Port Maurelle Again - Kapa Island, Vava'u, Tonga
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sat 20 Jun 2009 03:37
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18:41.909S 174:01.859W
On June 3rd, we sailed 65 miles north to the Vava'u
group of Tongan Islands. And what a sail it was. Definitely worth
the wait for good wind. Sixty-five miles in eight hours - that's an
average speed of just over 8 knots. Not too bad. And remember that
thing about cruising boaters and their non-competitive nature? We crowed -
ok, mostly Don crowed - for a good couple of hours after arriving at our
destination not only well ahead of Windflower (a 40-something foot monohull),
but more importantly, ahead of both catamarans (both quite large). When
crowing to others in the Port Maurelle anchorage, we didn't often mention the
fact that we took a shortcut through the small island and reef strewn waters
south of the Vava'u Group, whereas Windflower, Island Style and Just In Time
took the more conservative and longer route around to the west. Nor did we
mention our close encounter with a shallow spot that was either uncharted or
misplaced on the chart, which caused us to turn sharply into the wind
and furl the headsail to stop the boat and avoid a potential
grounding (after motoring away from the uncharted/misplaced shallow spot,
we put the headsail back out, turned the motor off and carried on - both a
little shaken). No, most of this was not discussed. Instead we
wallowed in the glory of racing (well, not really racing since we are not
in the least bit competitive) and beating not one, but two big
catamarans.
Waiting for us in Port Maurelle were Storyteller
and Lady Kay as well as ten or so other rally and non-rally boats at anchor
in the deep bay. This is a place that we know well having anchored here
last year when we visited the Vava'u island group in Tonga. It felt both
strange and familiar to be back in a place we had been to before. Aside
from Opua in New Zealand, this was the first time since leaving home two years
ago that we sailed to a place we'd been to before. It's
amazing how much easier it is to navigate when sailing familiar waters -
especially after navigating through the unknown (unknown to us) for so
long. Not only did we find comfort in familiar waters, but the food and
drinks provided by Storyteller as soon as we arrived helped us to
celebrate (and recover from) our mighty sail.
We stayed in Port Maurelle just one night
before motoring the few short miles to the port of Neiafu on
the main island of Vava'u the next day.
Anne |