A Rough Passage, The Kingdom of Tonga and my mum

Location: Nieafu Anchorage, The Kingdom of Tonga.

Date: 1st September 2023

With great reluctance we said farewell to Samoa and headed out towards Tonga. The forecast was for 18-20 knots on the beam for most of the four day passage southwest. The first couple of days were fine. Indeed on Day 2 we commented on what nice trade wind sailing it was. But then the wind strengthened and veered so that it was almost head on to us. The waves grew bigger and for once we were beating into big seas and winds steady on 25 knots. Not very nice! Then Sally came up and said "my bunk is wet and there's water coming in through the anchor chain hause hole". After a quick inspection this was indeed proved correct. Every wave that swept over the deck, and there were a lot of them, half a cup full of sea water was sluicing into the boat. More water was coming through the hatch above Sally's bed in the forward cabin. Hmm. Not ideal. Unlike most boats water getting into the anchor locker doesn't just drain out again, it finds it way into the deepest bilge where my recently installed extra bilge pump was working pretty hard. Nothing for it though but to crack on. There followed an uncomfortable 24 hours. Both Gill and I felt a little queasy which is extremely rare.

We sailed on and eventually, in the middle of the night, saw the loom of lights from the island of Vava'u off to port. By then we were at a slightly better angle to the wind but turning to port would mean motoring right into the seas again for ten miles or so. Also we wanted to time things so we arrived as it got light so we had to time out turn correctly. It had to be done though so engine on, wind steering off and I volunteered to do most of the next two hours of hand steering (no autopilot remember). It was hard work steering by compass in big seas with no moon but I got better as time went on and as dawn approached we stumbled into the channel leading to Neiafu, one of the best protected anchorages in the South Pacific.

Checking in was done at the old fisherman's wharf, occupied no less by several fishing boats. They came and went, Gill got annoyed with me for not being more assertive and eventually we tied up alongside a big catamaran waiting for the fuel bowser. Customs arrived and because we were so low down compared with the cat's guardrails they were unable to climb aboard Mehalah and all the documention was completed in the cat's well appointed deck area. Good news because it meant they didn't come aboard checking for illegal  dogs, chickens, eggs, money, honey, dairy products or whatever else was on today's banned list.   Formalities complete we motored to the mooring field, tied up on a solid looking mooring and crashed out. That was a hard passage (and hence no pictures).

Next ay Sally left us by plane for New Zealand. Keen to see her daughters again after more than six months our time with her had run its course. A great crew and a very full on personality we will remember her fondly.

We arrived in The Kingdom of Tonga with a long list of 'jobs to do before we leave'. Like this...

- Come up with a first reef solution. It's frayed and the slide is stuck.

- Address the leaking anchor locker and forward cabin.

- Find an autopilot solution.

- Repair the forward head (toilet). We have two new crew joining us in Fiji. It would be nice if they had their own bathroom and toilet.

- Fix the blue light in the galley. It got wet and stopped working.

- Repair the backup bilge pump in the deep bilge. The old one stopped working at the height of the water ingress.

- Take another look at the area where the termites were.

- Try to get at least one dinghy engine working.

- Determine why the charging station and light in our cabin have mysteriously stopped working.

But really we needed this couple of weeks to draw breath, catch up with friends, visit some of the 42 anchorages in this part of Tonga and generally chill out.

The 42 anchorages of Vava'u

And that's what we've done. Neiafu is a small town in the Vava'u island group in the north of Tonga. Just a couple of shopping streets. Mainly Chinese supermarkets, a few bars and restaurants, a bank, schools, a fire station, a little harbour and a bigger wharf where the ferries dock, a cathedral(!), laundry, a veggie market and some government buildings. It's pretty poor but pretty self sufficient with thea dded bonus for a few months a year of the yachties provideing a bit of additional income. It's nice. The people are large, friendly and colourfully dressed. Pigs roam everywhere and the pork is famous for its salty taste where the pigs have grubbed around on the muddy beach.

Cathedral. By far the most impressive building.

Tarot roots in banana leaf baskets.

Laundry day on the High Street.

