It has been a wonderful week full of exploring, soaking up sunshine and relaxing. I have a few more outings planned before I leave but mostly I just want to sit around and enjoy the sound of the pounding surf and the wind blowing through the palm trees...and the occasional cow mowing in the back ground. The weather for the last week has been exceptional. The rain came and went. Sunny and warm, with a lite offshore breeze. Perfect!
I have 2 full days left before I begin the epic journey back home. I find myself already starting to think about all the things I need to get done when I get there. I don't like that, it is messing with my relaxing. I have had a great vacation, one that I have been planning since last May. But, it is time to go home, time to see missed family and friends , time to start preparing for work again.
I think I hear the Lani calling to me now. A cold beer and a tropical sunset I think could cure anything that ails you. It has worked for me anyway.
Peace, Love and Coconuts
W----------/)
A Ballad of John Silver...
We were schooner-rigged and rakish,
with a long and lissome hull,
And we flew the pretty colours of the crossbones and the skull;
We'd a big black Jolly Roger flapping grimly at the fore,
And we sailed the Spanish Water in the happy days of yore.
We'd a long brass gun amidships, like a well-conducted ship,
We had each a brace of pistols and a cutlass at the hip;
It's a point which tells against us, and a fact to be deplored,
But we chased the goodly merchant-men and laid their ships aboard.
Then the dead men fouled the scuppers and the wounded filled the chains,
And the paint-work all was spatter dashed with other peoples brains,
She was boarded, she was looted, she was scuttled till she sank.
And the pale survivors left us by the medium of the plank.
O! then it was (while standing by the taffrail on the poop)
We could hear the drowning folk lament the absent chicken coop;
Then, having washed the blood away, we'd little else to do
Than to dance a quiet hornpipe as the old salts taught us to.
O! the fiddle on the fo'c'sle, and the slapping naked soles,
And the genial "Down the middle, Jake, and curtsey when she rolls!"
With the silver seas around us and the pale moon overhead,
And the look-out not a-looking and his pipe-bowl glowing red.
Ah! the pig-tailed, quidding pirates and the pretty pranks we played,
All have since been put a stop to by the naughty Board of Trade;
The schooners and the merry crews are laid away to rest,
A little south the sunset in the islands of the Blest.
John Masefield
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Comments [2]
Even in Paradise it rains. It has been raining for the last 3 days and again today. But tomorrow we are back to clear skies and warm weather. Yesterday, I made it into town before the rains hit. I got totally soaked thru and thru but it didn't bother me at all. Topical rain, warm weather, the fresh smell of all the flowers...just another instance of sensory overload.. Life is good.
Tonga is a wonderful place, not a 5 star location by any means. This is a third world country, but it is a great little secret that only of cruisers and affluent divers and whale watchers know about. The whale are gone now and with them all the tourist. The cruiser (boaties) are all waiting for there weather window so they can head to New Zealand for the cyclone season. In a few weeks there will be very few people here, besides locals. Even most of the business owners are getting ready to move on to other places. It's not that the weather gets bad here, actually it is the nicest time of year, there's just no tourist and few yachts. I think i would be staying here and leaving when all the tourist get back!
The world is backwards alot of times...in my mind anyway..
Peace, Love and Coconuts
W
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So, I found this perfect little paradise. Tonga. Quiet, friendly, warm and sunny....I could live here forever!
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First real day in Tonga, I've spent most of the day wondering around town and water front. What a great place. The people are very friendly and adopt strangers quickly. Life is so laid back and relaxed. Of course I've already met many of the cruisers(long term sailors) that are making Vavau there home for the cyclone season. And of course it didn't take me long to find a way to go sailing while here either. I may be able to crew this afternoon on one of the boats that is racing tonight. Last race of the season, followed by a blow out party at the Mermaid ( the yacht club dock bar). Life is great here in Tonga.
Peace, Love and a fast boat.
Wally
P.S. Yes I am finally warm!
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Well, just finished a great week of sailing in the Bay of Islands. Now I'm waiting to catch the plane to Tonga. While I was in Bay of Islands, the owners of the charter company offered me a job managing the charter company for them during the peak season , which just happens to coincide with the time I'm off the ice. Very tempting! They just sweeten the deal by setting me up to stay in Tonga for a week longer and then crewing on a boat back to New Zealand. Opportunity is pounding on my door. What to do? If this was offered next year there would be no question.
The sailing was great. 6 days of great weather. Even the last day when it started raining it was still good. The Bay of Island is a place you could sail around for a long time before you saw every thing there is to see. It's very tropical looking with out the heat. Reminded me of Hawaii. Beautiful place.
Well, off to Tonga. Hope all is well in your world.
Peace, Love and Coconuts
W
I MUST go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
Unknown poet/sailor
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You are just where you need to be. I can feel your joy reading your words. I can literally see the smile resting peacefully on your face as you type your blog. Seeing you as you really are I know this is the life for you, never to be tethered again by society, rules, relationships, or the confines of the humdrum world. I love you, I'm filling with joy knowing this Wally, the real Wally. Cheers to you baby! Live your dream!
Sailors are the same world wide. Yesterday we met one while on a cruise around the Akaroa bay. That led to meeting 10 more for drinks that evening. That led to offers to crew, places to stay when were in town and friendships that will last forever. Life is good.
Today we head to Hamner spring for a soak in the natural hot tubs then back to Christchurch for the night. Tomorrow we fly to the North island.
Peace, Love and Coconuts
W
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Fantastic! mom
