31st August, Vuda Point Marina, Fiji

An early start to the day - lifted back into the water at 7.30am! We had another ride through the boat yard in the crane on Newt and got safely back into the water.
After breakfast we got a taxi into Lautoka with Nemesis to do some provisioning at the fruit market and saw White Hawk, Ishka and Hilde in town.
BAck at Newt just enough time to put the shopping away before i headed off to the butchers with Orono 1 and T Rex. There is a Australian butchers nearby which will vacuum pack the meat for you. The butchers was great and once we had ordered our meat we headed to a shopping mall in the nearby resort area.
Whilst i was shopping Jonny did some laundry and other boat jobs.
Once the meat was packed away we went to say hello the Sunchaser and Christine Anne arrived back so we went out for cheap pizza night at the resort. It was lovely to catch up with Sunchaser and Christine Anne again.

28th - 30th August, On the Hard, Fiji

A very busy 3 days on the hard ... re anti fouling, touching in the red stripe, repairing the rope cutter, replacing the anodes, changing the anode bolts and polishing.
We were very grateful for our luxurious cabin on Orono 1 - it was great after a days work to be able to shut the boat up and go somewhere else to sleep.

27th August, Vuda Point Marina, Fiji

At 8am we were ready to get hauled out. The lift went well and Newt was put safely in her cradles. The scary part was that we weren't made to get off the boat whilst it was in the crane so we had a free ride across the boatyard!!
We wanted to lift out because the Sea Hawk anti fouling we put on in Grenada has been disappointing. We put on 2 coats of black and 2 coats of red and by the time we were in the Marquises you could see patches of red and even patches of green (original coppercoat). The anti foul is good in that nothing grows on it but it is far too soft – even the slightest touch brings off paint.
We thought that the anti fouling would easily come off with the pressure wash – the black paint fell off but the red wasn't moving. We sanded the bow for 2 hours and couldn't bring all the red off so we did the best we could and are going to paint over the red. We have decided that we must have had a bad batch of black paint for it to fall off so easily.
We had a busy day sanding the bottom, cleaning the topsides and touching in the red stripe so we are ready to anti foul tomorrow.

26th August, Vuda Point Marina, Fiji

After I wrote the blog yesterday evening Orono 1 and T rex arrived in the marina. Orono invited us over for drinks and we ended going to the Yacht Club for dinner via T Rex for drinks. The food was abit disappointing but it was great to spend an evening with Orono and T Rex.
We had heard about a cheap room rate at the nearby resort for yachties when they are on the hard and had been tempted as a treat however as we had decided to haul out for 4 nights we decided it would be too expensive. Orono is a Privilege 495 with a spare cabin which they have offered to us while we are on the hard which we gratefully accepted.

Our aim today was to get Jonnys tax forms completed and couriered to the UK – we managed to get internet this morning and get the information he required to complete the forms. We went to the marina office to see if they could photocopy a letter for us and to ask about the best option for a courier. The lady in the office was very helpful and directed us to the airport for the DHL office.
We got the bus to the airport where DHL had an office and got the form sent.
After lunch on the boat we did boat jobs – de weevilling pasta, cleaning the dinghy and cleaning the front cabin. Orono has a proper vacuum cleaner on board so I was in heaven vacuuming the boat!!
After a busy day we had an early tea and watched a dvd.

Vuda Point Marina 25th August

We woke up this morning to Newt covered in black ash from the sugar processing plant on the dock.
We picked up the anchor and headed to Vuda Point marina to fuel up and hopefully sort out a haul out. We fueled up and hosed the boat down and moved into the marina. After looking into anti fouling we bought some paint and booked our haul out for thurs.
We found out the nearby resort allows yachties to use the pool if you buy a drink so we went for a drink and a swim. The weather has been much better since we arrived in Fiji (blue skies again!!) and a swim was much needed!

