This past week we got up to quite a few adventures:

 

After leaving Neiafu we went and anchored by a very cozy island called Taunga. It has nice sandy beaches and very friendly locals. We spend some time exploring the island and spent a day on the beach with a local fellow and his two grandchildren. They were finding small crabs to then use as bait for fishing.

 

One morning we were woken up to some whales (this is now the second time this has happened) swimming beside the boat. Phil managed to catch a photo of one of them. It is spectacular how close they come to the boat, how massive they are, and most amazing, how often we see them.

 

(above: picture of a whale waving at us from beside the boat one morning)

 

After pulling up anchor and leaving Taunga we went for a long day sail offshore. While sailing, we were trolling with two lines off the back of the boat. We managed to catch two fish... at once! We caught a 3-1/2 foot mahi mahi as well as a small tuna. We now have fresh fish to last us for a while!

 

(above: picture of our mahi mahi we caught)

 

We spent the past few days back in Neiafu, getting provisions for a (roughly) 3 week stay down in the Ha’api island group. The Ha’apai group is about 65nm south of Vava’u and is much more remote!

 

Stay tuned for updates from Ha’apai.

 

Connolly