We finally arrived safely in Tonga this morning. We had a superb sail overnight, plenty of wind and just a bit bumpy as we approached Tonga. Altogether we had a brilliant trip with good weather all the way. We successfully planned to arrive off Tongatapu at daylight and managed it by reefing the sails to slow us down. The low lying islands are surrounded by a series of encircling reefs which have to be traversed by daylight. Particularly so given that Tongan charts are the original 1880's charts which when transposed onto our modern electronic charts shift the land sometimes 400 metres sideways.

In fact the charts seemed quite accurate and we weaved our way through reefs into the calm waters of the lagoon. The islands are low lying with just a smattering of houses and buildings along the foreshore. It was about two hours before we arrived at our anchorage at Pangaimotu. Pangaimotu is a delightful bay across from the main harbour. It contains a small resort (looks more like a beach bar - full report tomorrow) a small beach and a wreck amongst other delights. We are planning to explore further tomorrow and possibly go into town. Because we were with the Island Cruising Association, a NZ group of boats customs met us at the bay and within minutes we were cleared and legal. Expensive but efficient. Normally you have to go to the main harbour which is not such a pleasant experience.

We deployed our new shades - they let through breeze but keep out the UV in the bright sunshine and tropical warmth. A change from our clears which save us from the rain. So naturally by late afternoon it started to rain. Still all is well in paradise. Tomorrow we may go into town, find an internet cafe and send some photos.