige (50' Norhauser (sp?). Oh my gosh! Roger and Joan, with 10 year old Kimberly on board, have a beautiful boat (and we thought we were spoiled!). Their boat seemed bigger than our house back home. It has marble and granite tiles plus a real washer and dryer! They have a trash compactor and a dish washer too, although they are roughing it right now because they have run out of dishwasher detergent and that is something you will not find out here! Glen loved looking at all the bells and whistles in the engine room and in the wheel house - it was truly something to behold. Their fuel tank holds 2,300 gallons of fuel with about a 4,000 mile range. Can't imagine having the money to pay for all that diesel, but they are the nicest people and are totally accepted into the sailing cruisers family. There are only 3 power boats (that we know of) out here doing the same trip as us.
We snorkeled on a gorgeous reef within the anchorage - it has about every type of coral you can imagine and tons of fish. The coral is so much healthier looking than most of the other places we've been. I tried taking some pictures, but they just don't do it justice. We went ashore and met a New Zealand man that is building a resort on the beach - it will have 5 rooms, so not exactly what you would normally call a resort, but the view is very pretty. We were able to check out the bats a little closer up as well. Dinner was aboard Charisma to celebrate Alan's birthday. The anchorage was calm when we went to bed, but we awoke about 2:00 AM to howling winds and a little boat next to us getting much too close. They were able to let out more chain and everything was fine - and without too much scare!
The winds were expected to blow all day Sunday, so we moved to a different anchorage that would give us better protection. Uoleva Island gave us not only good protection from the wind, but the feeling of truly being in paradise again - white sandy beaches the entire way around, lots of shells (mostly cowries), beautiful jungle to walk through (wasn't very far from one side to the other), and several reefs for excellent snorkeling. We stayed at this lovely spot through Wednesday morning. A lady named Patti is building a little resort here (much better looking than the other guys!) and she welcomed the group of cruisers (6 boats) in for a potluck BBQ. Monday night we all brought in our own meat (we had wahoo!) and a side dish. We had so much fun we were invited back for dinner Tuesday night - this time Patti's boyfriend, a local named Sammy, and his friend Sifa furnished the meat... reef fish from right in front of their place. Glen played his sax and a lady from another boat, Alicia, played the banjo and we all sang around the bonfire. Two very special nights in a row! "Patti's Place" will be open for business starting in December and we're highly recommending it for a get away from it all.
I can't believe we are back to another Thursday - I have been trying to get this typed and sent for several days now - yikes! We moved anchorages on Wednesday to Lifuka Island because we needed to officially check in to the Ha'apai group. I ended losing most of the day by taking Benadryl to help with the reaction from the mosquito bites - it zonked me out so much I slept the day away. We went ashore this morning to the village of Pangai and were able to buy some fresh veggies at the market (green peppers, bok choy, carrots and cucumbers. Glen was even able to get a little jar of peanut butter in the store! We had brunch at the Mariner's Cafe - from what we hear, its the only restaurant in the Ha'apai group. Now, we have moved yet again and are now anchored at Ha'afeva Island. It looks pretty, but I'm not leaving the boat until I get this posted, so will have to save its description for next time!
We're back to using the radio and sailmail to get and answer e-mails. If we're slow at getting back out, please forgive us! :)
PS - A big thank you to Ken and Lorie for the information about the cuttle fish. We agree that it what we saw and we found some cuttle bones on the beach nearby, as well! I had no idea the treats fed to parakeets came from a fish!