Amanda joined us last Wednesday the 14th June.

We met her at the Mango Cafe and also caught up with the Marklew’s (Summer Lovin) who were on the same flight as Amanda.

 

The first few days in the big smoke of Neiafu showing Amanda the sights including sorting out our Vava’u Crew Shirts.

We also enjoyed yet another Tongan Feast at Aquarium Cafe to celebrate my birthday on the 16th which was great fun.  This was also christened ‘Tongan Cointreau Day’ as we enjoyed a few night caps before hitting the sack.

 

 

 

We finally departed Neiafu on Saturday around mid day and headed around to Port Maurelle which is becoming one of our favourite stops.  The anchorage is pretty full as many of the ICA rally boats are slowly making their way back to Neiafu to clear out for the next leg of the adventure which takes them to the quite remote Northern Lau Group in Fiji.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to catch up with the Summer Lovin’s again before they departed with the ICA but did give them a call to wish them safe sailing and fair winds for the rest of their trip in the SW Pacific.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed a couple of nights in at Port Maurelle including a fantastic steak dinner thanks to some awesome rib eye steaks that we sourced from Gunter at the Dancing Rooster (think we have already mentioned the challenges of provisioning in this part of the world!!) some swimming in the crystal clear waters, snorkelling and a great walk to the village which included a lot of time with Mark trying to take the perfect photo of a beautifully coloured kingfisher which was not going out of its way to be photogenic.

 

 

 

 

The winds are up a bit at the moment and it would appear that the weather is finally starting to settle into a more stable winter pattern (we hope) so we did the short hop of around 7NM around to the anchorage at Lisa Beach for a few nights.  It is only a short trip but does involve some motoring into some rather brisk winds and choppy seas.  Luckily most of the Vava’u group is protected by reef which keeps the ocean swell out so we only have to deal with wind chop.  The anchorage here is very protected and calm which suits our purposes totally and again it is another very beautiful spot to drop the anchor for a few days.

 

 

 

Yesterday we went for a great walk around to the bay at Tapana (which is also anchorage #11).  This looks like another lovely spot so we are planning to head there a bit later today after we finish charging the batteries and a walk to the nearby village.  As you will have gathered nothing is very far to travel which makes it a pretty awesome place to do a bit of relaxed cruising.

One of the highlights in Tapana used to be the floating Art Gallery but apparently this has been closed with no plans for re-opening which is a real shame as we were quite looking forward to paying it a visit however, on the plus side there is a very good Spanish restaurant call La Paella which serves an excellent Tapa’s meal so we may be looking for a feed off the boat as well