21:07S 175:09W

 

The weather just didn’t play the ballgame.   After a fantastic weekend of light or no wind fairly brisk south easterlies returned on Tuesday.  That, combined with a big swell coming up from New Zealand, made many of the anchorages in the Ha’apai group untenable.   We’d had two rolly nights at anchor and were hoping the Nomuku islands provided a bit more shelter.   They did and we had a lovely afternoon walk on the beach and a comfortable night.  But with more strong winds forecast and knowing how big the swell already was out there we opted to give Kelefesia a miss.   Kelefesia was touted as one of the “do not miss” islands in the Ha’apai but with a big swell and winds entry would have been dangerous.

 

We set the alarm for 5.30 and were underway by 6am hoping to get into Pangiamotum, near Nuku’alofa, by about 4pm.  But Bandit put the bit between her teeth and romped away in the good winds and we averaged nearly 7 knots, arriving just after 3pm. 

 

As we left the Nomuku islands we had dolphins on the bow – the first time we’ve seen dolphins in Tonga...the last time we saw them was French Polynesia.  They must have been a good omen because not long after the line screeched and we’d hook a good size blue fin tuna.  A few hours later we commented that it was the first day we hadn’t seen whales – we spoke too soon.  For the next few hours we saw dozens including several very close to Bandit so we took to keeping a sharp lookout.  With the rough conditions they all appeared to be on the move or playing – none dozing on the surface as we’ve seen them do at times.  Once again we watched enthralled as whales breached, spy hopped, tail slapped and just cruised on past Bandit.

 

It’s wonderful to be back in civilisation and, apparently, there is even broadband available here.  Wonders never cease.