The Kingdom of Tonga, and, Return to New Zealand

Hello Again

Niuatoputapu

Turtle in the lagoon

It is just an overnight sail of 190nm to reach the most northern islands of Tonga, the Niua Group. The group is made up of three small volcanic islands. This definitely has not been one of our better legs. We lost the wind yesterday afternoon and have to motor sail. I had my fishing line out, but no luck on that front. Again I am convinced these waters have been over-fished. Also there was an incredible amount of weed about. Alec needed to clear the props on more than one occasion. The following afternoon we motor into a very well protected lagoon on the north-western side of Niuatoputapu. Like most lagoon passes one would not attempt this in bad light or rough weather. The channel is winding with some of its markers broken off at the high-water mark, but with care we make it safely to the excellent anchorage.

History:  Like Samoa, Tonga was also first settled by the Lapita people some two to three thousand years ago.  Carbon dating of their pottery has shown this.

SHAMAL in Niua Lagoon

Fuel Station

Tonga had its first king sometime in the middle of the 10^th century AD. Since then around 40 men have held this title. The four main island groups, from north to south, Niua, Vava’u, Ha’apai, and Tongata’u, were discovered by Europeans at different dates between 1616 and 1781. The Kingdom is made up of about 170 islands, some being high volcanic and others low coral islands.

The population is around 106,000 people. It is thought that just as many Tongans are living abroad, mostly in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. They are a very religious nation, and Sunday sees the whole country nearly coming to a standstill. The kingdom became an independent state in the mid-1970 after being under British protection since 1900.

It is now Friday afternoon, so we decide we will do our check-in procedures in the morning. Nothing beats a relaxing drink on the back deck looking out at the near perfect cone of the volcanic island of Tafahi six miles to the north of us.

Tafahi

This island is not frequently visited by yachts, and we note the local villages come down to the concrete dock to check us out. The children are all swimming off the end of the dock, and Mums with their babes in arms are sitting in the water, fully clothed. Tongans are a gentle modest and very religious race. Everything seems to close on Sundays as they attend church then gather around for the family lunch. Many will attend church again in the evening.

On the Saturday morning we go ashore to find the customs and Immigration people. On our walk to the next village a car pulls up. Driver Mum has the baby sitting on her knee and she is busy texting on her phone. Two other small children are playing on the back seat – no seat restraints. Oh my, thank goodness this is a small islands where most traffic does not move much faster than walking pace. Anyway, we ask if we are heading in the right direction, and are then told, everything is closed till Monday morning. We then decide to head back to the boat. We have enough small projects to keep us busy till then, and we don’t want to upset the local authorities by wandering around their island before we are officially checked in. We later found out we could have checked in on Saturday, but no matter. We had a relaxing weekend.

Out come our bikes

Bank & Check-in office

On the Monday we found the office and the officials came back to the boat to complete the paperwork. No foods were removed from the boat as they realised we had to eat, and there was no store where we could purchase supplies, well not that we found. The Quarantine Officer found this hard hot work, so asked for beer to cool him down. It took two beers, even though it was still morning, to complete formalities. Once we were officially in, we took our bikes ashore to explore the island. We rode through the three small villages on the north coast, and out to the small airfield. It is the most ‘traditional ‘of the Tongan islands. The locals were somewhat shy, but friendly. We watch them arranging the pandanus leaves at low tide in rock pools. These are later collected to be woven into mats. Also the pigs come down to the rock pools at low tide and hunt for crabs using their snouts to move the rocks about.



Neiafu Harbour, Vava'u

Vava'u

Next stop was the Vava’u islands. Again this was just an overnight sail of 175nm. On reaching these islands one sails in among them through lovely deep waterways, some with reefs and beautiful white sandy beaches and those turquoise waters just waiting to be explored. This area is visited by hundreds of yachts during the cruising season as it has the reputation of being one of the world’s most popular sheltered cruising grounds. We can see why, it is quite stunning. Now it is the beginning of November, and most of the cruising yachts that come to these waters, have now left. We motor into Neiafu Harbour and pick up a mooring buoy. Once our inter island clearance is done, we visit the local markets, and walk the main street. Then it is back to ‘Mango’ café to catch up with friends. Over the next few days we take long walks exploring the area. After five nights here we decide to move on. We up anchor and head for Port Maurelle. A beautiful bay with a lovely sandy beach only six miles away. We take the tender off to explore the local area and visit Swallows Cave. The following morning we move a further 8 miles south and anchor off Fangasito Island. This again is just a night stop. It is a pity we cannot stay longer and explore the whole area, but we must keep moving, and one could take a season to do so.

