fitting farewell

Bandit
David Morgan and Brenda Webb
Tue 19 Aug 2014 17:32
18:52S 171:49W
 
As we sailed out of Alofi Bay on Nuie yesterday morning there was a massive “whomph” noise behind us.  We looked to see the sea boiling and frothy white.....seconds later a huge humpback whale breached a few metres farther on.  We’ve only ever seen humpbacks “breaching” (launching themselves right out of the water) in the distance so to have one right behind Bandit was pretty amazing.  It breached four more times – each time landing with a huge “whomph” leaving the sea boiling.  Nuie had been fantastic for up close and personal experiences with whales; a mum and her calf were in the anchorage most days and one afternoon the calf continually leapt out of the water playing.   We were only sorry we were ashore the day they came right around the boats – it would have been a great chance to jump in with them.
 
Yesterday morning was spent clearing out with officials and catching up with fellow cruisers who had just arrived from Bora Bora. Tom and Susi from Adina arrived on Sunday afternoon and we had afternoon tea on their boat before they came to us for sundowners.  We first met them in the Galapagos and they’ve been a wee bit behind us ever since so nice to catch up.   Moana Roa – one of the “kid” boats – arrived just after breakfast and Laurie came ashore to clear in and it was great to see him again – we first met them in Panama.   It would have been so easy to stay on and enjoy the company of fellow cruisers but the weather is forecast to turn to the west later in the week making the open roadstead at Nuie fairly untenable so we opted to take this weather window and head to Tonga.
 
We loved our time on Nuie – an unspoilt gem still firmly stuck in a delightful 1960s timewarp.  Where else in the world do you not need to lock your car?
 
We’re now rocking and rolling our way towards Tonga with constant discussion being that we are sick of downwind sailing.  Still...be careful what you wish for – next passage (to NZ) could be on the nose! Having crossed the date line we’ve completely missed Tuesday and are now onto Wednesday.