Vava'u the Hard Way

Ripple2
Tue 26 Sep 2006 03:45
It's been a little while since we've updated the blog and there's a good
reason - we left Nuietoputapu last Friday for the trip south to the Vava'u
Group (a beautiful group of Tongan Islands - about 50 anchorages in a 10
mile radius) about 160 miles away. The weather was marginal but we decided
to make a run for it. The wind was blowing 20 knots from the southeast
which is exactly the direction we wanted to go. Our hope was that it would
swing around to the east. No such luck. For 3 days we bashed into 10 foot
seas and when I had almost given up all hope of ever making it to land
again we made it. Now that we are here, like childbirth the painful
passage is a distant memory all but erased from our minds. We sincerely
hope and plan never to sail south again - except for the gradual descent
to Oz from New Caledonia - even then we will be making for Bundaberg then
edge our way down the coast.

Anyway - it's lovely here and we haven't even explored the outlying
islands yet. We found the Vava'u Yacht Club and bellied up for some cold
beers and delicious food (salad!!! chips!!! fresh dill garnish!!!) and
have been trying to dry out the boat - we sprang a couple of leaks and the
bed got drenched, and one of my food cupboards was awash and the laundry
was ready to walk to the machine on it's own! So we are enjoying a couple
of days of civilisation - there's even internet! Soon as I get the boaty
dry enough to get the laptop out I'll organise some picture blogs.

Hope all's well there wherever you are. Stay tuned..