Day 160: Vava’u, Tonga – 15/06/10

Just in case there are any more rocks or coral lurking in the general direction of our anchor, we need to get the bloody thing up before Tucanon leave in case we need help again.

Mike goes over to collect our water bottles from them then we start the anxious process of pulling up the anchor.  We have no problem.  Our little bits of plastic bottle are obviously working a treat but for how long I wonder?

We need to find somewhere where the sea is calm as Mike needs to go under the boat with his Hooka to have a go at adjusting the pitch on the propellers as he is convinced that we should be able to go faster than we currently do. 

We find a nice, quiet, calm anchorage, and tie up to a mooring ball.  It takes him ages to get all the gear ready but eventually he is in – and comes face to face with a huge blue jellyfish, about ten inches across.  Turning around he sees another one and gets out of the water quicker than a bat out of hell. 

Photo:  Pretty from a distance, not so good close up, a jellyfish

It’s no good here.  We have to move.  We go over to the other side of the bay but it’s open to the sea which means that probably even more jellyfish will come though here at even greater speed so we abandon this one and sail to another anchorage a couple of miles away that we saw on the first day out.

We sail past Barnacle Bay, where we had the Tongan feast on Saturday.  Even from a distance I can see pigs on the beach – obviously oblivious to their Saturday night fate!

  Photo:  Barnacle Bay

We reach our destination, which, although quite crowded, has plenty of space close in to the beach.  One of the other WARC boats, Kalliope, is already in and we wave to her crew as we pass.  The water is beautifully clear and it’s easy to see where we should start to put the anchor down in a nice sandy space.  There are some large rocks around but thankfully our anchor settles and the chain pulls back in a nice straight line, no where near any of them.

Mike gets all his gear on again and goes in again while I hover near the machine watching the pressure gauge.

  Photo:  Mike under the boat with his Hooka

When he has finished adjusting the propellers he removes the green beard that has re-grown on Jeannius which takes a lot longer than he thought it would.  I in the meantime, make and eat my lunch (I get too hungry to wait any longer).  He eventually comes out of the water freezing cold, demanding a towel, food and beer, although I don’t think it was in that order.  Feeling how cold he is, hot chocolate would probably be better but we don’t have any and anyway, he definitely wants beer!

We watch a small fishing boat come into the bay.  It is really low down in the water as it is laden with so many fisherman, all armed with snorkels and nets.  One by one, and under direction from the guy on the bow, they jump in the water and swim around searching for fish, ready to use their nets.  It’s difficult to see how it all works but they hang around for ages.

Photo:  Local fisherman

We have a late afternoon nap, waking at what we think is about 4.30 pm but which horrifying is actually 6 pm.  I put the kettle on for a cup of tea and look out over the bay, noticing that Noeluna has arrived while we were sleeping.  I call them on the VHF and chat to Marie-Anne for a while.  Apparently Matthieu and Ferdinand came by on their way to the beach and called out to us but we were too zonked to hear.

It’s beautifully quiet in the anchorage, even though there are so many boats.  We settle down on the cockpit cushions to watch the sun go down, another spectacular sight.

 

 Photo:  Another glorious sunset

We will go back to Neiafu tomorrow morning and start the check out preparations for Fiji.  I am desperate to get some internet connection so that I can contact Victoria to wish her luck with exam on Wednesday.  It’s times like these that I am wracked with guilt for not being there for her.  What we are doing is not the normal way round – your children leave you – you don’t leave them!  Bad mother!!