21 October 2014 Tapana Island to Uoleva Island, Ha’api, Tonga (Day 2)
Glenys hove-to at about six o’clock, three miles off the northern end of the Ha’api chain of islands and dragged me out of bed at seven o’clock. We set sail again heading for the anchorage at Haano Island, but when a mile off, we could see that there were already five boats in the anchorage, so decided to carry on to the main town of Pangai.
There were another ten boats anchored in the big bay, most of which have sailed down from Vava’u over the past three days. Everyone is heading for Tongatapu and then New Zealand, so all the anchorages are going to be crowded from here on. It will be interesting to see how many boats gather in the main anchorage in Tongatapu.
We anchored next to “Flow” and gave Karen a lift into the small town. A cyclone ripped across the Ha’api islands in February and devastated Pangai. There still many destroyed buildings waiting to be cleared. One of the islanders’ biggest problems is that the low lying island was flooded with sea water, which has contaminated the soil with salt and makes growing vegetables a big problem.
There are a few small grocery stores in town and we were able to buy a case of beer and some essentials. Glenys found some cabbages, onions and potatoes, so we aren’t going to starve. With nothing else to do, we went back to the boat. The anchorage at Pangai is a little open, so with some stronger winds forecast over the next few days, we decided to go to Uoleva Island, which on the charts looked to be a nice anchorage.
It appears that everyone else had the same idea because by nightfall there were twelve boats in the bay. It’s a nice bay with a long white sand beach, but a swell somehow hooks around from the north making it rolly. We didn’t care. We had lunch and went to sleep for a few hours to catch up after last night’s sail.
In the evening, we were invited over to “Laragh” along with “Flow”. David and Katrina had caught two big fish on the way down and wanted to share them. Everyone brought a side dish and David barbequed the fish - we had a good night.
22 October 2014 Uoleva Island to Uiha Island, Ha’api
It was a miserable morning with rain and there was a large swell hooking into the bay from the north making it uncomfortable. Fortunately, by ten o’clock it had started to brighten up, so we picked up the anchor and motored over to Uiha Island passing through a narrow passage in the reef, which was a bit scary because the skies were so overcast and it was hard to see the shallows.
We anchored at 19 54.19S 174 24.78W just to the north of a village in 6 metres over sand and weed and the holding is great. The protection from the north east and south east looks to be good and there’s none of the horrible rolling that we had in Uoleva. It was also nice to be alone and away from the maddening crowds, although that didn’t last too long because “Laragh” came over the horizon a couple of hours later. They anchored a hundred metres away, which was good.
After lunch, we jumped into the dinghy and motored a mile to Tatafa Island. It took us a few hours to circumnavigate the mile long deserted island, walking along the sandy beaches looking for sea shells. It’s becoming very addictive trying to find the next perfect, unusual shell. To Glenys’s dismay, I’ve also started to treat it like a bit of a competition - who’s going to find the best one? Today, Glenys definitely won when she found a beautiful Tiger Cowrie
23 October 2014 Uiha Island, Ha’api
It was a lovely morning, so we went for a walk on the island. We landed the dinghy on the beach and walked along looking for somewhere to walk through to the village, eventually cutting through someone’s land after asking permission. We chatted to the lady of the house, who was chilling out in a hammock with her two small kids - she seemed pleased to talk to us about her family in her halting English.
We walked through the two villages on the island and the poverty of these small islands really struck me. The effects of the Cyclone only eight months ago can be seen everywhere with UNICEF tents still set up next to the small, rough wooden houses that the locals have built. The villagers live on food from the sea, coconuts and whatever else they can grow on these small low-lying islands. However, most of the people we met seemed happy.
We met a young man called Bedu, while walking along the dirt road between the villages and he walked along with us for ten minutes. His brother (Vee) plays rugby in an English team called the Lions and Bedu has family who live in Australia and New Zealand. As in the Cook Islands, people move off the island to get work and send money back to the islanders. Bedu however loves it here and doesn’t want to leave.
Having walked a mile or so to the north end of the island, we sauntered back along the beach looking for shells again, which was very productive - I’ve never seen such a quantity of shells before. Glenys now has quite a few to be sorted and classified.
After lunch, I filled a scuba tank and went off by myself under the boat to take some pictures of a small reef shallow that I’d spotted near our anchor yesterday. Unfortunately, the water was very murky, so I gave up and started to clean the bottom of the hull. I slaved away for 90 minutes and have only done 1/3 of the hull, but that includes all of the fiddly bits around the rudder and propeller. I’ll have another session tomorrow.
