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
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
Belated birthday wishes Janet. The cake looked fantastic David.Finally a chance to read your blog now that I am on holiday.We had two fun races at the weekend and the race season starts officially on Tuesday. Ron still doing maintenance on ours, so going out in a friend's 32ft Spencer.Our mooring approval came through for 12m boat. Hope to get block down soon. Look forward to catching up with you both again in the Sounds this summer.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Liz & Ron