Swallows Cave

Alec with MY Wahoo

The following morning sees us heading for the Ha’apai islands. This is a 55nm run and we are there just after lunch. We have a lovely sail on this leg, and drop anchor again in a beautiful bay, off Hanno Island. The most northern one in this group. I caught a little blue tuna and a good size Wahoo on this leg. There are three other yachts here also making the passage south. We snorkel the reef and are surprised to notice the water is now getting cooler. The fish and corals here are quite beautiful with more colours and varieties than we have seen for quite some time. We also have a school of baby squid taking shelter between the hulls while anchored here. Ashore to our surprise we find this small island has cows grazing about.

Pangai, Lifuka

After three days here we move on to the main town of this group to do our inter island clearance. We anchor off the small town of Pangai on the island of Lifuka. Ashore we meet the nicest custom officer one could find. The job is all completed in a few minutes but he wants us to stay and chat. He explains how they are watching the yachts on Marine Traffic, so they know who is out there. So many just pass on by without doing their clearance! Such a pity. This to date has been the most tidy and cleanest village we have visited in Tonga, and the locals were just delightful.



Big Mamas

Next is the run down to Nuku’alofa. This is just over a hundred miles so we decide to make it a night passage. We leave in the afternoon so as to pass through the reefs in daylight, then we will arrive in daylight to pass through the reef passage into Nuku’alofa. The first part of the passage went well with the sun shining and good winds. It was a lovely evening and we had a good moon. Then around 0300 things changed! A huge squall line shows up on the radar coming our way. We reef down. At 0500 this squall system is still with us. We enter Nuku’alofa Harbour with nearly nil visibility, but the chart plotter is nice and accurate as to the position of the reefs and channel markers. By 0800 we have dropped anchor off Paugaimotu Island where there are at least ten other yachts anchored. Winds are a steady 20-25kts with gusts up to 35kts. The system passes through by evening, and we are able to make plans to go ashore for a drink at Big Mamas restaurant on the island.

Getting our diesel, Nuku'alofa

To do our final checkout and fill our diesel cans for the next big leg out across the South Pacific, we decide it would be easier if we took SHAMAL the mile across the harbour and anchor off to run those last errands. This we do. We take the tender into the small enclosed harbour. The checkout procedure is not quite as simple as it could be. There is a lot of walking around to different offices to get ones paperwork done, and there is a correct order in which it has to be done. All in all it took us six hours to complete the paperwork and refuelling of our diesel cans. A couple of yachts came into the smaller harbour to do their refuelling. A 44 gallon drum is brought down on the back of a truck from the main fuel depot. Before this happens you have been to different officers to get your paperwork stamped so you can get your fuel duty free. You then proceed to the fuel depot and pay for your fuel, return to the dock and wait for it to be delivered. We had to wait for the boys to finish their hour long lunch break which they extended. Then when it arrives you have to hand pump it into you boat and or diesel cans. An interesting but rather slow process.

The pineapple Market

Once this was all done we did a quick trip to the fruit and vegetable market before returning to SHAMAL and moving her back to the anchorage off Pangaimotu Island. The following day we do the final cleaning of our hulls removing any growth so as they will be nice and clean when we arrive into New Zealand.

Saturday 16^th November. We have been through our wallets and find we still for some of the local currency left. Alec does a quick trip in the tender back across the harbour to spend it in the fruit and vegetable market. He comes back with plenty of produce. Not sure how we are going to eat all this before we arrive in New Zealand in about a week or so!!



Inner Harbour, Nuku'alofa

Midday, and we up anchor from Nuku’alofa and sail back out of the harbour. It is a lovely afternoon with winds from the SE at 12-15kts. This is it, our final leg. The run back down to New Zealand after a ten and a half year circumnavigation. We are not alone on this leg. A few boats left for NZ yesterday, and we are one of five leaving today.

Just after 1600 I catch a lovely yellow fin tuna. The first two nights are good, winds are from the ESE at 15-20kts gusting 25kts at times. The seas are lumpy, short and sharp. On the second day I catch a lovely big mahi-mahi, but much to Alec’s discus I lose it trying to bring it on board! We also discover we have blown the starboard trampoline!!

Day three and a change in the weather. Our weather guru Bob McDavit whom we are using to send us weather reports for this leg, suggested we head for a way point of which is half way between North Cape of NZ and Norfolk Island. Not quite the direction we wanted to go. Alec said he has already been to Norfolk Island five times before, by light aircraft, and does not need to visit it again. The reason being for this change was to avoid a trough coming off NZ with strong southerly winds. As we are now close to North Minerva Reef, a diversion here seemed the best choice to sit and wait for another weather window. All who were in the vicinity of us decided on a stop at the reef.  When we arrived inside the lagoon we found we were just one of 18 yachts that ended up taking shelter here. What a surreal place. Here we are nearly 300nm from land, out in the middle of the pacific, sitting in a most beautiful lagoon only surrounded by a coral reef which is nearly totally covered at high tide.

