Friday 1 October Polygon and circles

From bedraggled stray

to sleek 4 months later

Polly moved to her new home today. She is now a Tongan Princess living with a Yorkshire man and his American wife in a house with a view and an acre of land, a housekeeper and another kitten to play with.

We came to the very sad decision (for us) that taking Polly to NZ wasn't viable for her or for us. In the three and a half months we've had Polly we've become very attached to the little tiger, but NZ has strict laws on importing animals and taking a stray without a pet passport would have been very difficult. They require animals to be micro chipped, to have had rabies vaccination 6 months prior to arrival plus vaccinations for common cat diseases and, in addition to this, quarantine in an approved facility and regular vet inspections at our expense. Could we have put her in a boarding kennel for 2 months while we did a land tour or when we hauled out Jackster to antifoul the hull? We even phoned the authorities in Auckland to recheck all our options.

Polly's new guardians, Sandy and Cathy run a restaurant overlooking Nieafu harbour called The Giggling Whale & Tipsy Turtle and a guest house 2 miles out of town. They also had a 6 month old kitten, Tanguy meaning cry baby, and were looking for a companion for him so when we asked if they might know of a good home for our kitten they said they'd love to have her. Poor Tanguy doesn't know it yet but he's going to the vet to be neutered.

Ok you can hold me, briefly

Comfortable on rough passage

It was an emotional goodbye when we left her at Vava'u Villa. Sandy & Cathy drove us out to the house so we could see where she's going to live and it's lovely with a big garden with a goat, cattle on the hill behind the house and a view across the bay. We left her climbing the bookcase and promised to keep in touch.

Our circle of friends were a great comfort and diversion for us. After leaving Polly we slipped out of Nieafu to Port Maurelle anchorage 5 miles out in the channel to join our pals who were waiting to take us on an afternoon excursion to Mariners Cave. Mariners Cave has nowhere to anchor a big boat and is too far to take the dinghy. Dignity the catamaran hosted 16 of us on a trip over. Gary from Inspiration Lady isn't a keen swimmer so he and Jackie were in charge of keeping Dignity close to the swimmers and away from the cliffs. The swimmers hopped in and struck out for the underwater cave. The cave is behind the rock face. To get into it one has to swim down and in, only 6' down and about 20' in which is quite easy with fins. You swim into the darkness and surface inside a cathedral. Far above there are stalactites, below crystal water. The only light is the light permeating through the watery entrance and inside, just above the water, is a fine mist. Thrilling.

Cave is mid rof ight cliff

David, Brian, Erin (Delos)

Dignity took us back to the anchorage and we met on the beach in the evening for a barbecue. We took something to cook on the fire and a dish to share. Clean sand and no bugs, clear skies and good company. Polly may have gone but our circle of friends are always there for us.

Wednesday 29 September Wreck dive

Today we got wet diving the wreck of a cargo ship ½ mile from the anchorage. Our dive buddies were Erin, Brian and Brady from Delos and Helen, Steve and their son Ben from Dignity. It was a fine dive although the visibility wasn't the best. Lots of bits in the water though this may be what the whales come in to feed on and though we were in an inner lagoon I'm sure I could hear whale song. It travels many miles so it's possible.


It's hot, hot today, up to 30c with no wind. Once we've picked up the repaired sail tomorrow morning and been to a barbecue we've been invited to on a super yacht, we'll be heading out to the quiet anchorages. All are close to town, the longest is possible 3 hours sail away. When we are there we'll be able to swim to cool off.. I'm not complaining about the heat, not when it's autumn at home.

Tuesday 28 September Whales and the net

We went along to a talk on humpback whales at one of the local restaurants this morning. The humpback come up from the Arctic from July to October to calve and to breed and they like the sheltered waters of Tonga. We have seen them from Palmerstone in the Cook Islands through Niue and Niuatoputapu to the north. We've even heard then calling when we've been diving.

Monday 27 September Return to Nieafu

Nieafu post office

Many of the boats which had sailed from Nieafu town on Saturday had returned to continue the party. We took a more leisurely time and drifted back mid morning. Our priority toady was to get the torn headsail down and into the sailmaker for repair.


The torn strip hadn't furled neatly and David had to go up in the bosun's chair to unwrap it as I unfurled the forestay. Fortunately the wind was very light so we got it down on deck without too much ordeal but it's a big sail and heavy to carry. In it's sail bag it filled the dinghy. The sailmaker is Ross, a kiwi who comes up for 2 months each year. In NZ it's winter and no work. In Tonga he has most of the boats that have crossed the Pacific and are preparing for the final leg into NZ. It's been a hard 6 months cruising for our sails and many people are needing repairs. Including us. Good news is it is repairable and will take a couple of days.

Sunday 26 September Pot luck lunch on the beach

Today's regatta event was a pot luck lunch on the beach. The luck part being that you should find a party. After last night's late party so few people made the effort to bring a dish to share it was cancelled due to lack of interest. David and I took our creamed sweet potato and garlic mash back to Jackster and cooked some sausages on the barbecue to go with it.


