Log 13 - Tonga to Fiji See Photos Of Tonga Here As we prepared to leave Niuatoputapu, Tonga for the Vava'u Group (just 170 miles to the South), we watched the weather, waiting for Easterly, as opposed to the normal Southeasterly winds. Since we had to sail almost due South, we wanted the wind over our beam as opposed to right on our nose. When the anticipated Easterlies finally showed up, we planned to leave in the early morning, thus getting 36 hours to get to Vava'u, arriving, we hoped before dark on the second day. But when we started the motor in preparation to raise the anchor, our low oil pressure alarm went started blaring and refused to stop. This is not a good thing because low oil pressure is about the worst thing that can happen to a diesel motor. Without oil pressure, the engine seizes and dies. So we quickly shut down the engine and spent a good part of the day doing diagnostics, eventually deciding that we couldn't tell if the alarm or the engine was at fault. We decided that we would sail for Vava'u, which had a mechanic located at Neiafu harbor, and not run the engine unless it was an emergency. By the time solved the oil pressure dilemna it was afternoon. So, we decided to leave in the evening and spend two nights at sea, arriving in Vava'u early on the second morning. We chose to do this because the winds were predicted to shift more to the South in the next couple of days. At about 1630, we raised anchor and ran the motor just long enough to exit the pass in the reef. We then raised sail and started sailing South for Vava'u. At first, we had a wonderful sail. As predicted, the wind was out of the East and we were sailing fast and comfortably. For the rest of the day and night life was good, but by midday on our second day out, the winds were starting to shift to the North. That was good as we were able to sail downwind. But by evening the wind was shifting to the West and threatening to shift further to the West. This would still be okay, but if the wind continued to back to the Southwest, we would NOT be happy because we would then be beating directly into the wind. And, sure enough, in the middle of our second night out, the wind shifted to the Southwest and picked up to 25 knots. Almost immediately, the seas became very choppy and uncomfortable and we were bashing directly into them. By dawn we could see the Vava'u Group but we could not manage to get much closer to them. We ended up spending 17 hours to sail the last 11 miles into the pass! This was the first serious sailing to weather we had done during our entire trip and actually became an interesting challenge as we relearned how to tack the boat quickly. By the time we finally dropped anchor in Neiafu harbor, the challenge was no longer considered interesting and we were tuckered out. The Vava'u Group, and Neiafu in particular, was the last port of call before New Zealand for many of the boats that we had befriended along the way from Mexico. Fred, a fellow Bainbridge Islander on the boat "Mary C.", organized a huge farewell party at the Mermaid bar for all the New Zealand-bound boats. As the party date drew near, more and more boats arrived and soon the harbor was pretty well maxed out with all the mooring buoys taken and even the anchoring area filled up. It was interesting meeting alot of the people on boats that we had talked to on the radio all across the Pacific but had never met before. Besides waiting for the big party, we spent time exploring the town of Neiafu and taking trips on Gumbo to some of the anchorages in the Vava'u Group. Neiafu was a fairly charming little town that had good provisioning, a very good Austrian bakery, a good farmer's market and Pete the Meat (a New Zealander who was the local importer and purveyor of frozen New Zealand meat). The Mermaid bar and grill was a great cruiser's hang-out with burgers for Nancy, fish and chips for Kurt and relatively cheap beer and wine. Many evenings were spent there chowing down and philosophizing with fellow cruisers. And, of course, Kurt got involved sitting in with the local band. One of the great things about the Vava'u Group is that there are probably 50 good anchorages all less than 2 hours sail from Neiafu. And the sailing is all done in reef-protected waters so that all you need to do is roll out some jib and sail fast and flat to whatever anchorage you've chosen. And the anchorages are all beautiful, with crystal clear water, nice beaches and either snorkeling, hiking or restaurant attractions available. And the Tongans that we met at the anchorages were all extrememly friendly, if alittle reserved. It was during this time that we were invited on a daysail with John on "Dreamcatcher" to visit Swallow's Cave, Mariner's cave and to do alittle informal whale-watching. After raising anchor in Neiafu, we sailed out to Swallow's Cave - a deep set of caves that are carved into the side of one of the islands. While John hovered around the entrance on the big boat, Nancy, Kurt and Fred launched the dinghy and paddled into the caves. Very beautiful. Check out the photos on this website. Then we sailed over to check out Mariner's Cave. This cave is famous for its beauty and its difficult entrance. You have to wait for a low swell and then dive down about 6 feet, swim through a hole and continue swimming underwater for about 10 feet before emerging in a cavern. After watching a few people attempt to enter it, we decided to bag it (the thought of running out of breath underwater in a cave didn't sound all that exciting). After departing Mariner's Cave, we had "Kurt's Big Whale Adventure". At least that's how Nancy describes it. As we were sailing around looking for whales, we noticed a whale watching boat about