Crossing West to East & Tonga

Quartermoon
Mike Share & Sammy Byron
Sun 29 Aug 2010 23:08
Hello!!
 
Sorry for the belated update. The connection was pretty bad in Tonga so here's hoping its better in Fiji!
 
Its crazy to think that people used to circumnavigate and sail these waters with no e-mail / internet and how now the whole sailing / cruising world has become to reliant on it. If only we could get some pictures uploaded!  
 
We finally left Tonga 3 days ago (Friday lunchtime) in convoy with 2 other boats 'A Small Nest' (Belgian family who we met in Cartagena and have been bumping into periodically) and 'Go Beyond' (Norwegian couple we met in Galapagos). This is our first time 'boat-buddying' on a passage and I must say it's been brilliant and has really helped take away some of the apprehension you feel when you are sailing on the ocean all alone. The radio banter, various competitions (along with bragging rights) are good fun and it's a nice feeling actually being able to see other boats at night - a first for us! We have never done the SSB long wave radio-nets on passage so having some VHF chat is still a novelty!
 
This morning at 1am we officially moved from the far Western reaches of the Western hemisphere to the far East of the Eastern. YIPPEE!! That means we are even closer to Oz (and about as far away from London as is possible on this planet! ok that's a few more degrees south....). The plan was to all get on the radio and have a celebratory drink at 180 degrees but in reality, everyone was far more interested in sleep at 2 this morning - that can wait until this evening. The 2 boats we are with both started in Western Europe so it marked the half way point of their circumnavigations. We still find it hard to comprehend we have sailed nearly 9000nm to date and only have about 2000nm until we're home. There has been a lot of talk amongst Aussie boats about the impending end of the trip and associated reality. We find it is easiest to pretend it's still a long way off, have a beer or 2 and enjoy what remains.
 
                                       
 
Tonga was a great place and it's a shame that we only had time to explore the Vav'au group of islands (although we hear they are the nicest and they certainly didn't disappoint). Its a great cruising ground with lots of protected anchorages, great beaches and heaps of beautiful fish life and coral. The local people were so incredibly friendly and one of our highlights, wait for it..... was going to church on Sunday. The village of 'Lape' invited a few of the boats to join them at their village for their Sunday Church service (Methodist) and somehow I managed to drag Mike there (even with a hangover - although he did manage to find a way of joining the local men in a drink of Cava before church began - surprise!!). The voices of the Tongan people are amazing and that such a small congregation can create so much noise from so few voices.  
 
               
 
The women of the village cooked us a Tongan feast following the service which was delicious and full of local delicacies, including roasted pig, coconut snails and so on. All they asked in return was a donation to help them rebuild their concrete jetty that was had been destroyed in a cyclone.
 
As Mike mentioned before we spent most of our time cruising with a few other boats and have a great time exploring the group so I won't blab on about that bit anymore!
 
I can just sight Vitu Levu (the main island in Fiji) and we are heading for the capital, Suva. We should arrive at 4pm today. We had to fill out numerous forms and advise them in advance of our arrival or face a $10,000 fine. We hear check in here could take us 2 days and during that time you can't leave your boat. Joy of Joys!! Apparently it's very third world with lots of forms and overtime charges etc etc... Fingers crossed we have a stress free check in...
 
We are currently motoring in the flattest and bluest sea we have ever encountered
 
 
 
and we did catch a beautiful and very fat Tuna (biggest to date) on the crossing so if we do get stuck onboard for a few days awaiting the officials at least we won't starve :-)