Tuesday, 24 June 2008
The Other Side of Sailing in the Pacific
And yes, that is Lilly in the distance, it was a tough call as to which home was drier really
Sunday, 15 June 2008
It's not always sunny in the Pacific you know
So we've been 3 weeks in Tonga now pootling around the Ha'apai's and having a pretty crazy old time. We've had really strong winds (so Kieran got to go for a surf!) and we've been trying to find shelter behind various different islands with varying degrees of success! We've found shipwrecks a plenty, heaps of snorkelling and roughly a million pigs on the beach but man it's been windy! This is our first anchorage where the sand was amazingly white.....
And the sea was amazingly blue.....
And a few more anchorages later me and Kieran and Azumut (the dinghy) found our idyllic deserted island....
However, the wind brought the clouds and with the clouds came the rain and it's been a wet few weeks as well. But if you didn't laugh you'd cry so we've filled our water tanks with the best free water going, bathed in the dinghy's, washed clothes, ran around the deck like fools, got sore ears from rain so strong it's like someone throwing handfuls of nails at you and generally got very very wet....
However, amidst the cloud and the rain we had a perfect sunny day on this incredible island where we played volleyball on the sandsprit that joins the two and where you can see and hear the sea either side of you. A truly magical, special place which lifted everyone's spirits and dried out a few of our clothes.
From here we went to Lifuka, the main port of this area, it's been described as 'pleasantly soporific' and I can't think of a better description, more pigs than people and just a beautifully calm and gentle place where no-one's in a hurry to do anything. We spent the day tracking down fresh veg, which was more complicated than you might think, especially here, and even the local cafe seemed pretty impressed that we found any at all!
I also found my van, I'm not sure what it was doing here, or quite where it will fit on the boat but I'm sure we'll find a way....
We headed off overnight in rough seas to the Vava'u group and made a spectacular entry into Neiafu in such blinding rain that you quite literally couldn't see, we like to do things in style, although we are all starting to wonder if the rain has done something a little strange to our Captains mind as it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that he doesn't like pink....
And the sea was amazingly blue.....
And a few more anchorages later me and Kieran and Azumut (the dinghy) found our idyllic deserted island....
However, the wind brought the clouds and with the clouds came the rain and it's been a wet few weeks as well. But if you didn't laugh you'd cry so we've filled our water tanks with the best free water going, bathed in the dinghy's, washed clothes, ran around the deck like fools, got sore ears from rain so strong it's like someone throwing handfuls of nails at you and generally got very very wet....
However, amidst the cloud and the rain we had a perfect sunny day on this incredible island where we played volleyball on the sandsprit that joins the two and where you can see and hear the sea either side of you. A truly magical, special place which lifted everyone's spirits and dried out a few of our clothes.
From here we went to Lifuka, the main port of this area, it's been described as 'pleasantly soporific' and I can't think of a better description, more pigs than people and just a beautifully calm and gentle place where no-one's in a hurry to do anything. We spent the day tracking down fresh veg, which was more complicated than you might think, especially here, and even the local cafe seemed pretty impressed that we found any at all!
I also found my van, I'm not sure what it was doing here, or quite where it will fit on the boat but I'm sure we'll find a way....
We headed off overnight in rough seas to the Vava'u group and made a spectacular entry into Neiafu in such blinding rain that you quite literally couldn't see, we like to do things in style, although we are all starting to wonder if the rain has done something a little strange to our Captains mind as it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that he doesn't like pink....
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