Friday, December 27, 2013

Orcas' visit the anchorage in Opua …Boxing day treat!

                                                                                                        28/12/2013



A rather gloomy boxing day became a highlight with the visit of a pod of 11-12 Orcas, visiting the anchorage, to feed on stingrays, according to the local Dolphin Research personel.
While quietly sanding down the cockpit in preparation for painting, my labours were disturbed by a big splash near the bow, and the unmistakable “Whoosh”  of a whale's blowhole venting in close proximity!
A baby Orca surfaced right alongside Sheer Tenacity, and that was the end of the sanding for the next hour or so!!







Apologies for the rather poor quality pics….. but they were the best we could manage!




Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Our Tonga to New Zealand leg

November 2013

Sashimi for lunch with some chilled wine!!!
No passage through the Pacific seems to elicit as much debate, weather discussion, fear and trepidation, as the leg to New Zealand! There are good reasons for this, as it can be very nasty indeed.
Many tales of rough seas, high winds, deep lows, lost  masts add a definite fear factor to one’s preparation! Apart from having the boat in tip top condition for heavy weather sailing, the single most important piece of preparation involves developing an understanding of the way the weather systems evolve, and behave in this corner of the Pacific.
A blog is no place to try and explain things, other than to point out that we also took on Bob McDavitt as our routing guru, to confirm that the window we were seeing really had a chance of materializing!

Full moon passage! Sunrise at the same time as moonset above Scott-Free

 Our first prize was to do the 280nms to Minerva North Reef, in good weather, and then wait there for another good 5/6 day window to do the last 800nms.  We left Nuku'alofa fairly certain of good weather for the first leg, but could see the early signs of a low developing in the Tasman sea area, which could produce some nasty stuff around Opua in  about 8/9 days. We made the decision to bypass Minerva in the event that this trend was confirmed, and Bob agreed!
And so we sailed past Minerva reef, 6 miles to port, but were at least lucky enough to have boated a decent Tuna along the way!

Sheer Tenacity as seen from Scott-Free
Getting cooler every day


We then had another 4 good days sailing, during which time we crossed the date line, before the wind died out on us and we were forced to motor sail for the last day and a bit, to ensure our arrival ahead of the predicted front. We boated another Tuna during the second last day, this time an Albacore Tuna of about 12kg, which is called the “Chicken of the sea”, in parts of the Pacific, due to its lighter, whiter coloured flesh.

Albacore tuna




We arrived at the Q dock in Opua at 10.00am, exactly 8 days out from Nuku Alofa, having had about as perfect a trip as we could ever have dreamed about.


Entering the Bay of Islands in calm conditions
Opua anchorage
   In total, we sailed 1103nms, only 31 miles further than the direct rhumb line. For most of the trip we enjoyed a beam reach, and for about 2 days the wind was a little forward of that point, but turned back in our favour for the last 4 days. The seas got quite big and lumpy for days 4 and 5, despite the winds never getting above 21 knots, which was the highest wind speed we noticed at any stage. The sea state was due to the southern ocean systems pushing their way north, but it flattened out nicely as we approached NZ. Dolphins came and played around the bow on many occasions, and we were able to take some nice footage.

For the sailors, this is a summary of the trip!
Day 1                149nm        6.1knot avr
Day 2                 140              5.8
Day 3                  156              6.4
Day 4                   120              5.0
Day 5                   147              6.1
Day 6                   156              6.5
Day 7                   113               4.7
Day 8                   125               5.2
TOTAL               1103nm         5.74knots


As I write this blog , the approach to Opua is experiencing gale force winds and wild seas, and its been pouring for 3 days ……. Just the stuff we were only too `pleased to avoid!

A pair of happy sailors

Tongan Fire Dancer….. was it an accident, or did he throw the torch at us???



