Water poured down her glistening black back as she came out of the ocean. At the last minute she turned to reveal her white belly. She fell backward into the sea creating a large splash as she disappeared out of site. Moments later she appeared spouting out water and sucking in a lung full of fresh air. She rolled on her side and started patting the water with her pectoral fin as she summond her calf. The majestic beauty of a34 ton whale playing with her baby.
Tonga is one of the few places in the world the you can swim with the whales. Sometimes getting only metres away from the graceful giants.
Sorry for the lack of blogs we had to leave Imagine in Vavau and rush back home for personal reasons. Normal transmission will resume next week.
We had sheltered for several days as the wind and rain passed. This passed week we have spent time with my brother and his wife. Darren and Chrissy were staying at a resort on Mounu island and for three days we could anchor off the island before the wind changed again.
The first day they went swiming with the whales while we checked out a few more snorkle sights and went fishing out of the reef with the dinghy. B caught two fish, one snapper and one generous size a coral trout which made lunch for four the day after. The next days we took them sailing and snorkeling at our favourite sights. We also all went snorkeling at Swallows Cave, Darren caught a Tuna for lunch and saw lots of whales on the way. We spent the evenings having dinner at the resort.
We are now getting ready to head back into Neiafu Harbour.
We have sheltered in a bay, where we have been before. We took a walkalong the beach to the reef at low tide. The rain has started, so what do we do on rainy days? We reupholster the seating. It is taking us a long long long time, nothing is straight, neither square and we haven’t choose the easiest pattern, but we have now completed the cushions seats and now have just started on the backs.
Tonga doesn’t like Imagine or Imagine doesn’t like Tonga. I’m not sure which one. When I was here in 2019 the engine salt water pump stopped working and the Gopro camera that we use mostly for underwater videos and pictures, died. I had to get replacement ones sent from New Zealand. Funny but not funny this is happening again: the saltwater pump is leaking, which means it needs to be replaced as we cannot run the engine without that cooling water pump; and guess what? the Gopro didn’t survived an accidental underwater case opening. Luckily my brother and family are coming soon to Tonga to meet up with us and they are kind enough to bring those items from New Zealand.
We have no more ham on the bone left and B keeps eyeing up the local pigs as we go down the road. She can only get close enough to take pictures. If you come across a three legged pig it may be that B caught it. The whole pig would be too much for our freezer. In Tonga pigs are like the cows in India, they roam free in the street.
B has been talking to locals and other boaties, which help us to find a place to buy a leg of lamb and some chicken breasts. The lady at the shop said that what was available now is all they have and the next shipment would be in two months. Also this morning B asked a local fishermen who was passing by Imagine in his dinghy, chasing a school of mackerel if he could catch some for us and he came back an hour later offering us two mackerel which I fileted straight away. This is Christmas in July!
After two days anchored in Neiafu, getting fuel and food we have had enough. Despite the winter season it is quite warm and humide here and we needed a swim, so we have moved back to Vaku’Eitu Island. There is a storm coming and this bay should give us shelter.
Starlink has a six month contract with Tonga, so we have internet back. We have uploaded new photos for the last three blogs, so look back at them.
We are back in Neiafu to stock up with fresh veggies. This is when we discovered the saltwater pump (cooling for the engine) is leaking about 1ltr per hour. Luckily my brother is flying to Neiafu next week and hopefully can bring parts.
This may be our last blog for a while as Tonga has ordered Starlink to cut off all internet services in the Tongan area. That leaves us with no emails, no blog, no weather updates.
Landline internet (buying a sim card) in Vavau is very slow and patchy as the underwater data pipeline has been damaged.
our plan was to sail north to Isle of Wallis then to Fiji. That may change and just sail to Fiji.
It even rains in Paradise. The forecast for the next 5 days are high winds and rain. There isn’t much to do in these conditions except find somewhere very sheltered and sit it out. What a dream life being stuck in a boat with the wind whistling and the rain falling. No visibility to go snorkeling, just play cards and wait.
We first chose a bay sheltered from the wind but the waves crept in. Disappointed by our choice we end up in Neiafu Harbour with 30 ofher boats. No safe mooring boy available, but we found a well sheltered anchorage a bit away from the crowdy city side. There has been a break in the rain, long enough for us to get ashore and buy some fresh fruit and vegetables. We think we will stay here until the bad weather passed. But as usual we take it day by day and see what happens.
Tuesday 2nd was another work day this time below the water. I used the dive gear as it was time to clean the barnacles off the hull. The hull wasn’t too bad, as Fabien and Nolwenn had previously done some cleaning.
Wednesday we moved around the corner to the next bay and spent a couple of days swiming and exploring. We went ashore where all the fishing boats were tied up, but nobody was around. The village was further along the road. We did however find a large spider and some pretty butterflies.
Friday and Saturday were supposed to be days with very little wind, so hauled anchor and did a bit more exploring. There are a lot of places that can only be accessed when the weather conditions are right. The first stop was supposed to be Mounu Island where we will meet up with Darren and Chrissy later this month, but we anchored around the corner of the next Island Avalau. We went to Mounu by dinghy and were greated by the two dogs from the resort. They escorted us as we had a look around the island.
Then after lunch, we cruised past several islands and bays. Some of them too hard for us to get to with Imagine, others too exposed to wind or swell conditions. After thirteen nautical miles we ended up South of Matamaka Island.
The anchorage wasn’t as protected as it looked. After a rolly night we hauled anchor and headed back to an island we couldn’t access yesterday because of the wind. Today we managed to anchor on a shelf 8m deep. Ten meters to the left it was 35m deep and twenty meters to the right it was 3m deep.
We took the dinghy ashore and walked the very short beach before snorkeling. The snorkeling was the best we have seen in Tonga. The water was crystal clear, there was new coral growth and lots of fish.
The anchorage was not suitable for an overnight stay so we have moved to a safer and sheltered spot for the night. We like playing cards while having our evening drinks. Sometimes it’s calm enough to play on deck.
It was 20kts south easterly wind, so there wasn’t much to do except take shelter. We were already in a very sheltered bay, only receiving 3kts of wind. B masked up the front deck and starboard side while I started painting. It took till 3:00pm, but all the deck has now been painted. There is only the trim around the toe rails to finish. That was enough for today.
We had our morning swim, not to the pleasant sound of birds calling, but to the sound of gensets and engines running. Several of the boats started charging their batteries early.
Later in the morning we dropped the dinghy into the water and rowed around the edge of the bay. The thick undergrowth parted in places to display coloured clifs and caves. The clear water revealed there isn’t a lot of coral growing in this bay, we just saw a lot of electric blue and black starfish. Also we saw a pair of jeans lying on the rocks but it wasn’t alive, thanksfully neither holding a dead human body. If it’s yours, please send a request to our lost and found department and we will give you the exact location.
We spent the afternoon doing a little maintenance, cleaning stanchions and repairing cupboard doors. Once again the sunset lit up the the sky with an array of colours.
