Friday 24 September Catch up with the Regatta

Vava'u is the second group of islands of Tonga and the centre of the yacht charter business for the country. Moorings and Sunsail bring their boats up from NZ for the Tongan summer and return then to NZ for their summer season when it's cyclone season in Tonga. Our first sighting of the islands had a real 'wow' factor. They are truly beautiful. A series of small islands, no more than 100' to 200' high covered with woods and steep cliffs either dropping straight into the sea of opening on to pristine white beaches and turquoise waters. One sails inside the protected waters from empty anchorage to empty anchorage. If it wasn't so far from the UK I'd recommend it as a yacht charter destination to our friends.
Vava'u harbour is a huge protected body of water with the small town perched on the high ground above it. There must be 70 mooring buoys available to pick up in front of the town and nearly all were taken because this is Regatta week. There were many old friends already here, people we've met as we've crossed the Pacific and people who we met back in the Caribbean. Tomorrow there is a race from the anchorage 12 miles out to an island called Tapana. Due to our miserable, and embarrassing, when we came last (winds were 35 knots and seas big so we reefed to save our house from damage), performance in the Tahiti race in June we'll be observers this time.
Friday night and the party spirit is in full swing. We joined our friends at the local pizzeria for some grub, a lethal rum cocktail, and a good catch up before falling in to bed. On a one night passage you rarely sleep well and we were very tired