Part of the entertainment laid on for the guests at the Tongan Feast, included some Caribbean  Reggae music, some bad Elvis Presley renditions, and way too much “Holy Rolling” and “Bible Punching” for my liking!  These were all courtesy of the owner and showman, who also proudly shared his Tongan history and heritage with us.
After the feast, we were led into a huge Cave, which was the venue for the traditional music and dancing exhibition, which also included fire eating , and fire spinning.
Most of the show was extremely good, and we have some great video footage. But, one incident stood out, and we will never be quite sure if it was an accident, or, deliberate. We will let you be the judges!

One of the dancers was performing on a ledge shelf at the back of the cave, above our heads.  After doing a bit of fire eating, he seemed to get distracted by seeing me filming him from below, and he lost his rhythm, and dropped /threw the flaming torch on to us. It bounced off Mary’s shoulder, singing her hair, and came to rest on her “crocs”. The audiences gasps are all captured, on the film clip which follows…… and the more times that I watch it, the more convinced I feel that he locked his eyes on us, and threw the torch at us ! Too much Kava perhaps???   What’s your take? 

Nuku’alofa, Tonga

November 2013


Big Mama’s is situated on Pangaimotu island, a couple of miles off the main island . The majority of cruising yachts prefer to congregate there, as they prepare for the next leg to New Zealand, and wait for the right weather window.
Big Mama, her husband Earl, and their family are all very yacht friendly, and offer one a relaxed and easy anchoring choice. The water can be quite deep in places, but we were lucky enough to find a very nice spot, well sheltered, in just 7m of water, off the main beach area.
They run a ferry/taxi service over to the main island for shopping, check ins, and tours, but at $10 a head, it soon mounts up, so many cruisers use their dinghy’s when the water is calm enough. The trip out is usually fine, but the one back into the waves and wind can be very wet, and very bumpy!
Everything is widely spread out in Nuku’alofa, and we all did a lot of walking in search of all the bits and pieces required to stock up, and prepare for the next leg.

We also did some touristy things, and drove around the island with Steve & Chris, as well as attending a Tongan Feast, song, dance and fire dancing exhibition. The photos give one a good idea of what the island is about.  

Terraced Tombs at Lapaha, circum 1200AD

Tonga's Stonehenge


Natural Bridge, complete with a road over it!


Handmade tappas......cloth from mulberry bark
Local fisherwoman cleaning sea-cucumbers
Young boy tenderising above sea-cucumbers
The youngest member of the fishing party displaying his clams
Interesting roots systems
Anahulu Cave




Blowholes


Locals on the Big Mama wreck
Enjoying lunch at Big Mama's
Unusual cemetery decorations, patchwork quilts hanging and draped over the graves 
Dancers entertain us after our Tongan feast



The post dinner entertainment takes place in this impressive cave














Tonga … Far too little time spent in this lovely cruising ground!

November 2013


Tonga consists of 4 main island groups; the Niua’s in the North (“New Potato’s), the Vava’u Group,  (great sailing, beautiful anchorages, and quite crowded), the Ha’apai group in the middle,(less visited, and apparently lovely!), and the Tongatapu group in the south, which is also the capital from which the Kingdom is run.

Port Maurelle......a stunning anchorage
We arrived in the afternoon, and went straight into the easily accessed Port Maurelle anchorage.  Pretty, sheltered, but quite deep. We anchored in 18m, and were happy to have the extra 16m that we added to our chain in Tahiti!  (now 76m long)  
After breakfast, we motored the 8 miles round to Neiafu, to begin the slow and rather tiresome check in procedure. Customs officials require that yachts tie up on a very yacht-unfriendly commercial wharf,  in order to gain Quarantine, Health ,  Customs and Port Control clearance . Thereafter one has to visit Immigration, and fill in the same information on yet another set of forms which will never be read!

A traditional Tongan tourist cat

Fortunately for us, the wharf was full of boats, so we picked up a nearby mooring ball, and went to check in by dinghy. By the time we were attended to, and some space had been made on the wharf, the tide had also gone out, and we just told the Customs gent, who was the main “honcho”, that his jetty was too high and dangerous now, for a little yacht like ours, and he agreed! So he instructed the quarantine and Health guys to just collect our fees, and he would waive the inspection! (Basically it’s a Tonga Wonga $100 donation to their hospital fund).