Socially this is the last place we will meet many of the friends we have made since leaving Panama many months ago. Nearly everyone ends up here and spends time in the sheltered bay. But from here on in many people are looking to work south to New Zealand for the cyclone season whilst others like us have a longer but easier trip to Australia planned. Almost every evening has been spent socialising. On boats, in restaurants (it's finally cheap to eat out at last) or at a Tongan feast held by a family at one of the more remote anchorages. Everyone has a story to tell. Like New Zealanders Johnny and Tina on Paikea who travelled down the inhospitable Argentinian coast, through the Beagle Channel by Cape Horn and thence to Polynesia. Or Cayo a Japanese single handed lady who with hardly any experience decided she would sail round the world alone  Or Lars and Susanne, two adoring 60 something Swedes on Windsong who met at a party, were married three months later and set sail for Iceland and Greenland before heading south to Chile and then the Antarctic. Amazing people doing amazing things.

Anchorage 16 by anchor light. Mehalah in centre.

Setting up for the Tongan feat. Delicious.

As well as pigs Tonga is famous for its whales. Big whales. Humpback whales. Lots of them and now is the time to see them. Every morning the whale boats leave each with half a dozen passengers. Almost every one returns full of stories of how they swam with the whales and how majestic they are. Some of the photos they take are truly phenomenal. Many of our friends have been along but for us it didn't seem quite right to be disturbing the whales. Instead we have seen them blowing across the bay and as we were sailing back from anchorage 16 one came within 40m or so of us. They are huge.

Whales. They are everywhere.

One of many whale watching boats. Most people got to swim with them.

And then whilst at anchor we had some more sad news when we got word a few days ago that my 94 year old mum, back in the UK, had taken a turn for the worse. She had been ready to die for some time and the following day she finally passed away with my brother Philip at her side. I'm sad, yes, because the end of any life is always sad. I spoke to her every night via Skype so part of my day is missing now. But I'm also relieved. She is where she wanted to be and I hope that wherever that is she is at peace with herself.

But life goes on and soon it was Gilly's birthday. We had been out anchoring in the more remote islands for a week or so and then the weekend had come. Gill realised I probably hadn't bought her a present and it was Sunday (nothing except church happens here on a Sunday) so I wasn't in the best of books shall we say! But I managed to pull things round. I made her a necklace from electrical and fishing bits and sent her an lovely e-card. Then on her birthday (actually she had two because we are a day ahead of the UK here) we had a lovely day. T-shirt shopping and we watched the pattern being applied while we waited and a super meal with friends at The Kraken overlooking the bay.

Prepping the frame.

Stencil application.

The finished product.

Birthday with friends.

But what of those outstanding jobs?

- 1st Reef: Jury rigged.

- Leaking cabin: Cover made for anchor windlass.

- Autopilot: Temporary Tillerpilot ordered.

- Forward head: Macerator cleaned and fuse replaced.

- Blue light: Replaced.

- Manual bilge: Fixed, service kit applied.

- Termites: Still some of the buggers around. Another purge completed.

- Dinghy engines: Tohatsu fixed. Yay!Yamaha not fixed.

- Charging and light in cabin: Dismantled and fixed.

Part of the temporary reefing solution.

Bastard termites!

The offending autopilot ram.

So really good progress there.

I leave you this time with report of one of the most bizarre evenings we've ever had. Throughout the Pacific there are people who identify themselves as "third gender". It is a recognised gender here. They are known as fa'afafine and assigned male at birth but embody both masculine and feminine traits. Some behave as typically masculine and some are extravagantly feminine. And it was those feminine fa'afafine that put on the other evening's show, known as fakaleiti! Held at one of the local bars a lot of drinking and loud music was involved before the main event. The audience was a broad cross section of locals and visitors. At around 9pm introductions began and the show started. A series of immaculately and rather provacatively dressed drag artists strutted their stuff each to a different raunchy song. The atmosphere was akin to a strip club with the audience being fully involved and encouraged to stuff Tongan dollar bills down cleavages and anywhere else available. There were few inhibitions at the bar that night where everyone was encouraged to forsake their normal partners and join in with the fun. What a night!

Today we reluctantly checked out of Tonga. Tomorrow, after attending cousin Pete's funeral virtually, we will set sail for Fiji. Fiji feels like a bit of a landmark. Not only do we cross the 180W/180E line getting there but Fiji is the first country on the right hand side of our world map as we fall off the edge of the left hand side. Let's hope for a smoother passage this time.