Tag: Neiafu

Kingdom of Tonga, May 2019, Neiafu, South Pacific, The South Pacific

What The Sam Hell Was That?

We left Nukunamo around 1545 to make the 70 NM trip north to Vava’u. We’re about 45 minutes into our trip when we decided to hoist the mainsail. Dan put a couple of reefs in it in preparation for the coming winds. He was at the rail in the cockpit checking to be sure nothing got fouled and I was turning the wench for the reefing line. All of the sudden it got super tight and then before I could react we heard a snap and Dan saw a chunk of metal go shooting across the cabin top and over the starboard side of the boat.

“What the Sam hell was that?”Everything stopped as we tried to ascertain what happened. Dan begins scanning the deck and finds a piece of metal near the base of the mast. That’s never a good thing. Within seconds he has located the source of the problem. The turning block for the reefing line broke. It literally just snapped apart. Thank God no one was standing on the deck. That thing shot off like a rocket. It definitely could have hurt someone and if it hit them in the head it could have been lethal. Of course Captain Dan has a spare turning block below and he set off to get the repair made. Within 15 minutes we were back in business. I just love how he can fix anything!

As sunlight dawned the following morning we were approaching the southern end of the Vava’u group of islands. Dan was on watch and I was finishing my post watch nap. I woke up around 0800, just an hour or so before we were to reach the bay in Neiafu. Fortunately for me I got some really calm, peaceful sleep during that nap. Unfortunately for Dan he had a pretty bumpy ride during his 2330 to 0430 nap. Sorry hun!

The sun is shining bright and there’s a nice wind but no fetch so the ride through the channel and the islands into Neiafu is beautiful. We arrive to find it pretty quiet here. Last year there wasn’t a mooring ball or hardly a place to anchor in the bay but at this time of year it’s very peaceful.

As we come through the channel into the harbor I look down from the bow and see literally thousands of the Moon Jellies slowly drifting along beside Dazzler. They were here last year too. I decide I’m going to call this Moon Jelly Bay. The closer we get to town I start to notice something isn’t right. Where’s the Hideaway floating bar? What? Don’t tell me they’ve closed! That would be a disaster as I’ve been dreaming of their amazing fish and chips for days now. I keep scanning the area near the wharf and finally I see the blue barge in front of the big hotel. That’s NOT where it was last year. This could be very bad. I hope they haven’t closed up!

We continue on toward the mooring field and do a quick search for the right spot. We check out a few of them and then settle for one not far from where we were anchored down last year. Dan hooks the ball and we are all set. Of course it’s time for the usual….come on, you know what I’m going to say. Yep, “Time for an anchor down beer!”

The morning radio net starts just about the time we pop open our beers so we settle in to hear what’s going on here. Sounds like the usual suspects on the radio. There’s Bear from Falaleu Deli, Barry from Hunga Haven Resort and rest of them. We don’t hear any cruises that we know but then we are a few weeks ahead of most who left New Zealand. We kind of like it this way. It’s nice and peaceful!

Next on the agenda is to drop the dink in the water so we can head to shore and do our inter island check in. Last year when we checked in here we believe the Customs official may have been a little less than above board with us. This year we are hoping it will be a bit different. Apparently no so awfully long ago down in Nuka’alofa a Customs official received a package addressed to him. Inside were drugs and guns! Of course he claimed he knew nothing about it and maybe he didn’t but this created quite the shake up there and we believe it probably did all across the country.

We splash the dink and head to shore. The first stop is at Buluga Dive Shop. They are the ones we have to pay for the mooring. It’s just $15 Pa’anga per day, which is about $6.52 USD. That’s a pretty cheap price to pay to have a secure mooring and not have to worry about fouling your anchor on the bommie filled bottom.

Next we take the dink down to the west end of the village and tie up in the little wharf there next to all the fishing boats. We walk over to the Customs Office, which is just a couple of blocks further west. It’s packed here today. There are people everywhere. Looks like they just unloaded a container and people are here to pick up their goods. Fortunately the cruisers go to a different area to check in so we have no wait at all. A very nice young lady offers to help us. We hand her our paperwork from Lifuka and within minutes we’re on our way. Yes, it was a completely different experience here today and we’re happy for that.

Our next stop is Digicel. That’s where you go to buy a chip so you can have Internet. It’s not a bad deal either. It’s $50 Pa’anga for 15 gigs of data. That works for us. With our Internet secured we take a stroll through the open-air market. There are tables and tables filled with veggies and fruits. Of course they all have the same thing….cucumbers, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes, watermelon, bok choy and a couple of other items. Good fruits and veggies are not easy to come by in Tonga. The best you’ll find is in Nuku’alofa and even there the choices tend to be a bit limited. We picked up a few things and then headed into town.

It’s just short walk to town from the Customs and market area. We are looking for our friend, Bear. He owns the Falaleu Deli as well as the Hideaway. I need to know what is going on with the barge and when exactly I am going to get some of that delightful fish and chips. We heard on the radio that he moved his deli into town so we seek him out. We find him under the big mango tree in a very small white building. After hellos and hugs we chat a bit. He updates us on all the happenings since we left last October. He tells us that the Hideaway has moved down closer to the wharf and is not open now but should be within a few days as they were dealing with some issues from the licensing board. Dang! Guess I have to wait a few days but at least I know it’s going to be soon. Anyway, we bought some of his amazing and spicy Italian sausage and then moved on to our next stop.