24th August, Lautoka, Fiji

We left our secret hideaway anchorage (you are not meant to stop anywhere on your way to clear in in Fiji but weekends have big overtime costs and it would have been dark by the time we arrived in Lautoka) this morning to head round to Lautoka. We headed ashore to clear customs and immigration and then the health man came back out to Newt with us in the dinghy which was an adventure as he was a large Fijian man!!
We headed into town to get some fresh food. We had been to Lautoka before on our honeymoon and remembered it as a grubby, slightly scary town but found it completely different today. It seemed much nicer and friendlier - not sure if the town has changed or we have!! We had a great time at the market and a lovely lunch in a cafe. We managed to buy some new hair clippers for Jonny and a Fiji SIM card ($5 for the card with $5 credit!!).
Another early night tonight to recover from the passage.

Day 5 Tonga to Fiji

We had blue skies this morning which made for a pleasant change from the overcast weather of the rest of the trip.
We tried to sail for a while but the wind was fluctuating too much in strength and we werent going quick enough to make the reef pass in daylight.
We arrived at the pass at 4.30pm and anchored in Momi Bay nearby.
After much needed showers we had a relaxing evening watching dvds.

Day 4 Tonga to Fiji

After more motor sailing this afternoon we managed to turn the engine off and sail for 3 hours before the wind swung back round onto the nose!!

Day 4 distance traveled: 130n/m

Day 3 Tonga to Fiji

An uneventful day spent motor sailing into head winds. It is frustrating not being able to sail but we are making good progress and giving the batteries a good charge!!

Day 3 distance traveled: 123n/m

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Day 2 Tonga to Fiji

A very grey and overcast morning with the wind dying so we motored for the morning before it filled in again just after lunch.
We had a nice sail for the afternoon but in the evening the wind started swinging around and by 8pm it was on the nose so we turned the engine on and motored overnight.

Day 2 distance traveled: 122n/m

Day 1 Tonga to Fiji

We were sad to leave Tonga this morning after a great 3 weeks exploring and relaxing but we need to keep moving and are looking forward to Fiji.
We had a great sail under main and genoa until dark when the wind started swinging around and the genoa couldnt decide which side it wanted to be on so we furled it away and sailed for the rest of the night under main.

Distance traveled on Day 1: 131n/m

18th August, Neiafu, Tonga

We headed ashore this morning to clear out and get final bits. Clearing out was a straight forward task but meant a walk around town to visit the different offices.
We got some fresh bread and other bits before collecting our washing and heading back to Newt.
After lunch we went alongside the Aquarium dock to fill up with water. It is quite a rickety dock so Karl, Navara offered to come and catch our lines for us. The water pressure wasn't great so it took us about 1 hour to fill up our tanks!!
Back on our mooring buoy Jonny went up the mast to realigned our wind instruments and then Narava came over for a drink to say goodbye before we headed off for Fiji. It was great to meet Linda and Karl and hopefully we might met again if we get to visit New Zealand.
On our way ashore we decided to say hello to an American boat called Honeymoon who we have seen in a couple of places but never met properly. They are a young couple on their honeymoon and are heading to Sydney where they might stay for a while. We ended up having a few drinks with them and had a lovely time so we hope to see them again soon.
We headed ashore for some drinks and dinner with Miss Molly and Narava and had a lovely evening. After paying for our meal we donated our remaining Tongan money to the collection for the ferry disaster which has devasted the area and hope it goes to a good cause. The plan is for the money to be split between the 25 families in the island group who have been affected.

17th August, Neiafu, Tonga

While we were talking to Drimea on our way to town the Moorings support boat told us he needed our mooring later in the day so we would have to move. We knew that Andy was leaving his Aquarium buoy sp we planned to take that once he left.
We headed into town and dropped off our laundry and paid for our mooring buoy from around the anchorage when we bumped into Andy. He was heading back to Calysta and leaving his buoy so we decided to leave the rest of our jobs so we didn't miss the chance to get his buoy … after we had been sat on Newt for over an hour he finally stopped whizzing round in his dinghy doing other jobs and left his buoy!!
Back in town we carried on doing our jobs getting ready to leave for Fiji on Wed before heading back to Newt.
Equinox had arrived this morning so we headed over to say hello – it was good to have the chance to catch up with them before we left for Fiji.
James, Miss Molly, radioed us to see if we wanted to head ashore for a drink and a game of pool so we wanted for a break in the rain and headed ashore. The bar with the pool table was closed so we went to the CocoNet Café instead and watched the torrential rain. Eventually the rain stopped enough for us to leave and we headed to Aquarium for some dinner. As we were leaving Equinox arrived at Aquarium and convinced us to stay for another drink.

