After Bruce and Gina said farewell to Sally we started looking for a weather window for our next passage up to Samoa but just had to get in one more day of kite boarding out at Mounu which was fantastic.  Really enjoying the new challenge and excitement  of kite boarding and both of us are making good progress so having a great time and can’t wait till we get to have another go. 

We were very lucky for our last kite as we just avoided some nearby rain squalls whilst tackling board and kite but managed to get hit by one on our way back to Sally hence we stayed in all our gear for the trip back to the anchorage at Mata Maka which is luckily only a couple of miles away.

 

 

 

With a few days to spare while we are waiting for our departure we also managed to fit in a few more Neifau treasures.  One being the tour of the Ene’io botanical gardens which are the life time project of Antonelli and are the only botanical gardens in Tonga.  We had a wonderful morning exploring the magnificent tropical gardens and were followed by another great feed of fish and chips.

 

 

We also did the walk up to the look out at Mt Talau which is more of a hill at around 110mts tall but it is the tallest peak in Vava’u and most probably Tonga and offered some great views over Neiafu and surrounds.

 

 

 

 

 

Yet again we have been very lucky with the weather as we haven’t seen too many good weather windows of late to get us up to Samoa however a frontal system decided to show up just around the time that we want to leave so after some last minute provisioning and some goodbyes to the good people of Neiafu, that we have got to know very well over the last few months, we cleared  out of Tonga on the morning of Thursday 17th of August and dropped off the mooring at 13:00H to start the trip up to Apia, Samoa.

 

The trip here ended up being quite uneventful and a pleasant crossing. 

The first day we headed very much in an ENE direction as the wind if forecast to go East and luckily we did as it definitely went East and even a little NE so for the last half of the passage we ended up motor sailing as the winds are quite light – no complaints really as it made travel rather comfortable and pleasant.

 

Due to the easting done we did end up covering quite a few more miles and the passage ended up being 405NM, with 40hours of motor sailing.

 

We arrived at Apia Harbour and 13:00H on Sunday 20th August.  At it is the weekend we are not able to clear customs but no drama as more than happy to enjoy a leisurely afternoon on the boat with a much needed swim and a couple of cold beers to pass the time.

 

As we are planning to do most of our exploring of Samoa via land and the fact that we have not been into a marina for over 4 months we were more than happy to move into the Apia Harbour Marina on Monday morning and Trevor, the manager, did a great job of facilitating our clearance into Samoa.  Amazing how the simple things are so enjoyable.  We were so excited when we could plug into shore power and have an endless water supply.

 

Our current position is tied up in a very nice berth in the Apia Harbour Marina at   13