Rover

Voyage Preparation in Vava’u

22 August 2023
Teddy
Good afternoon from the sailing vessel Rover! We’re still tied up in
Vava’u, but our minds are all on Tongatapu and the 160 nautical miles
we’ll need to sail to get there. We have tomorrow to do some last minute
tasks in Vava’u (Eric’s doing more trip planning and passage prep, I’m
getting the last of the provisions we need and doing some shopping,
Pete’s swimming with the whales), and then on Thursday morning we’re
leaving the island as soon as we can clear customs!

A couple notes on the geography of Tonga: Tonga’s divided up into three
main island groups, and two of the island groups are named for their
largest island, which can make things kind of confusing (Vava’u Group
vs. the island of Vava’u). The southernmost group of islands is called
the Tongatapu Group. On the island of Tongatapu is the city of
Nuku’alofa, which is the capital and largest city in all of Tonga.
That’s our destination. The next group of islands up, the middle group,
is the Ha’apai Group (not named for its largest island): it’s the
smallest both in terms of land area as well as in terms of population.
We’ll be skipping the Ha’apai group and sailing right past it. The
northernmost island group is the Vava’u group (named for the largest
island), and the biggest city on the island of Vava’u (and in the island
group) is Neiafu. Neiafu’s harbor is called Port of Refuge. That’s been
Rover’s home port for the past four weeks and where I’m typing this up
from right now.

So! On Thursday morning we’ll check out from Vava’u, sail out of Port of
Refuge, exit this archipelago for the open ocean, and sail 160 nautical
miles south to Tongatapu. Rover’s averaged about 100 miles a day
(measured noon-to-noon) in its past passages, but Pete and I are going
to be off shore on Rover for the first time ever, so we’ll be taking it
slow at first. Tonga’s a very religious country and takes its Sundays
seriously, so if we arrive after the customs office closes on Saturday
we may well be S.O.L. until Monday morning when they reopen. All in all,
our time between ports will be anywhere from two to five days, and we’ve
had to plan and provision for all of the possibilities.

The pantry’s stocked, the fuel and water tanks are full, the sea stowing
is (mostly) done, and morale is high! Onward to Nuku’alofa!

--
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Comments
Vessel Name: Rover
Vessel Make/Model: Valiant 42
Hailing Port: Seattle. WA
Crew: Eric and Linda
About:
We're making a big change to a cruising lifestyle. Eric retired in 2012 after 32 years in R&D (mostly) at HP. Previous passions included flying and bicycling. Linda will retire in 2013 from Oregon State University. She's been active in Zonta, was a Scoutmaster, and is a champion baker. [...]
Extra: Linda was barrel master and Eric participated in the Jackson Street Vintners; a group of friends that made wine from 2000 to 2013
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