6 September 2011 Neiafu Vava'u Tonga

The EJ's Voyage
Mike Everton-Jones
Tue 6 Sep 2011 01:38
We had some great few days crusing around the islands. They are mostly unhabited but there are nice anchorages in front of sandy beaches. However, it is usually in very deep water and the holding is not always very good. We have been sailing around with two other boats and had some fun dinners on ours. Being the biggest boat everybody always came to us. We saw nice caves and whales playing in the water. Lots of tails splashing in the air, fins etc. It was so beautiful to watch!

We went to a little island with a very narrow and shallow entrance. Impressive but we got in without scraping the bottom. There is a nice fishing lodge and that's wheere we found a new home home for Buddha, our boat plant sinceSt Lucia. It was heartbreaking to leave it behind but since we cannot arrive with a plant in New Zealand, we had to find it a new home. Caroline, the owner of the lodge, a Kiwi, is a keen gardener so we are sure she will look after Buddha very well.

Good news, Fred is alive!!! We saw him on deck a few days ago. So he wasn't washed overboard with Basil during the bad weather we had on the passage after all.

The Regatta is starting tomorrow. John and Wendy will come on FALBALA for the weekend race as crew. Should be fun. There will be a big Full Moon becah party on Saturday night with lasers. We are all looking forward to it. We will put photos on the blog...depending how well behaved we are!

Photos of our trip round the islands to follow. Internet is too bad here so can't attach them now.

Our laptop fell when we sailed the other day. The screen is damaged and will need replacing. Bugger!

Hope you are all well

Love
Mike and Catherine