16th August, Neiafu, Tonga

The on and off showers meant that we had a relaxing morning on the boat. After lunch we took the dinghy to explore the harbour and after dinner Jeff and Merel (Miss Molly) came for a drink.

15th August, Neiafu, Tonga

We woke up this morning to bright blue skies which was a nice change.
After breakfast we headed ashore to the market to stock up on some fresh vegetables and other supplies.
After lunch on the boat we headed ashore for the fundraiser. Some of the cruisers and one of the local restaurants had organized a cruiser fundraiser to raise money for the families of the ferry disaster in which it seems that approx 90 people died. As part of the fundraiser there was a bbq, silent auction, Tongan dancing and people getting thrown in the harbour!!
We checked out the auction and caught up with some people and then Jonny dropped me off at Orono 1. Donna had arranged a jewelry making afternoon for the girls with Giselle from Monkey Feet who makes jewelry using stones and sterling silver wire. It was a lot harder than it looks but I ended up with a lovely necklace. Whilst I was doing this Jonny took our old dinghy ashore to sell it to one of the restaurant owners. He managed to sell it and got a good price for it.
We headed back ashore for the results of the auction and to watch the dancing which was a very relaxed dance after the knee knocking Polynesian dancing.
As we hadn't managed to buy any meat ashore (supplies are starting to get low in town due to the ferry sinking) and we had sold the dinghy we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out again.
Chriselle joined us for dinner which was great as they are heading off to Fiji tomorrow and as they are heading to a different part we are unsure when we will cross paths again.

14th August, Neiafu, Tonga

After a blustery night at our anchorage we headed back to town after breakfast. We are planning on spending the weekend and the beginning of the week in town catching up with people and getting ready to head to Fiji.
After picking up a buoy (we are not yet sure whose??!!) Andy came over for a coffee and then we headed into town where we met White Hawk, Ishka and Orono 1 in one of the cafes.
From the cafe we picked up some bread and postcards and then headed back to the boat. We decided to drop the bread off and then go and see a couple of other boats. After we dropped off the bread we were met by a dinghy where the guy asked us if Newt was a Colvic (only the second person to recognise her!!) - he is from Ipswich near where the Colvic were originally made and said they had been his dream boat. He invited us back to his boat for a drink - he is crew on a 66ft oyster called Miss Molly. A cup of tea turned into a couple of beers as we watched the Friday night race from the back of their boat with Navara.
From Miss Molly we headed to the Yacht Club to catch up with the others. James (one of the crew from Miss Molly, he is 17 and his dad (Jeff) is the captain) asked us if he could join us for dinner which was great. He is a very ambitious 17 yr old who wants to end up working in the yacht industry. We hope that all his plans work out and he is successful. After dinner at the Aquarium we headed back to the Yacht Club for another drink and then back to Newt.

13th August, Vaka Eitu, Tonga

Another overcast and windy day in Tonga. We have loved it here but the weather hasnt been great and this morning i had to dig out our blankets because it was so cold last night!!
Moasi, Ian and Julia and Navara, Karl and Linda came over for coffee this morning. Navara brought some lovely banana and chocolate chip cake and Moasi some chocolate brownies (which Jonny said was yummy but I couldnt eat because it had almonds in it :( ).
After lunch we headed ashore for a walk and enjoyed one of our favorite Pacific pastimes - exploring resort ruins!!
After some jobs on the boat we headed over to Navara for drinks and had a nice evening chatting to them. They are from New Zealand and exploring Tonga for a season but are planning to do a longer trip in the future and were asking our advice about different things we had on the boat and what works and doesnt. It was nice to be able to pass on some of the things we have learnt throughout the year.

12th August, Vaka Eitu, Tonga

After some jobs with other boats in the Port Maurelle anchorage we decided to head off to a different anchorage.
It was windy outside the protected anchorage but was a much more sunny day then we have had recently.
We got to Vaka Eitu and picked up a mooring buoy. After lunch we went to say hello to Moasi, Ian and Julia, a British catamaran we had seen briefly at a couple of anchorages but never had chance to chat to properly. We had a lovely couple of hours on Moasi chatting before heading back to Newt.
Moasi were going to come over later to get some books of us and for a drink once Ian had fixed their generator but unfortunately he was struggling to find the cause of the problem and had to take a rain check.