We head back to the dink and take it up to Mango Cafe. It’s a waterfront restaurant that is big with the yachties. We have a little lunch and a couple of beers before heading back out to Dazzler. By this time it’s approaching noon and we are both completely zonked. Neither of us had a lot of sleep on the passage so it was naptime. I always love a post passage nap! It’s some of the best sleep!

Looks like we’ll sit here for a few days. After all, there’s great food, cold beer and Internet right here in the middle of paradise. What more could you ask for?

Until next time,

Jilly & Dan

    Kingdom of Tonga, Neiafu, September 2018, The South Pacific, Tonga

    The Vava’u Group In Tonga

    Well, we left Niue at 0420 on a Thursday and arrived at the entrance to Faihava Pass on Sunday just as the sun was peeking over the islands. The golden rays of the sun were dancing on the water and as we made the turn we looked off to the port side to find two whales playing near the shore. Just a bit further along we came across a pod of dolphin heading out of the pass. It was an amazing a beautiful welcome to the Kingdom of Tonga.

    It takes a little over an hour to go from the entrance of Faihava Pass to the anchorage located in the Nieafu Village area. The landscape is simply spectacular. Everywhere you look there are mountainous islands rising from the sea. Some have sand beaches while others are pure rock. It’s almost indescribable.

    We arrive in the anchorage and through radio communications with some people Dan knows that are there we locate the Customs dock. There are already several boats tied up so we have to go to another dock on the wharf. This one, however, is not nearly as friendly looking and is quite honestly a bit scary. The tide is out and the top of the wall is about two feet above my head. There’s these large rubber bumpers attached to the wall but they would be far above the hull of the boat. We see a spot where a couple of the bumpers are missing and it looks like we can fit Dazzler there. We take a quick run by to make certain. We can get it but getting out will be tough as the water shallow within just a few feet of where the bow will be. I’m on pins and needles as we pull in. There so much that could go wrong here. Our fenders will barely be high enough to be between the boat and the wall. Add to this the swell is coming in and bouncing us up and down. Of course Dan’s calm as a cucumber and he slides Dazzler ever so perfectly into the spot. There’s some construction workers not the wharf and one nice young man comes over to grab the line for me.

    With Dazzler safely tied to the wharf Dan grabs our documents and heads to ashore to find the Customs Office. I stay behind to keep watch on Dazzler and make sure we stay off the foreboding concrete wharf. Within a few minutes Dan arrives back with a stack of forms for us to fill out. As he fills them out I continue my watch. Soon one of the Custom’s officers shows up and we go over the formalities. Since it’s Saturday they can’t do all of the paperwork but we get enough done to allow us to stay in the anchorage and go ashore.

    From here we have to find a place in the anchorage. Most of the boats here are on mooring balls but we can’t seem to locate a free one so we find a spot near the shore where we can drop the hook. It took a few tries as there’s a lot of coral and rock on the bottom but we finally get the anchor to set and of course, it’s time for an anchor down beer.

    It’s not long before our dear friends, Lutz & Gabi of SV SuAn show up on their dinghy to say, “Hello” and offer us a ride into town.  We gladly accept their offer and head in to see what Neiafu has to offer.  We dock at the Mango Cafe and stop in for a beer or two. Then it’s off to explore the village.

    It turns out that Tonga has some of the best cell phone and WiFi in the islands.  Digicel turned out to be a great deal. For $50 Pa’Anga (approximately $21 US) we could get 10 gigs of data and it was quite fast considering what we’ve become accustomed to in our travels. Of course in this day and age it doesn’t take long to burn up 10 gigs but it did allow us to check emails and do some surfing on the net. 

    Provisioning in Neiafu was not as easy as we would have expected. It’s a fairly large village so we thought we’d be able to find most of the things we wanted but that was not the case. There are many stores, most run by Asian folks who seem to be pretty unhappy about being there. They weren’t very helpful or friendly. The Tongan people, however, were wonderful.

    We went to the local fresh produce/craft market several times and there was this lovely older Tongan woman who was selling her crafts. She was adorable and worked very hard to teach us Tongan. The entire time we were there she kept saying, “Mālo e leila, Fēfē Hake” (Hello, How Are You?) Then she’d make us respond with “Sai pē, Mālō” (Just fine, Thank you). She was more concerned with teaching us Tongan than she was to sell us something.

    We did seek out Kava while we were there. Kava is used in various types of island and religious ceremonies. We’ve been told it has a bit of intoxicating effect, however, we’ve yet to try it. It took some doing to locate it and when we did it wasn’t the root, rather the processed powder. Not knowing how much to get or what is proper to present to a chief when asking permission to visit their island Dan purchase a kilo of it. Well, it turns out that you would literally give about a half a cup so it appears we can please all the chiefs in Tonga!

    We ended up spending 10 days in Neiafu. We actually hadn’t planned to do so but our brand new, four month old generator decided to stop working. Dan spent days and days tearing it apart and checking every component. He  finally decided it needed a new spark generator which we could not get until New Zealand. I’m not a huge fan of Honda right now I can tell you that!

    But, we tried to make the best of our stay in this quaint village. Our favorite place is the Hideaway Bar. It’s a floating bar in the anchorage and is owned by a Canadian couple, Barry and Char. They only serve drinks and fish & chips. It’s a great place to hang out and enjoy the views. Plus, they are two awesome people. They also have their own meat store and sell excellent quality meats. We stocked up on some sausage, steak and other tasty treats.

    • Barry & Char

    Finally the time came to move on so we hauled anchor and began working our way south through the islands. 

    Until next time,

    Jilly & Dan