24 October 2014 Uiha Island, Ha’api
The weather forecast is for another trough to arrive today bringing rain. The trough is expected to deepen and looks to be dragging the SPCZ down over us with the worst weather being tomorrow night when an intense low will pass directly over us. The GRIB files show strong 20-25 knot winds which could be from any direction, but by the next morning will settled down to 20-25 knots from the south.
The anchorage that we’re in has good holding, but it’s exposed to the north, south and west, so if we get sustained winds from those directions it could get a little bouncy. We looked at the chart and “Ken’s Guide to Tonga”, where we read about an anchorage called Luangahu Island, which was only 4 miles away and looked good, so we upped anchor and motored over to have a gander.
It turned out to be a tiny little island surrounded by reef. Ken’s guide said that it’s an “excellently protected lagoon” and “the bottom is all sand”. We found it to be choppy as the slight 12 knot north wind brought waves over the surrounding reef and the sea bed is 70% coral with small patches of sand. At a pinch, we could have anchored between the numerous coral heads, but we’d have destroyed swathes of coral with our chain and would almost certainly wrap our chain around a few coral heads as the wind clocks around. We ran away, back to Uiha Island.
After our little jaunt, I ran the dive compressor and filled another tank, then spent ninety minutes under the boat scraping away again. I cleaned another third of the hull including the keel, so I’m hoping that another session tomorrow finish the job.
The trough arrived around sunset and brought torrential rain and 25 knots north winds, but we were snug down below, sipping our Cuba Libres and watching a movie.
25 October 2014 Uiha Island, Ha’api
There were a couple of heavy squalls last night, but we had a light east wind and some sunshine in the morning. I downloaded another GRIB file and the low pressure area was still forecast for tonight and expected to give us 25 knot winds and heavy rain.
I spent two hours scrubbing the bottom of the hull again and managed to get it all done. It took ages to clean the area around the bow thruster - there were huge barnacles and clams clinging onto the back of the propeller shaft, which have probably been lurking there since we were in Ecuador.
As predicted, the wind picked up in the late afternoon. By sunset, we were getting gusts over 35 knots and the sea had built up to a 2-3 foot chop which was making us pitch and roll quite a bit. Before it went dark, I let out a bit more chain, so that we had 40 metres out, which in 6 metres of water gave us a healthy 7:1 scope. I also rigged up our Fortress anchor on a second anchor warp and got it ready to toss overboard in case we started dragging on the weedy bottom.
Glenys made us a nice Thai Chicken curry and we watched a movie with a few cold beers.
26 October 2014 Uiha Island, Ha’api
It threw it down most of last night, but by morning, we had a light 10 knot breeze from the south and overcast skies. We were planning to go to another anchorage, but showers kept rolling through, so we delayed and delayed and by two o’clock in the afternoon, we decided to stay put.
There’s a high to the south of us which is giving us south-south-east winds and sucking cold air up from the southern latitudes, so it was damn cold today. I had to wear a t-shirt all day and dragged out a thin duvet for the night.
27 October 2014 Uiha Island to Haafeva Island, Ha’api
It was another overcast day, but at least it wasn't raining in the morning, so we upped anchor unfurled the genoa and sailed 12 miles to Haafeva Island. On the way we hooked two fish. The first one wasn't taking too much line, so I left the fish trailing behind the boat while we reefed the genoa. Just as we’d finished, the line suddenly started screaming out of the reel.
I started to haul the fish in against very strong pressure as it dived down. Suddenly all the fight went out of it and I could see a tuna on the surface of the water. I reeled it and found to my dismay, that 2/3rds of the fish had been bitten off by something very big, presumably a shark.
The second fish hit ten minutes later and again it didn't take too much line at first. I quickly started to haul it in then the line started to pay out fast again and, bang, the lure was taken off - are we being followed by Jaws?
The anchorage at Haafeva Island is very nice and is surrounded by reef although some swell is getting into the bay making us roll a little. Interestingly, the village is on the windward side of the island, so the shore has a very isolate feel about it. After lunch, we went ashore, leaving the dinghy tied to the dilapidated dock with an anchor to hold it off the jagged concrete edges.
