Yes we are still anchored off Big Mama’s but the outlook is looking good.

The weather has settled down and the forecast is promising so the plan is to head into the fishing wharf tomorrow morning to pick up some water and then start our journey north through the islands of Tonga.  We are not planning on going too far tomorrow – probably over the Atata which is around 12NM NW from our current anchorage but is good jumping off point to head up to the islands of the southern Ha’apai with our first stop expected to be at the island of Nomuka – approximately 55NM north.

 

When we departed from Fiji in late April we knew we were pushing the boundaries of the cyclone season which officially ends on the 30th April however, we felt that as cyclones can’t read calendars and the fact that we were heading south we should be fine.......  As it turned out cyclones definitely can’t read calendars and there have been two cyclones formed in the SW Pacific since the official end of cyclone season!!.

 

The first one named ‘Donna’ formed near northern Vanuatu which is over 1,000 NM away so not really a direct threat although, it did cause an acceleration in the trade winds which meant we were experiencing 25-35kt winds in the anchorage which was very unpleasant but much worse for those on the passage up from New Zealand.  The second cyclone, ‘Ella”, was far more concerning and it formed from Tropical Depression TD22F approximately 300 NM north of our location.  Luckily for us its course has taken it westward and away from Tonga and is now sitting north of Fiji and possibly heading toward Vanuatu although even the experts struggle to predict their strength and path but it would appear now that is highly unlikely to come back towards us *yay*.  We have certainly gained a new appreciation of cyclone tracking and reporting over the last few days.

 

As reported earlier our wind generator was a top contender for ‘Crew Member of the Month’ as it was doing an awesome job at topping up our batteries providing 100% of our power needs during this time of high winds...... unfortunately, a problem revealed itself as I found that I was receiving mild electric shocks from the stainless steel grab handles when exiting the water after my daily swim.  At first I though I must be imagining things but as the wind generator got into full swing the mild shocks got worse and we started noticing other symptoms such as a buzzing coming from the chart plotter and some of our panels lights were illuminated despite all the systems being switched off.  We also feel that this maybe the cause of the AIS unit cooking itself as its aerial is also part of the rear stainless array.

 

Investigations were required and once again the trusty multi meter was pulled out which confirmed that there is an electrical short in the wind generator wiring as we were recording around 8 volts across the SS at the rear of the boat.  We have now decommissioned the wind generator by trussing it up with several sail ties and it is not likely to be back in action until we can sort out the wiring issue when back in Fiji.  Luckily the sun is now out so the solar panels are putting in a fair contribution to the charging however, we are definitely in search once again as to who is going to be the crew member of the month for May...

 

We have also been in touch with our trusty marine electrician – Richard Parkin from Hastings and he has placed an order for the Rudder Position Sensor to replace the defective one and will be delivered with Amanda who is visiting us in Vava’u in mid June.  Luckily the auto helm still seems to be functioning but we definitely want to make sure this is sorted before we take on any of the bigger passages.

 

Hope you all have a wonderful Mothers Day!!

 

Cheers from the Royal Tongan Sallies