Haapai, Tonga

Ha’apai blog Sept 18
Today is my birthday and I couldn’t be in a more perfect place. We are back in Tonga, in the Ha’apai group, a relatively unvisited area of Tonga. We have only seen three other yachts here, two of whom we already knew, and we now know the other one after the ubiquitous “hello, how are you, where are you from, and come and have a drink” protocol of cruising.

After the last week in Niue being cloudy and cool, with very rolly seas in the anchorage, and the rough seas of the passage, we were greeted by a breaching whale not far off the back of the boat and the biggest fish we’ve ever caught – a one metre mahi mahi, iridescent blue which turned green in the cockpit. We dropped anchor in light winds, flat seas, warm temperatures, the most gorgeous aqua coloured clear warm sea, and palm fringed white sandy beaches. There was only one other yacht in our first anchorage where we rested the night before checking in to Tonga. It was Compass Rose whom we had met and partied with at Niuatoputapu. We were promptly invited over for dinner and accepted, donating a chunk of the fish David had caught!

We have cell-phone range again here and have treasured the texts we’ve had from you. It is extraordinary that in this remote place we have cell-phone contact!

Last night we had my second birthday celebration for this 53rd occasion. In Niue our friends Bruce and Alene on Migration threw us a little advance party in case we didn’t see them again. They had their boat decorated with streamers, party hats and whistles and balloons. We had a reading of Dr Seuss’s Birthday Book and they gave me a copy of one of Bruce’s children’s books, him being the author.

For last night’s party we reconnected with Kia Kaha, a NZ boat we’d met in Vavau last time we were in Tonga, so Mike and Kirsten and their baby Ocean came over along with Compass Rose for a fabulous potluck dinner, complete with our freshly caught fish. David sang me a song that had seduced me seven years ago – A Case of You by Joni Mitchell. Well I certainly do have a chronic case of him and long may it last. David topped it off by making me a classic NZ Edmonds banana birthday cake (with Niuean bananas), decorated by using a piping bag he’d made out of a plastic bag and a nozzle from a caulking gun. It even had birthday candles!

We’ve been into “town”, one dusty street with a few old buildings and a remarkable 5 or 6 “supermarkets”, all stocking much the same thing, and that is a very limited range, and most of them run by Chinese people. But the market yielded plenty of fresh fruit and veg and as we had stocked up really well in Samoa we are still dining like kings.

It is so nice to stop. We are going to hang out here for a few days as Migration are turning up on Monday. And just slow down. The whole trip has been such an intense melee of new experiences. It is nice to have time to just absorb it. Especially now as we are turning our thoughts to preparing ourselves and the boat for the return journey next month. Given that the passage to NZ is one of the potentially most brutal in the world we have to give it due consideration.
Janet

Saturday Sept 11
The devastation in Christchurch and the persistent stream of aftershocks has been on our minds. The tension and worry must be terrible. While our journey so far has been happily reminiscent of the tropical idyll we all imagine, the scars of natural destruction are everywhere. Here in Niue the effects of cyclone Heta which flattened the island in Jan 2004 are everywhere present:
- in remnants of physical damage – there are abandoned houses all around the coast,
- in the sudden population drop where it had been declining alarmingly anyway – after the cyclone many families relocated to NZ,
- but mostly in the casual comments and stories of those we meet. I met Ernie, who must be in his 80’s, while buying one of his coconut shell necklaces for Janet’s birthday. He described how he and his wife grabbed just a photo album and laptop before leaving their cliff-top home, 100 ft or so above sea level, for the greater safety of a friend’s home. But the enormous waves swept through this house, pinning Ernie under a sofa. He managed to hold his breath until the sea receded but he was trapped until his wife helped. He was hurt but alive. Not so his own home. By morning foundations were all that remained. There are at least 20 other similar stories. Time is marked, before and after the cyclone, as in Samoa and Niuatoputapu by the tsunami. So will it be for the 2010 Christchurch earthquake.

As for us, we went to bed last night to the music of singing whales, directly below us. Unforgettable!! As was the evening at the Golf Club where we took part in a quiz contest (I was in the winning team and even contributed one or two correct answers). We all stood and sang heartily the NZ national anthem in both languages and then watched in awe as the All Blacks came from WAY behind to win. Wahoo!! Mark Blumsky was there too.

We’ve explored half a dozen of the many cave systems and chasms on the island. They are all so different and each quite fabulous architecture. Many have pools, one with fresh water – yum, and a great, deep swim through – spelunking lingo for swimming underwater and under rock from one cave to the next.

The way down to the oasis.

Togo Chasm Oasis

Our favourite which I did twice was Vaikona because it was so difficult requiring a rope and harness, wetsuit,mask,snorkel and torch.

The start of Vaikona

Sandy, Les, David, Bruce, Alene

We knocked the bastard off

We did it twice because on the first go we couldn’t find the way out and had to retrace our steps through 4 swims-through. Soon after the start you have to cross a chasm for which we used the rope and harness. Very slippery and a fall would be disastrous. Hard to know how you’d ever get an injured person out. Then through 4 pools in the dark. We made it out by climbing a near vertical rock face and found later that we still hadn’t found the orthodox exit. Next time perhaps.

Janet very skilfully made a coaster at a village weaving morning. The women weavers invite any interested people to sit in with them as they weave mats and hats, baskets and fans so Alene and Janet went along.

At a village fair Bruce and I were nudged by our loving partners into filling out the ranks of the men’s fashion parade – there was only one contestant. We strutted out stuff in the most trendy of yachtie fashion gear and even danced for the crowd. For days after we were each recognised warmly in the street.

Tuapu village show day - Women's and Men's fashion show

A couple of days later Bruce, who plays Morris Dance tunes on a concertina, and I swapped songs at the Monday night Yacht Club BBQ.

We’ve also fitted in 2 scuba dives, one at Gothic City with 500 yr old coral, precious as it was not destroyed by the cyclone, and Snake Gully, so named because it’s riddled with gorgeous sea snakes that can kill in minutes but can’t open their mouths enough to bite. One let me hold it as it swam lazily by. The water is mile-deep clear. Wonderful!!

We’re getting ready to leave for Tonga in the next day or so. We will take with us memories of a very special three weeks on the this remarkable island.

David

Ps Janet is becoming quite the dab hand on the SSB radio. She assists on a radio net of a dozen or so yachts on passage, giving a weather report for her local (Niue for now) and relaying messages for yachts who can’t be heard by the net co-ordinator and weather guru. SSB communications have a language all their own - roger that, negative, stand by, Navire = november, alpha, victor, india, romeo, echo, copy that? and weather language is very specific – wind direction and speed, barometric pressure, percentage of cloud cover, sea conditions. The good ones do all this with the clarity needed to be understood over the crackle, fade in and out, Korean fishermen and other background noise as well as add humour. Janet is now doing all this with distinction.