Today we left the dinghy tied to Imagine and we swam ashore. The water here is crystal clear. From the beach Imagines freshly painted white hull contrasts with the turquoise water and blue sky. I took the opportunity to dive Imagines hull and discovered that a fishing line was wrapped around the propeller. I couldn’t hold my breath long enough to cut it free, so I had to use the Hooker Dive gear. Another job done!
It was then time for lunch, a delicious pasta salad prepared by B. As we were having lunch we saw Norla coming into the bay. She is a beautiful 38ft boat fron Tasmania. We had met Samuel and Emma back in Nukualofa.
This evening they came across for sundowners and a catch up chat.
The sun shone as the clouds parted giving us an intermittent blue sky day. We took the opportunity to walk along the southern part of the beach and around the corner. Once around the corner we realised how sheltered our anchorage was.
Walking back B collected a few shells and I collected a coconut from a short palm tree. Twice we noticed a small shark swiming in the shallows less then a metre from shore. When we got back to the dinghy we had to go for a swim before heading back to Imagine. That was plenty of exercise for the day , so then it was relaxing time.
It was another overcast day with scattered showers. That didn’t stop us going ashore for a walk along the beach. There is a resort on Uoleva Island, but it doesn’t open untill the 1st of July. Its main atraction is the whales that arrive and swim in the bay. We now have four boats in the bay taking shelter from the wind.
One of the boats reported that they were at Pangai (the big city for this group of islands) yesterday. They went to the big market day, but there was no fresh fruit or vegetables other than Tarro and Tarro leaves.
The afternoon has had B done a little laundry and then we played cards.
After the long day sailing here yesterday, we had a restfull day today. It’s been overcast and windy so, despite its very tempting turquoise color we didn’t even venture into to sea for a swim.
The alarm went off at 3am. A quick coffee and we set sail. The wind was anything from 90 to 140 degrees off our stern as we zigzagged through the slalom of bommies and reefs. Most of the time we maintained 7knts speed with lots of sail changes. It has been a 14 hour day to get to a sheltered bay in Haapia. There is some high winds and rain coming in the next few days so we wanted to be somewhere well protected.
On the way I tried fishing. It was only two minutes before the first strike. Unfortunately it didn’t stay on. Twenty minutes later I hooked a small blue finned tuna (52cm long). Tuna stakes and rice for dinner..
Connie and John have not returned to Imagine as while ashore Connie has broke a rib, making it unsafe for her to continue sailing with us. This morning we dropped Pauline ashore on Pangaimotu. She has had enough of being with us oldies and wanted to pick up another boat to continue her travels.
We went to the mainland to pick up a little more fresh fruit and book out of Tongatapu with Customs. We then headed out to Motutapu Island where we will set off from in the early hours of the morning. That way we will arrive in the Haapai group of islands in daylight hours making it safer to navigate the reefs.
What a mission! We hauled anchor this morning and headed across to the mainland. We arrived about 9.30 and anchored outside the Harbour, as the harbour was full of boats. The Harbourmaster asked us and several other boats to wait. So all waited and waited. We contacted the guy who was organising the fuel and told him we would call when we get to go in. Eventually two boats were allowed in. By 12.00 we could see the wharf was clear. We and others repeatedly called the Harbourmaster who must have gone for lunch.
We contacted the fuel guy and said we will ferry the 10 jerrycans ashore in the dinghy. It then took till 4.30pm to do several trips in the dinghy then in his truck to the petrol station to fill up. B and I were pouring the fuel in our tanks between each trip but not only the fuel was pouring so the rain and we were both soaking wet and fuel smelling.
Tonight we appreciated the delicious pumpkin soup that Chrissy prepared for us before leaving Auckland.
This morning we left Imagine and dinghied ashore to catch the water taxi to the mainland. Once ther we started to walk into Nukualofa to do some shopping. We only got half way down the road when a siren sounded. Then over a loud speaker system first in Tongan then in English came the announcement, there had been an earthquake off Tonga and there was a force 4 tsunami alert.
A few minutes later the Police were trying to rush us off the streets. We made our way as quick as possible to the wharf. The taxi that brought us, was nowhere in sight. We managed to get a local with a big outboard to take us back to Imagine. We didn’t bother to stop and pick up the dinghy from shore. We just hauled anchor and headed to deeper water.
Most of the boats we had spent the night with were already ahead of us. The remaining boats had their owners stranded on the mainland. There was one boat with 2 onboard and a brocken motor and another with only one onboard that couldn’t move the boat on her own. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do to help. Our first priority was getting Imagine away from shore and to safer water.
As we pulled out of the bay we were battening down the hatches and strapped everything down. The radar was on to see if we could see it coming. After an hour sitting out in deep water the all clear was given. The main wave had passed Tongatapu and we were safe.
The flotilla of boats all returned to the bay by lunch time and had a quiet afternoon.
This morning we experienced a crasy scene. A crew member from a nearby boat was returning to his boat. He lost control of the dinghy and fell overboard. He didn’t have the cutout switch attached, so the outboard motor continued at full throttle. The out of control dinghy danced dangerously between the boats for about 15 minutes. Several of us jumped into our dinghies to try and help. One dinghy pulled the guy out of the water only to be knocked back into the water by the wayward dinghy. They were lucky they weren’t cut to pieces as the dinghy drove over them.
We tried running floating lines across in front of it, hoping the propeller would tangle and stop the engine. That didn’t work, we couldn’t get close enough. Eventually the dinghy hit a catamaran and spun into the bridle/snubber, which stopped the engine.
The original guy was the only one injured and he was lucky to get away with only small scratches to his head. It could have been a lot worse.
It was another relaxing day. Around 5pm like all the other boaties, we hopped in the dinghy and made our way ashore. Big Mama who runs the island and her family had set up everything and cooked pig on a spit and local food. The local police band was there providing the music. Everyone mingled and told their stories of their trip to Tonga. The food was delicious, pork, lamb, octopus, fish all prepared in the traditional way.
