Port Maurelle, Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga

Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Thu 24 Oct 2013 02:30

18:42.014S 174:01.834W

 

Thursday 24th October 2013

 

Distance run Day 1:  149 nm

Distance run Day 2:  154 nm

Distance run Day 3:    34 nm

Total distance run:   337 nm

 

We made excellent time on this passage, and arrived late afternoon on Wednesday, which swiftly became Thursday as we crossed the dateline on arrival.  Actually, Tonga is not quite at the International Dateline as it is only 174 degrees West of the Greenwich Meridian.  However, because they mostly have dealings with New Zealand, Fiji and Australia, who are the other side of the dateline they have chosen to be in line with them.  So, Tongans are the first people in the world to see each new day.  And as a result we lost one.  Day that is.  Same time, different day.  Not GMT -11, but GMT +13.

 

The wind was very kind to us on this passage, staying either just abaft the beam or on it, giving us a very good point of sail and therefore very good speeds.  The sea was a little boisterous on the first day, but moderated somewhat on Tuesday, making it a bit more comfortable.  The good thing about a reach is that there is a definite downwind side of the boat, meaning we don’t have to brace ourselves the whole time.  But the best thing was that when we checked the weather forecast Tuesday morning, the low that was approaching Tonga had disappeared completely, leaving us with fair winds and no rain for the rest of the trip.

 

We arrived in Vava’u around 1600 and dropped the anchor in Port Maurelle anchorage.  The sea is clear and blue and the anchorage is very calm and protected.  Now for a swim....