Saturday, July 28, 2018

Tongatapu - Big Mama's Yacht Club

The kingdom of Tonga has 4 main island groups.  We are in the southern-most group: Tongatapu.  Specifically, we are at Nuku’alofa the capital of Tonga.  Tonga has approx. 174 islands and this group has 30-46 islands.  The royal palace is located here as well.  Most of the population is Polynesian.
Rachel our local friend and taxi driver.  She was a lot of fun!

Friday, July 20, 2018

We have arrived in Tonga!

We cleared into Tonga yesterday which marks the end of our first major passage with just the two of us. We left New Zealand on June 23rd and sailed for 6 days to North Minerva Reef. We stayed at Minerva Reef for 3 weeks and then sailed 2 more days to get to the island of Tongatapu which is the capital of Tonga.
Bye NZ!  Whangarei heads as we sail past.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

July 2018 - Gorgeous Beaches in Tonga



We arrived to Tonga in early July 2018.  Our plan was to spend some of the sailing season in Tonga and then sail over to Fiji for the remainder of our time.  However, we enjoyed Tonga so much that we spent the entire season there with the whales and the many uninhabited islands.

North Minerva Reef

We cleared into Tonga yesterday which marks the end of our first major passage with just the two of us. We left New Zealand on June 23rd and sailed for 6 days to North Minerva Reef.   We stayed at Minerva Reef for 3 weeks and then sailed 2 more days to get to the island of Tongatapu which is the capital of Tonga.
Aka is the boat anchored on the left.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Whale of a Day

We had a whale of a day.  When I put the coffee pot on this morning I heard a whale blow right beside the boat.  Looking out the back I saw a whale surface about 20 feet from the stern right under the dinghy.  It was the small one - twice the length of the dinghy - maybe 25 feet.  I called out to Michelle who was sleeping in after a late-hours session with Photoshop.  I've never seen Michelle leap into action so quickly and so early and so....coffee-less.  I bet it took less than 30 seconds for her to get from the berth to the side of the boat with lens cover off and eyes wide open.  

By mid-morning the winds settled down below ten knots and the reef lagoon was as smooth as a swimming pool. Standing on top of the salon you could see the entire two mile diameter reef and clearly make out the entrance a mile away.  We haven't had enough sun to allow us to run our water maker off solar power so we decided to motor outside the reef and troll some fishing lines while we filled the water tanks. 

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Lobsters, Sharks, and Whales...oh my

After 3 straight days of mixing epoxy, layering fiberglass, mixing epoxy, layering fiberglass, the rudder looks incredibly strong.   With dozens of layers of glass and epoxy it's probably the strongest part of the boat right now.  It's certainly not going to come apart again.  I'm a little concerned about its asymmetrical shape.  We'll need to do some sailing to find out whether a significant imbalance exists at the helm.  In other words: "she might be pulling to the right".


Saturday, July 7, 2018

Cruising: "The practice of repairing a boat in exotic locations"

It's hard to believe we've been here at Minerva Reef for over a week.  Yesterday we circumnavigated the whole reef.  I looked for lobsters for an hour at one spot. I  finally found some huge ones under a coral bommie - but they were well out of reach.  Now I know why everyone is hunting them with a small spear gun or hawaiian sling spear.


Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Something's Rong with the Rudder

The last several days high winds caused us to hunker down.  It gave me a chance to finish installing our Automatic Identification System (AIS).  The AIS broadcasts our boat name, speed, heading, and other info.  It also recieves this info from other boats, projects their path, and warns of a close approach.  We've been able to receive AIS but we weren't transmitting ourselves.  We were surprised how many cruisers have a transmitting AIS.  We were also surprised at how useful the system can be.  At this anchorage there are about a dozen boats spread across a half mile.  A glance at the AIS on our tablet tells us who arrived or departed.  Last night a boat lost power coming through the reef entrance.  Four or five of us dashed across the atoll to stand by in case they needed aid.   Darkness fell right in the middle of the whole operation.  AIS provided a way of identifying each other and ensuring everyone made it back to the anchorage.