View of anchorage from Bounty Bar


Architectural ingenuity
When we finally got back to the yacht, we were approached by a scruffy, elderly boat merchant, offering a trip to the church, loaves of home baked bread, plus an additional request for some rope to tie up his cow! Mary felt sorry for the gent, and agreed to order some madly overpriced  bread, for delivery the following morning. Days went by before the bread was delivered, by which time we knew what the price of bread was in Tonga! Nevertheless, we paid his asking price, and were given an obviously wood fired oven loaf, complete with charcoal crust…… but that was not all!! The loaf was surprisingly light inside, and quite tasty…. Especially with all those caraway seeds!!  It was only the next day that we realized that the price must have been due to the additional protein  added to the flour…… not caraway seeds, but crispy roasted weevils!


Mary's new best friend!

.Lunch with friends at the Poolside Bar......eating "floaters"
I had also felt sorry for the man’s cow, and given him an old jib sheet, in return for another two loaves of bread during the next week! Needless to say, he was not seen again!

1000's of non-stinging jelly fish in the anchorage

Just to prove it!
While we were in Neiafu,  Alan, a single handing vet,  in an engineless  junk rigged badger,”Zebadee”, who had earlier completed his circumnavigation in Panama, arrived on a mercy mission to sew up a local dog that had been hit with a panga! Alan‘s philosophy is to work for 12 weeks per year, and to sail for 40, on his understandably tight budget! No engine, and no fridge, no crew, and no hot water, all contribute to making this possible!! Must also cut down on the pleasure somewhat?
In Neiafu, we also met up with Tony, and his new Irish lass, Jessica, on “Ragin’ Cajun”, and learnt from him that we had just missed Alex Nebe, who had passed through one day earlier on his way to Australia.

Watching rugby with the locals
While there, we also got introduced to the Rugby League World Cup, with Tonga playing, (and narrowly losing ) to Scotland. All very festive, and even as a union follower, I must say that I enjoyed both the speed and simplicity of the league rules!
The Bounty Bar also overlooks the anchorage, and is a regular Happy Hour stop over spot, especially with all day long “Happy Hours” at times! He certainly has a great view over the anchorage, and it is an ideal spot to check out the safety of one’s yacht!!
All too soon, we felt the need to move on, and the weather windows accelerated our planned departure by a couple of days, so it boiled down to a hurried check out, and a drawn out departure…….. requiring about 2 days to finally leave the lovely Vava’u group, and head for Ha ‘Efeva within the Haa’Pai group.

Entrance to the Swallow Cave......sadly, we had to clean the bottom of the boat instead

Bye bye Vava'u
Once again, the weather did not play the game, and we entered the pass into the anchorage only to find that the island did not offer much shelter with the wind at the point at which we had sailed in! So it became a quick overnight stop, and on to Kelafesi island, the southern most of the Haa’Pai group, and only 45miles from Nuku’Alofa.  And yet again, we were unlucky there, as we arrived moments after a 4th yacht, with the pilot books advising safe anchorage for 3, maximum 4 yachts. Together with Scott Free, it meant that we would be 5 yachts, so we elected to dribble on down to Nuku’Alofa in the 6 knot breeze, giving ourselves 14 hrs to do the 45 miles! At times, the 1.5 current was stronger than the wind, and the auxiliary autopilot (little Fredlet) became totally confused!  At one time during the night , Mary woke me up with a plea for help, as we were sailing away from Scott Free, and back towards Haa’Pai, 180 degs in the wrong direction!  


Dawn saw us arriving ever so slowly through the well marked , but zig zag passage , into the Nuku’Alofa anchorage, and make our way up to the famous Big Mama’s anchorage, past the Royal Palace.