Crossing West to East & Tonga
Quartermoon
Mike Share & Sammy Byron
Sun 29 Aug 2010 23:08
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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 :-)
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