We found a single track dirt road at the end of the dock, which took us through some lush vegetation to the village. The main street is a dirt road running parallel to the shore line with the wooden houses spread out along its length. There was a mixture of shacks and reasonable houses, with the ubiquitous pigs wandering around everywhere.
We found a small grocery store, but the doors were firmly barred. Instead of being able to wander around and browse the shelves, a Chinese man sat behind a small window guarded by wire mesh, waiting to be asked for things. I always find these kind of stores a strange concept. We never know what they have in stock and have to peer past the shop keeper looking for familiar item. With their lack of English, the conversations often go like:
“Do you have Orange Juice?”
“Yes…. errr … No.”
“OK… do you have bread?”
Blank look…
“Ma?” (Tongan for bread)
“No.”
“Is there a bakery in the village?”
“No.”
We didn't buy anything. A few yards up a small side road, we found another small store, this time with a counter. They didn't have anything that we needed, but Glenys asked if they had any breadfruit. The shopkeeper asked how many, then wandered off and returned with a breadfruit that he’d obviously just plucked from a tree. When we asked how much, he gave it to us as a gift, which was extremely generous of him.
With nothing else to see in the village we walked back along the beach walking in a counter-clockwise direction looking for shells, but there weren't as many as we've seen on the eastern islands. It started to rain just as we arrived back at the dock, so we scurried back to the boat and hunkered down while it rained for the rest of the day. This weather is just like April back in the UK.
28 October 2014 Haafeva Island, Ha’api
It rained on and off all night and the morning was overcast and grey. The Ha’api area is very nice and would be fabulous if it was warm and sunny because there are lots of anchorages to explore and some good snorkelling. However, this overcast weather makes navigation around reefs hazardous and the rain and cold wind aren't conducive to snorkelling, so we've decided to head down to Tongatapu.
Time is now pressing on and thoughts of the passage to New Zealand are constantly in our minds. I did some serious research into the current weather patterns and downloaded GRIB files giving me a two week forecast of the large area stretching from here to the east coast of Australia. For the next two weeks, it looks like there’s a constant 10-20 knot east or south east wind between Tongatapu and Minerva Reef, so we could leave Tongatapu at any time during that period.
The tricky part is when to leave MinervaReef. There’s a steady procession of highs and lows marching eastward across New Zealand and to the south of us. The highs give settled weather, but light winds and the lows can give south-westerly gales at the northern tip of New Zealand, which need to be avoided. In addition, storms in the south can build the seas to seven metres or more and push big swells up into the area that we want to cross.
So, there’s three parts to the puzzle - having enough wind to sail away from Minerva Reef; avoiding big seas during the passage; and avoiding south-westerly gales near New Zealand. Unfortunately, the period between lows is about five days and the passage will take us six days, so the timing is critical.
I stared at GRIB files for over an hour and tried to work out a strategy, but the uncertainty of forecasts over seven days in the future seem to make planning a farce at this point. My conclusion is that we keep an eye on trends in the highs and lows and hopefully a pattern will emerge. We’re planning to spend a few days in Tongatapu to re-provision and refuel, then head down to Minerva Reef on the 2nd or 3rd November, where we’ll wait until there’s a good weather window - very scary.
We were hoping to leave this evening and sail overnight, but the weather remained miserable with a 20 knot south-east wind which would mean a bash to windward, so after lunch, we abandoned that plan and lurked around. It was cold enough for Glenys to put in a light cardigan this afternoon and I ran our Webasto hot air heater for fifteen minutes to make sure that it still works. The last time that we used it was in the USA two years ago and, amazingly, it fired up.
The skies started to clear in the evening and we had a stunning sunset.
29 October 2014 Haafeva Island to Big Mama’s, Tongatapu (Day 1)
It was a much nicer day - blue skies with white fluffy clouds. The wind had backed to the east, but was still cold. We decided to sail later in the afternoon, so our morning was spent doing a few jobs - running the watermaker, topping up the damn fridges with refrigerant again, putting the dinghy on deck, etc.
It was such a nice day that we even managed to motivate ourselves to go snorkelling and found that the reef in the anchorage is very good. I spent most of my time trying to photograph some Fiji Anemonefish, but there was quite a bit of sediment in the water and the fish were getting spooked every time that I free-dived down to them.
We hate the all-day wait to go sailing overnight and cracked up at four o’clock.
It was a very pleasant sail for the first three hours until sunset, on a beam reach in settled seas. The wind picked up to 20-25 knots a little after dark and the ocean swell kicked in as we cleared the Ha’api island group, but the motion was fine.