In the evening we enjoyed sundowners with Ann, Mike and Jenn on Callisto.

Saturday 25 September Yacht race & Full Moon party

It was a fine day for the race from Nieafu to Tapana island so we left early to get a good place in the anchorage. We should have joined in the race because we had a cracking fast sail tacking our way between passes and around islands. With only the headsail and mizzen flying we were touching 8.5 knots tacking and passing others also making their way early. But the saying that pride comes before a fall unfortunately befell us. We were sailing into the anchorage with the wind close to our nose, too close as the wind unexpectedly shifted the wrong way and pulled our headsail to the wrong side. Something had to give. Like a big tear that appeared from the top to one third of the way down the leach (long sloping side of sail). Bugger. As a small consolation we now there is a sailmaker 10 miles away in town. If it had happened on a long passage we'd have had to drop their torn sail and haul up our emergency spare which is an older sail.



There was nothing we could do about our problem today so we joined in the fun, dropping our anchor next to our pals on Dignity and watching the boats stream, or potter, over the finishing line. In the evening the Regatta organisers had set up a full moon party on an uninhabited island. We weren't allowed to take our own dinghies across because of a shallow reef in front of the beach so we left our dinghies on one beach and queued for a small beach landing craft that was ferrying 35 people at a time. The big problem was it was a 45 minute round trip and there were over 200 people waiting for a ride. We were early and our wait was relatively short.

Pirates!

Mike & Ann, Callisto

The full moon party was under trees so a bit difficult for the moonlight to penetrate and in the dark we tripped from the bar to the barbecue for marlin burgers and danced the night away to cheesy disco hits from the 70s and 80s. The party wasn't a great success but the ride back was memorable.

The landing craft had broken down and was replaced by local fishing boats of dubious sea worthiness. It lurched up to the beach and 14 yachties and 1 local man clambered aboard. The local guy was a hefty chap and he'd had a hefty amount of booze. Before he stepped in he was being sick into the sea and all the way back he was lolling over the side dry heaving. Wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been almost down the back of our friend Mike. He jumped up sharply and stood for the rest of the trip. Our laughing at his misfortune was the best bit of the night.

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

Thursday 23 September South to Vava'u

The forecast was for 15 knots of wind on the beam for the run south to Nieafu town in the Vava'u archipelago. We came out of the Niuatoputapu channel with David on the helm watching the depth under the keel shorten to 3m and me on the bow spotting for coral heads and other impediments that had the potential to spoil our day. All clear on rocks but we did have 2 humpback whales spouting water to greet us as we came out into the open water. We were going to wind so had the engine on and this spooked them. They dived and resurfaced after we'd passed.
We had a good run down, some rain before midnight and pulled into Vava'u at lunchtime next day.

Wednesday 22 September Niuatoputapu pig roast

Tongan pig roast feast

This evening the villagers invited the cruisers to a traditional pig roast to raise funds for the rebuilding. Their aim is to have a flash lavatory in every house. We wondered if their next scheme should be to build a sewerage system. No, there doesn't seem to be a problem with waste. It probably directed deep underground under the vegetable patch.
Our pig roast included two suckling pigs, roasted chicken, boiled crabs and fish dishes. The table was groaning under the weight of food. Apparently the local people like feeding visitors because we eat so little compared them. They will keep refilling their plates until the table is empty. Hence the well rounded ladies and gentlemen of the village. On a point of interest, before we cam eto the Pacific we'd always been told the Tongans admired fat people. If that is so they should meet the very beautiful people of American Samoa where American fast food has led to widespread obesity.

Children dancing

While we were feasting the children and ladies gave us a dance demonstration and two ladies should us how they weave the intricate mats used to sit on at ceremonies. Many of the ancient family heirlooms were lost in the tsunami so they are working hard, harvesting the young coconut fronds which are treated in seawater to bleach and soften them then torn into thin ribbons ready to weave.

ladies weaving

It was a wonderful evening. The food was good, 100 flies can't be wrong, and we were made very welcome by the people of Niuatoputapu. I hope they enjoy their new low level flush toilets.

Tuesday 21 September Catty paddle

Polly had an outing in the dinghy to the nearby island. We carried her ashore and put her down. Her first instinct was to hide under a bush. Fortunately she was wearing her collar and lead. She wasn't too chuffed with her adventure on land so we cut the treat short and took her back to Jackster. The noise of the engine was upsetting er so we were near to the boat and stopped the motor to see if that would help. Before we could stop her she was on the side and leaping for freedom straight into the water. She's an excellent swimmer and was doggy paddling at top speed towards the catamaran Stray Kitty. Really. I hopped in the water to effect a sea rescue returning her to David in the dinghy.
Back on board she had to have a fresh water rinse off. Ten minutes later she was dry and seemed to have forgotten her ordeal. What ordeal? Our guilt took a lot longer to subside.