Tonga to New Zealand

Tongatapu
By the way, the ham referred to in the last blog was actually salted beef, which is often eaten by Tongans.

We left Nomuka Iki at 5.00am and it was still dark. We motored past the other anchored boats, navigated our way around islands and reefs and reached deep water safely. About 10 hours later, we arrived at the port of Nuku’alofa, the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga, on Tongatapu Island. We anchored off Big Mama’s Yacht Club at Pangaimotu. The trip reminded us of numerous passages to the Isle of Man from the Lancashire coast, motorsailing and bashing into a headwind.

Checking in at Customs was quick and easy. We soon found our way around Nuku’alofa. It had a big fruit and veg market, a wonderful bakery and two adequate supermarkets. The town was a good 20 minute walk from the harbour. We were pleased to see our Austrian friends Flo and Nina anchored near us and even more pleased to hear that Nina was 4 months pregnant. They were clearly thrilled at the news and did not mind ending their cruising in Tonga instead of NZ. Their catamaran, Flina, is for sale at Vava’u, Tonga. The next day several more boats arrived from Nomuka Iki. We were invited to have dinner aboard a New Zealand yacht, Stella Mauris. Simon and Marie gave us starters/nibbles of prunes, raisins and pumpkin seeds and a main course of ratatouille, rice, grilled steak, and various salads. All this was followed by homemade chocolate chip dessert. We played Scrabble using our tiny travel version. Naturally, we had to let our hosts win!! At the end of the evening we decided that whenever Stella Mauris left for NZ, we would leave too, as they had sailed the passage twice before.

They took us by surprise and left for NZ the next day. We hadn’t cleared with Customs and Immigration, we hadn’t bought diesel and we hadn’t bought food for an ocean passage. After a short period of rushing around like mad things, we decided to stay. The weather window they were risking was already 5 days old. However, after a rough few days at the beginning, Stella Mauris arrived safely in Opua, NZ eight days later.

The anchorage filled up again and we were reunited with the British yachts – Endymion, Sara II and Gryphon II.

Exactly one year after leaving England on 29th October, we went ashore to help Big Mama celebrate her yacht club’s birthday. We joined in the sports, playing volleyball and table tennis. Amazingly, we were playing volleyball with Dave from Nikita for the second time, the last time being at Valentina’s on Toau Atoll in French Polynesia several months ago. Both teams won a game and after a closely fought final, our team lost. Jeremy was later named “man of the match”. He certainly threw himself into the game and on to the ground with great enthusiasm. We returned to Big Mamas in the evening for a free Tongan banquet and dancing to live music, provided by the local police band. We had a great time. The next day there was a prize giving and all the boats that had taken part in the sports received a basket woven from palm fronds containing fruit, corn on the cob, coconut and a bottle of nono juice. We had previously tasted the Pacific health drink and gave ours away to someone who liked it. Jeremy presented Big Mama with one of his rowing tankards as a thank you for her fantastic hospitality.

She hadn’t finished yet. The prize giving was followed by a talk given by representatives of Whangarei Marina, which included all we needed to know about arriving in NZ, including informing the Customs in advance.

The next day was Halloween. The cruising kids dressed up and went around all the boats in a dinghy doing trick or treat. We were glad we had some sweets on board. Later that day (Sunday) many boats left to go to NZ. We had booked a taxi tour of the island for Monday and felt quite pleased that we had not gone with them, as there was a weather warning out for rough seas in Tongan waters. We weren’t quite so smug the next day when Ben, the taxi driver, did not turn up. We waited an hour and phoned him twice during that time. Both times he said he was coming. In the end we walked away, went to town, bought our provisions and set off for NZ at first light on Tuesday morning.

The Passage to New Zealand
Mixed is the simplest description. The rough Tongan seas were now moderate but that did not prevent a wave breaking into the cockpit, soaking me through to my knickers in an instant and leaving me standing shocked as sea water covered my leather boat shoes. Sal Darago heeled with the force of the assault and two rivers of water flowed over the starboard cockpit coaming and back into the sea. At the same time sea water flowed over the stern cabin and found its way under the closed hatch, wetting Jeremy’s pillow and part of his duvet. We had the bottom board into the saloon in place, but sea water still entered and gave the cooker a dousing. This was our first day!

Each morning we listened on our short wave radio to the Peguin Net. All the boats on passage checked in and Jeremy noted their positions and weather conditions, so we soon had a good idea of what to expect. Some days we motored in near calm conditions. Other days we had great sailing weather and made top speeds. One day Jeremy was in the saloon filling our flask with hot water from the kettle. The boat lurched and he stopped himself on the ladders which lead up to the cockpit. The boat lurched violently again and he was thrown into the edge of the chart table across the other side of the boat. He screamed as his ribs hit the wooden edge and hot water scalded his face. He may have cracked a rib or two as he was in pain if he breathed hard or twisted. He started taking painkillers. A day or two later the gale hit us. We watched and recorded the fall of the barometer. Just before the conditions changed, Jeremy refuelled and sorted out a jamming of the furling gear for the genoa. I don’t know how he lifted the 5 gallon containers. The wind rose from 6 or 7 knots to 22 knots in minutes and we both worked as fast as we could to put two reefs in the mainsail. The next 24 hours were boisterous. We kept the engine on and the reefed mainsail keeping nearly close hauled ie about 55-60 degrees off the wind. The yachts 100 miles ahead had much less wind but those behind us had worse. Perhaps we should have left on the Sunday after all.

After almost 8 days at sea we arrived at our waypoint off the Bay of Islands at about 1.00am. We motored the last 10 miles taking note of ships, lighthouses and navigation marks. Our electronic charts were accurate once again, all the lights were in place and working and we found our way in the freezing cold stillness of the night to the Customs Q berth. We tied up, It was 3.30am. I had started the passage in shorts, vest top and short sleeved blouse. I ended it wearing long fleecy trousers, socks, T-shirt, long sleeved blouse, fleece, ocean jacket, woolly hat and thermal gloves. Who said it was summer in NZ?