This passage was only 85 miles, so we were planning to bob along at 5 knots to arrive after dawn. We put three reefs in the main and had a reefed staysail, but with our nicely scrubbed bottom, we were still doing 6-7 knots. So, at four o’clock in the morning, we had to heave to just outside the approaches to the main shipping lane into the huge Nuku'alofa Bay.
30 October 2014 Haafeva Island to Big Mama’s, Tongatapu (Day 2)
Glenys got us sailing again at dawn and we had a great sail along the shipping channel. We anchored off Pangaimotu, which is a small island about a mile away from the main city of Nuku'alofa. On the island is a restaurant/bar called Big Mama's, which is very yachty friendly. There are 15 other boats already here - all waiting to go to New Zealand.
After dropping the dinghy in the water, I went across to chat to Horst on "Flow"and he confirmed that there's a good weather window to get to New Zealand and most people are planning to leave on the 1st or 2nd. Horst is going to get duty free fuel tomorrow and he told me how to organise that. By this time, it was half past ten - just enough time to dinghy over to town and clear out before lunchtime.
We had a wild ride downwind and left the dinghy in the small boat harbour in the fishing port. Our first stop was at the Port Authority where we had to pay $25US in port fees even though we were only staying 2 nights. We then got our International Clearance to New Zealand - I had to tell them that we are leaving tomorrow (Friday) because if I'd said Saturday or Sunday then they would have charged me overtime...
Armed with a customs form giving permission to buy duty free fuel, we walked to the nearby Texaco depot and paid for 200 litres of diesel, which will be delivered tomorrow. The dockside fuel station is out of commission at the moment, so Texaco deliver either 200 litre barrels or if you want more than 1000 litres then they will send a delivery truck.
Normally, boats get together so that they need more than 1000 litres between them and get the fuel truck. Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to organise that if I want fuel tomorrow, so a barrel it is. I'm not sure exactly how much we need to fill our tank, but 200 litres should be near enough.
We caught a bus into town, but the Immigration office had just closed, so we had lunch in a cafe and wandered around town. Nuku'alofa is the capital of Tonga, but is more like a small town. There's a huge vegetable market, but no big supermarkets. We walked to the Tongan Royal Palace, which is a nice old wooden building surrounded by high fencing and serious looking soldiers.
After finishing our paperwork with Immigration, we bumped into Carl and Gwyneth from "A-Train", who had brought their yacht over to town to get fuel. Glenys and I weren't looking forward to bashing up wind for a mile in our dinghy, so we bummed a lift back on their yacht. Having arranged a lift, we did some serious provisioning, buying enough food to last us three weeks.
We didn't get back to the boat until half past four by which time we were really feeling the effects of our night passage, so we packed away the groceries and went out to Big Mama’s bar, where we downloaded two weeks' worth of email, had fish and chips and too much beer.
31 October 2014 Big Mama’s, Tongatapu
We pulled up our anchor and motored over to the fishing harbour following "Flow". There were another two boats in the harbour - one already tied up on the dock and another circling around waiting to clear in. Horst managed to squeeze on to the dock between the yacht and a big fishing boat. I then went in and turned Alba around in the narrow inner harbour and rafted up on Flow, then the fourth boat came in on the other yacht. It was quite a crowd on the small fuel dock.
We were worried that Texaco were going to just deliver the barrels and we'd have to siphon the fuel out, so Glenys and Karen walked up to the Texaco depot where they were told that they'd bring along a fuel pipe. The ladies then grabbed a taxi into town to do some last minute provisioning, while us blokes waited for the fuel to arrive.
When the pick up truck arrived, the two guys were very professional and to our relief had a long fuel hose with a proper nozzle. Being gravity fed, it was a bit of a palaver and took about an hour to fill both boats with diesel. I could only fit 175 litres into our tank, so I gave the remainder to one of the other boats on the dock. Glenys arrived back ten minutes after we'd finished fuelling, so we headed back to the anchorage at Big Mama's.
We chilled out for the afternoon. It was Halloween, so I dug out the Ghoul that we bought in the USA and rigged it up flying about Alba. In the evening we went to a party ashore. It was the 13th anniversary of Big Mama's bar, so there was a Tongan feast laid on as well as a good band. With over 20 cruising boats in the anchorage it was a good party, although we sloped off a little early, knowing that we were sailing to New Zealand the next day.
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