After Uli left, we got out to do some cruising around the Vava'u Group. Our favorite anchorages included Tapana, Mafana, and Mounu. We did some good snorkeling, paddle boarding, and eating out at some of the remote resorts. One of our hobbies is to go snorkeling and then download the photos for fish identification over happy hour in the cockpit. We have now identified over 150 species of fish in the South Pacific. I compiled my favorite photos from all our snorkeling in Tonga.
(See Photos) (See Video)
We were excited about going out to a remote anchorage by Kenutu Island. We managed to anchor in between the reefs and coral. Then, of course, the wind shifted such that the reef was all too close. When we were re-anchoring, the anchor windlass motor froze up. Unfortunately, we had over 200 feet of chain out and the wind had also increased. Some fellow cruisers came over and assisted us to get the anchor chain up. So, we decided to go back into Neiafu harbor to be on the safe side. We took the anchor windlass apart and took the motor into the shop to see if there was any hope for it. Nope! So, we ordered a new one from New Zealand. It took several weeks to get the new motor.
In the meantime, we attended the Blue Water Rendezvous, which is organized by some New Zealand venders to promote their businesses. They presented several very informative short seminars on immigration/customs procedures, weather patterns and predictions, availability of marinas, chandleries, haul-out facilities, etc. They also made it very entertaining with a fun race, awards party, pub crawl, costume contest, school visit, a happy hour with a band, and a charity dinner. It was well attended and a great opportunity to meet other cruisers who were all headed to New Zealand. We had some fun gatherings with our friends Werner & Christina on Windance, and Rob & Barb on Zoonie. We had one really crazy night out when we stayed up well past cruiser's midnight, which is 10:00 pm.
The anchor windlass motor arrived after 3 weeks and after a couple days, our mechanic determined that the new part would not fit with the old part, so we had to order another part - crap! But, they were going to have to manufacture that part so it was going to take several more weeks - crap! So, we finally decided to just sail straight to New Zealand from Vava'u.
More Later - G&T