Minerva Reef, taken from a drone

The Lagoon is almost circular. The pass in is deep and easy to enter, and you can move around inside quite safely to get the best protection depending on which way the winds are blowing. The holding was excellent. The second night there, it is suggested via the radio, that the “Minerva Reef Yacht Club” should all take our tenders over to the reef for a sundowner as it will be low tide around 1700.  Again, such a surreal experience – standing out on this reef in the middle of the Pacific enjoying a cold drink in great company. Each morning there was a radio net with a weather report, then people were asked if they were running short of water or supplies, or needed help with anything. It was great as we all helped each other out.

The P3 Orion

P3Orion over Minerva Reef

On our fourth morning, the New Zealand Air force Orion aircraft flies over. They circle the lagoon several times while taking the details of each yacht. They tell us they are updating their information for NZ Customs.

While sitting here a small front passes over and all but three of us, move to the south end of the reef where there is less fetch. We are very comfortable staying put being a catamaran. We fill in our days socializing with the other boats, snorkelling along the edge of the reef and just enjoying this very unique experience sitting out here. The lobster fishing is said to be excellent here, but unfortunately for us so many other yachts had passed through the reef, that I think they had been cleared out for this season. One yacht earlier had reported catching 17! While sitting here, all the extra fruit and vegetables Alec had brought that last day in Nuku’alofa at the markets came in very handy.

Party on the Reef

One of the yachties has a drone, and it is many thanks to him for the beautiful aerial photos of the reef during our stop there.

Minerva Reef

Sunday 24^th November sees the first two yachts leaving. A little earlier than weather Bob has suggested, so we will wait. Monday sees a group of seven leaving. Still a little early. Then Tuesday 26^th the last of us leave. Bob had suggested Wednesday for us in order to avoid a rather large calm area where a lot of motoring would be required.

SHAMAL at sunset at the reef

Our 11kg Mahi-mahi

Once through the reef pass, it is full main and jib out. We have 15kts of SE winds and are doing 6.5 kt. close hauled. Mid-afternoon we bring on board an 11kg. Mahi-mahi. Great excitement. It is warm and sunny. Day two and we bring in an 8kg. Mahi-mahi. The freezer is fulling up nicely.

Now it was time to slow down to avoid the “no wind” area. We had now left the trade wind belt and entered an area called the variables. They yachts in front of us, and those who had rushed past, were now motoring. A group of us hanging behind are still sailing, if what rather slowly. We are even able to fly the spinnaker l on one of these days. After a couple more days the winds have returned and we are away again.

Our 8kg Mahi-mahi

About 60 miles out from the New Zealand coast the albacore tuna started running. It really was fun fishing. We lost two before bringing one good size one on board.

Our MPS run

On our last evening at sea, we could just make out the NZ coastline poking out from under a cloud bank. It was still another six hours before we finally entered the Bay of Islands and motored up the channel to Opua and tied up to the quarantine dock right on midnight.

What a feeling. We had just completed a ten and a half year “Adventure”. Sailed just over 59,000nm, and visited eighty countries. Seventy two by sea, and eight overland. Have we had enough and are we hanging up our sailing shoes? NO WAY. We will now spend the New Zealand summer cruising Northland and Auckland. We have decided that next year we will stay in NZ waters. SHAMAL will be lifted out of the water in the autumn so we can so we replace worn parts, clean and polish her and re-antifoul the bottom. We will put her in storage for a few months so we can fly back to the States to visit family and friends.

Our first glimpse of New Zealand

This really has been the most incredible journey. What a wonderful experience.  All the places we have visited have been as an education.  All the people we have met, so hospitable and friendly. The world-wide sailing community is indeed very unique. It is made up of people from all walks of life and of different economic backgrounds, but that is not important. What is, is that we all share the same interest. People who don’t hesitate to help one another, and people who so quickly become long life friends so quickly. We are out there to explore this incredible planet of ours, and it is a pretty special place. Sailing really has to be the best way to see it. Your home takes you everywhere, and you sleep in your own bed each night. We have been so Blessed.

Home Again

We will be adding more posts to this blog. The Commander will later share with you his opinion and points of interest from the sailing prospective.

We hope to return back up into the Pacific at a later date to visit other places such as Fiji.

We will sign out from this posting with the famous quote from Mark Twain;

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw out the bowline, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sail – Explore, Dream, Discover.

Fair winds and safe sailing to you all

Thank you All who have followed this amazing adventure with us, and given us encouragement.

Love from

The Admiral and the Commander