a half mile away with people jumping off the side to swim with a nearby whale. So we maneuvered our boat so that we were downstream from the whales and waited, hoping that they would swim our way. And sure enough, they did. Kurt, in the heat of whale passion, grabbed a dive mask and, forgetting his snorkel and fins, jumped in the water to see if he could swim up close to the whales. What he saw underwater was astounding: a 60-foot humpback whale with her newborn calf swimming alongside. As Kurt watched, the whales swam slowly by, not more than 20 feet away! Amazing. But then the trouble began. When the whales swam away and Kurt started swimming back to the boat, he noticed that the whale watching boat had now positioned itself between Kurt and Dreamcatcher and was in the process of handing John some sort of material. The harder Kurt swam toward the boats, the faster they seemed to be drifting downwind. Pretty soon Kurt started tiring out and took a few mouthfulls of saltwater in the steep chop. Deciding that he could use some assistance, he yelled to Dreamcatcher and the whale watching boat to throw him a life ring. No one seemed to hear or act on his request. Pretty soon Nancy started freaking and yelled to the whale watch boat to throw Kurt SOMETHING! They finally got the idea and tossed Kurt a buoy with a line attached. Kurt grabbed hold and they dragged him onboard and then delivered him to Dreamcatcher. The next day, on the morning radio net, it was announced how a sailboat had violated the "whale watching regulations" and that one of the sailors had to be rescued. Kinda embarassing! But now Nancy has a great story to tell at cocktail parties. The evening of the party finally arrived and what a party it was! Fred did a bang-up job organizing it with 2 kegs of beer (that were consumed in 45 minutes!), an awards ceremony, a BBQ dinner (provided by Holly and her staff at the Mermaid) and dancing to the sounds of a Tongan guitarist and Kurt on drums. The following day, there was not a sound to be heard in the harbor as the Tongans were all in church and the yachties were all sleeping it off. After the big party, one by one, boats started trickling out of the Vava'u Group, either heading directly for New Zealand or for New Zealand via Tongatapu (the Southern Tongan island group). Because only a few boats were NOT heading for New Zealand, pretty soon it was just Gumbo Ya-Ya and a couple of other boats that had all of the Vava'u Group to themselves. We took advantage of the deserted harbors and spent a couple of weeks cruising around visiting Tapana Island, Kenutu Island, Nuapapa Island and the Blue Lagoon. We attended a big Tongan feast, jammed with a Spanish couple who ran a restaurant at Tapana and did lots of swimming and beach walking. Vava'u is wonderful and, if you get the chance, you should visit (Moorings and Sunsail both run great charter fleets out of Neiafu). See Photos Of Fiji Here As November approached, we started to make plans to head for Fiji - a 4 day sail away. We waited until the pattern of reinforced tradewinds abated and then took off early one morning for Fiji. The first couple of days were alittle boisterous with 20-25 knots of wind and slightly confused seas. But the second 2 days were wonderful with 15 knots from behind and relatively flat seas. We sailed a route that took us south of the Lau Group and all charted reefs and then turned north to pass south of Totoya Island and north of Kandavu Island. We arrived at a spot about 15 miles from the pass into the reef on the southwest side of Viti Levu (the bigggest Fijian island) at about 2200. Because we have a rule about not entering harbors at night, we hove to in order to wait for daylight. Of course, as soon as we stopped moving, the wind picked up to 25 knots again and we spotted a ship about 6 miles away motoring toward us. We turned on the radar and watched (both on radar and with binoculars) as the boat appeared to be motoring quickly past us on our port side. But then, inexplicably, the ship turned right at us. As we fired up the motor and attempted to sail away from it, it turned again and cut right across our bow, passing about 100 feet away! Way too close considering how much water there was all around us. By dawn our heart rates had finally returned to normal and as we spotted the pass entrance, we sailed through into the protected waters behind the reef. We spent the rest of the morning motor-sailing in light winds to the harbor at Lautoka - Fiji's second largest city and a center of sugar cane milling and shipping. We anchored off of Queen's Wharf and spent the rest of the day going through the paperwork involved when entering a new country (a visit to the harbormaster, customs, quarantine and immigration). We then moved over to a quieter part of the anchorage and spent a couple of days just vegging out. Finally, we sailed the last 6 miles to Vuda Point Marina where we have hauled out Gumbo Ya-Ya and placed her in a "hurricane hole" for cyclone season. This process involves hoisting the boat out of the water and placing her keel into a hole in the ground which is lined with big truck tires. Theoretically, any cyclone force winds won't be able to tip over or move our boat. However, as we found out AFTER arriving here, this marina has never been tested by a real cyclone yet. So, we'll keep our fingers crossed that no biggie hits here this year. We've spent the last 2 weeks removing all stuff off the boat that could blow away (sails, dodger, solar panels, wind generator, fenders, lee clothes, etc.) and will shove all that stuff down below just before we fly out. And so we end this log with a hearty "Moyve" (Fijian for goodbye) until we start writing again next season.