Fiji here we come!

Clearing out of Neiafu, Tonga, yesterday was easy (again) because World Cruising arranged for a special deal with customs and immigration. One friendly immigration lady was positioned at the Mango restaurant on the waterfront in Neiafu to stamp passports and issue the clearance papers. Normally, all crew have to show up for this at the miserable offices at the rotten main dock and several officers will pour over the paperwork. We could even enjoy a cool beer while checking out – an opportunity that some boats took advantage of! For us, only skippers needed to show up and the whole session took all of 10 minutes per boat. There was a schedule when each skipper had to show and Kincsem jumped the line when another skipper wasn’t ready at the allotted time slot. So we were cleared 2 hours early! This was much appreciated as there is not a lot of time to get to Lomaloma in Fiji in daylight on the second day after departure.

Getting Kincsem ready to sail offshore takes a bit of time. First, all awnings have to be taken off and stowed. At anchor on a mooring we usually have an awning over the wind screen to cool down the cockpit. There’s another awning over the bow which permits us to leave some hatches open even if it is raining. Lastly, we often rig another awning over the aft deck to cool down the aft cabins.

Second, the dinghy engine has to be lifted off the dinghy and stowed in the aft lazarette. The engine is heavy (50 kgs) and I don’t want to stress the davits by leaving the engine on the dinghy when sailing offshore. Then the dinghy has to be lifted up on the davits and secured safely and covered by its own awning to prevent it from filling with water in heavy air conditions. Dealing with the dinghy alone took the current Team Kincsem more than 1 hour in Bora Bora. Yesterday, it took all of 30 minutes! Experience and routine is a great thing!

Third, all hatches have to be closed – to be reopened only once we have confirmed conditions are suitable for opening them offshore. Lastly, all loose items have to be stored and all lockers locked to prevent them from opening at sea.

Now, after one day at sea, we’ve all settled in. Udo just baked a rum and Coconut cake – bravo, Udo!

We spent more than 2 weeks in Tonga, which was driven in part by the fact that we spent less time in Niue than planned and in part by the dates for check-in in Fiji. One of the benefits of joining the World ARC is that World Cruising negotiates a special clearance process in Fiji. One of the most attractive cruising areas in Fiji is the Eastern or Lau Group of islands but there is no port of entry in Lau. If one wants to visit Lau, one has to clear in on one of the two big Western islands and then sail back East to Lau – 100 + miles upwind! World Cruising flies immigration and customs officers from one of the Western islands to Lau so World ARC participants can check in in Lau directly without the detour to the Western islands and upwind sail.

The two weeks flew by in no time. We explored the town of Neiafu, the only significant settlement on Vava’u. After spending some time in the islands, we came back to Neiafu for a WARC organized tour of the Botanical Gardens, followed by lunch with local dance show.

Impressions of Neiafu – an immaculate church, well dressed school children, lots of very used cars in town, pigs everywhere, and a sunken fishing boat at the Customs dock

At the Ene’io Botanical Gardens cum local dance show event organized by WARC

And then there was the obligatory WARC party and prize giving: although we didn’t receive a prize at that party because of a calculation error, Team Kincsem won the leg from Bora Bora to Tonga! We now have 2 firsts and 1 third place out of three competitive legs. Not bad!

At the prize giving. The Lady in our middle is the acting Governor of Vava’u and a relation of the King of Tonga.

Everyone not accompanied by his or her spouse at the party was deemed unattached at the WARC party – hence the flower on the left ear!

But in many ways the highlight of our stay was time spent in the islands, which are just a few miles away from Neiafau.

Anchorage near Hinakauea Beach off Pangai Motu

Happy hour at Nuku Island

Nuku Island is the most photographed island in the Vava’u Group.

Anchorage behind the outside reef off Ovaka Island

Many of the islands are inhabited and we much enjoyed visits to these small settlements.

Graves are adorned with plastic flowers. Note that the Birthday is described as Sunrise, the date of death as Sunset!

This is the community boat of Falevai on Kapa Island which unfortunately is in disrepair. Among other things it is used to take children to school in Neiafu on Mondays and bring them back on Friday afternoon. I experienced first hand that teenagers in Tonga party hard when I awoke from loud laughter coming from Nuku island at 3 am on Saturday morning

These children in Falevai were happy to have their photo taken.

Police station in Pangai – not much crime here!

Hinakauea Beach on Pangai Motu

Lots of choice of Spam in the market in Pangai!

Pangai has about 20 houses and 3 churches. The Catholic church is in the worst shape. There is a Wesleyan church in slightly better shape. This church is not on Google Maps like the others and may be Mormon as it is well funded and is located in a great location: across the street from the only market!