11th August, Port Maurelle, Tonga

We were hoping to go to Hunga today but the tricky entrance requires high tide, no swell and good visibility and as it was overcast, rainy and the swell was due to increase throughout the week we thought we would give it a miss and head to another option.
Before we left Port Maurelle we headed over to T Rex to swap some books and ended up staying for tea and cake. As we were leaving T Rex Chriselle came into the anchorage who had decided that they were going to head to Hunga anyway so we went over to find out why they had changed their minds. They convinced us to spend another night in Port Maurelle by inviting us for dinner and to play a board game.
We spent the afternoon on the boat and then headed over to Chriselle where we had a lovely evening with jelly and ice cream for dessert!

10th August, Port Maurelle, Tonga

We left the Art Gallery anchorage this morning to explore further. Within the anchorage it was flat calm and boats were swinging in the current, 10m away there was 20 knots of wind!! The anchorage we had initially planned on visiting wasnt very protected so we decided to head back to Port Maurelle.
After lunch T Rex arrived so we went over to say hello and spent the afternoon with them catching up.

9th August, Tapana, Tonga

We woke up to more grey overcast sky so had a lazy and relaxing day reading books and watching dvds. By mid afternoon the sun had come out so we had a swim before sundown drinks in the cockpit. A lovely peaceful day.

8th August, Tapana, Tonga

Our plan today was to head to one of the other anchorages and we did . but we didnt end up at the one we planned!! The anchorage we had planned to visit has recently had some mooring buoys put down to help protect the coral but unfortunately we couldnt find them!! So we decided to head back through the reef pass and go to a beach anchorage we had heard about. We got through the pass safely and headed to the beach. As we got closer it looked spectacular but we couldnt find the way in!! The book said to head to the south of the beach and then come up into the anchorage but there was coral everywhere and the depth got down to less than a metre under the keel!! We decided to give this a miss and head to the Art Gallery anchorage as they had buoys they said we could use for free as we had bought something for the gallery and swapped them some rope. Jonny was happier with this suggestion as the anchor windlas chain stripper had bent again and he wanted to fix it so it would be easier not to anchor.
After lunch Jonny managed to get the stripper off the windlas but it looks like it is bent beyond repair this time so we have taken it off and are hoping to be able to use the windlas without it until Australia where we can get a new one.
We headed over to the Art Gallery to say hello and ask advice about the beach anchorage and we know have the correct way to get in hopefully for tomorrow!!
The nice sunny day turned into a rainy day mid afternoon so we hid below and had a dvd afternoon afternoon which was lovely.

7th August, Old Harbour, Tonga

Our guide book said that it was a short walk over the hill from Old Harbour back to town so we decided to go and get some fresh provisions and catch up with some of the boats that have arrived since we left. It was a very short walk to town (about 5 mins over the hill)!!
After getting rid of the rubbish we found Ben (Silk Sheets) in the Mermaid checking e mails so we stopped to say hello and then Del and Gary (T Rex) arrived at Sailing Safaris next door so we went to say hello to them.
After getting some shopping we decided to stop at the Balcony for their lunchtime special burgers which were yummy before heading back to Newt.
We spent the afternoon doing more jobs and tidying up. With the old dinghy out of the cockpit locker we can now fit all the spare jerry jugs (apart from the petrol one) in the cockpit locker and Newt looks less like a gypsy boat!!

