VAVAU - TONGA

NEIAFU - TONGA

Position:  18D39'S  173D59'W

 

Friday, August 26 - We arrived 12 miles north of Vavau at midnight on Thursday night.  The weather had deteriorated even more during the day and we were looking forward to some calm seas and light winds in the lee of Vavau islands.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't a lot better in the lee and we had to sail up and down the coast until sunrise taking turns to sleep and sail.  When the sun finally came up the clouds came over and we were hit with a torrential downpour.  The visibility was terrible and probably explains why the boat that sailed into the entrance a half hour before us saw whales and we didn't everythough I was scanning the water from high up on deck.  The islands were unusual formed from limestone and covered in lush green vegetation.  There weren't any shades of brown to be seen except for the lower exposed rock faces that met with the seawater.  I put the quarantine flag up and Ian motored through the channel to the Neiafu anchorage.  On arrival we had to tie up with another yacht on the dock while Customs and Quarantine inspected Faraway and then we had to visit immigration for our clearance.  This process took all morning but we got the chance to scan the shops and services and see the fruit and vegetable market. I managed to grab 2 cold meat pies for lunch which tasted pretty good after our journey. After lunch we headed to the mooring ball field but most of the balls were taken due to yachts coming in for shelter from the bad weather.  We motored around trying to find ones that weren't booked and/or secure enough to hold our yacht.  After 2 hours and suffering from complete exhaustion we finally settled at the end of the mooring field in a peaceful bay.  A bit later the Tasmanian yacht Cosimo found a ball right next to us so we had good company as well.  I started cleaning up the boat from our long passage while Ian went to shore to pick up watermaker spare parts sent from the USA.  We collapsed early in the evening and enjoyed our first full nights sleep in a long time.  It was complete heaven to sleep in a comfy bed, not have to get up during the night and more importantly not having to stop yourself from being rolled and thrown around in the cockpit.