6th August, Old Harbour, Tonga

On this mornings net we heard about a Tongan ferry that had sunk overnight just north of the capital. There were still looking for about half of the 80 people on board. The ferry goes between the capital and the island groups and comes up to this area so many of the locals know people on board.
We had a sort out and took some spare food and rope over to the people at the Art Galley in exchange for a small painting.
We decided to head through one of the reef passes to explore some of the more remote anchorages. We had been warn that the charts were out and planned to eye ball navigate but set the tracker on our chart plotter to see where we had gone to assess the accuracy of our charts. When we got to the pass it was abit choppy and the small marker balls were hard to see so Jonny took the dinghy to check it out whilst i hovered at the edge of the reef and then we took Newt through. Looking at our path afterwards our Navionics Gold charts were spot on (although we have heard that the sea map and max sea charts arent).
We checked out a couple of anchorages but there were quite exposed and eventually ended up in the old harbour which was really protected with 2 other boats.
Throughout the afternoon we listened to the VHF as a rescue party was organised to head south to help with the ferry rescue. Unfortunately (or maybe it was for the best??) we were too far from town to offer our assistance - after over 12 hours in the water there are unlikely to be many more survivors so not going to be an easy rescue mission.
We had a peaceful afternoon and evening enjoying our tranquil anchorage ... with a naked single handed guy drinking beer and singing on the boat next to us!!

5th August, Tapana, Tonga

A windy and overcast day give us a good opportunity to do some much needed cleaning and some boat jobs.

4th August, Tapana, Tonga

During the night we had strong gusts of wind through the anchorage which after having not anchored for a while made us abit nervous but the anchor held and we were fine.
After breakfast we headed to the Ark Gallery - a floating art gallery in the anchorage. An American couple who had sailed through here in 1983 had come back and set up an art gallery which was also their home. The paintings were amazing and we bought a couple of small paintings of whales and turtles.
We had a relaxing afternoon on the boat as it was too windy to go very far and a lovely evening watching dvds.

3rd August, Tapana, Tonga

After a walk on the small beach ashore we headed over to say hello to the other boats in the anchorage. There were both New Zealand boats spending the season in Tonga.
From Lisa Beach we headed round the corner to Tapana which is another stunning and sheltered anchorage.
Once anchored we had abit of a tidy up and rearrange of some of the cupboards below and got the spare dinghy out of the cockpit locker to check it was ok before we sold it.
After a walk ashore we headed over to say hello to an Irish boat in the anchorage. They have been cruising for 6 years and are heading back to New Zealand for hurricane season.

2nd August, Lisa Beach, Tonga

After a Sunday morning lie in we headed ashore to drop off our garbage before heading out to the anchorages.
The Vava'u group of Tonga is made up of lots of small islands all within a day sail of the main town. According to the Moorings (yacht charter company) map there are 42 anchorages within the islands and we are planning to spend the next couple of weeks exploring some of them.
Today we headed to anchorage no. 10 - Lisa Beach which was a couple of hours from town. We saw whales on the horizon today making some big splashes but they weren't close enough to see properly.
The anchorage is one of the quieter ones with only 2 other boats in it. It is well protected from the strong tradewinds we have at the moment as it is surrounded by tall cliffs.
We spent the afternoon reading and swimming before having tea and watching a dvd.

1st August, Neiafu, Tonga

Since Niue the weather has got abit chiller and this morning we needed long sleeve tops on when we woke up. In Niue we wore long trousers for the first time since Europe and on the crossing from Niue to Tonga we had our mid layer kit on at night!!
Our plan this morning was to motor the half an hour back to town. As I was brushing my teeth I saw whales in the distance so we took a little detour on the way back to town!! An hour later after seeing 3 pods of whales we made it to town!!
We rushed round town to get our shopping before the shops shut at 12pm.
At 2.30pm we headed over to the barge. Our new friends on Chriselle had completed their circum navigation in Tonga after 8 years and they have some friends who have a barge here and said they could have a party on it. We headed over for drinks and nibbles in the afternoon and then a bbq. It was a great afternoon and evening.
At 8pm we headed back to our boats. Jonny dropped me off at Newtsville and he went to have drinks with a group of Kiwi lads on their boat (the first people we have met who are the same age as us!!).

31st July, Port Maurelle, Tonga

After a slow morning we decided to go for a walk ashore. On the way ashore we stopped off to say hello to a New Zealand boat flying an OCC flag – it wasn't their OCC flag but they were a nice couple to talk to anyway!! They have sailed to Tonga from New Zealand and are spending 6 months cruising around here.
As it was still quite windy we decided to postpone our visit to the cave and spent the afternoon on the boat reading books.