After the cruising fleet left for New Zealand, there remained just a handful of cruisers planning to spend the season here. Most of the time, we had beautiful anchorages to ourselves or shared with another boat. We did a lot of snorkeling in the warm, clear water and there were always boat projects to work on. Sailing around the islands of the archipelago was easy, protected from the ocean swells by the barrier reef. For Thanksgiving, we shared a turkey and all the trimmings that we could improvise with two other boats at a beautiful anchorage under a gorgeous sunset. All this after an afternoon snorkel
communing with the fish! Christmas was spent in much the same way. We explored several anchorages, hiked on uninhabited islands and visited remote villages. The Moorings Company has a fleet of boats for charter here and we strongly recommend this area as a great place to charter.In February, we decided to fly down to New Zealand. We were gone 5 ½ weeks exploring both the north and south islands. We were fortunate enough to rent a car with our cruising friend Cindy and her Dad, Dennis, who was visiting from the states. Poor Bob, Cindy’s partner, had to work. New Zealand’s north island was a lot like California in the winter with green rolling hills, beaches and even large Kauri trees the equivalent of the Coast Redwoods.
The south island, however, was quite different. Much more dramatic with fjords, glaciers, beautiful lakes, dramatic coast lines and about a five day weather system that comes from the Tasman Sea bringing high winds, rain, followed by a few days of beautiful weather. Timing is everything! We did lots of hikes - John, Cindy and Don
were working up to their major goal of completing the 4-day Routeburn Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. Linda did a lot of kayaking and some parasailing and canyoning while the rest of the group did the big hike. They had made reservations over a month in advance as only a certain number can be on the trail at one time and the huts are of limited capacity. As it turned out, their timing was not good as they had two days of stormy weather, with winds gusting to 90 Km/hr and torrential rain on the most exposed part of the track. They did the hike anyway and really enjoyed it. New Zealand is geared for tourists and we stayed in backpacker hostels. These are really inexpensive and well organized for the travelers with all types of rooms with or without private bath, full community kitchens and loads of information on what to do and see. It was a great experience and fun to watch everyone sharing a kitchen, pots and pans, giving each other “leftovers” and sharing experiences with people from all over the world.We returned to Tonga mid-March and in April, on the opening day of the Vava’u Yacht Club, we entered HAWKEYE in the first race of the season. The last time we raced Hawkeye was in the Banderas Bay Regatta in Puerto Villarta, Mexico back in 2001. Apparently, we hadn’t lost our racing skills as we managed to take first place. As we were usually out at anchorages, we didn’t race the rest of the season as we didn’t want to give up a good peaceful anchorage to go back to “town” and besides, we might not be so lucky to win again…
The end of April, Linda went back to the states to visit with family and John returned to the states in June. It was a hectic time trying to visit with family and friends after being gone 2 years and the grandkids had sure grown up!
After promising the grandkids that we would be back next summer, we returned to HAWKEYE with heavily laden suitcases full of boat parts. The plan was to get HAWKEYE ready for a jump of a mere 440 miles to Fiji after we got our bottom painted, new batteries, new dinghy engine and other miscellaneous things we had ordered from New Zealand back in April. Those items finally arrived - in October! While checking over the rigging, John discovered that we had some broken wire strands. He managed to do a jury rig temporary fix so that we could continue to sail in the protected waters inside the reef but we did not want to risk the ocean swells that really work the rig during the crossing to Fiji. We ordered new rigging from New Zealand and settled in to await its arrival.
In the meantime, we continued to enjoy the many anchorages in the Vava’u Group of Tonga. We managed to do some scuba diving, which was wonderful, and when we are at anchorages, we do a daily snorkel. When provisioning in the village of Nieafu, we visit with friends and enjoy having a meal out. It is always an adventure provisioning, as you never know what will be in the stores and market. Right now, pineapples are ripe and we are getting the beautiful tasty fruit for 1Tongan Pa’anga, which is $0.50 USD. On the other hand, it would be wonderful to get a head of lettuce and have a real salad!
We continue to wait for our new rigging that we were promised would be air-freighted from New Zealand, but which is now held up by Customs in the capital, Nukua’lofa. They want to charge us an excessive amount of tax and duty (normally, boat parts for Yachts-in-Transit are exempt from duty, but the Government is desperate for additional revenue.) We are having quite an argument with Customs. Once we get the rigging and install it, we will then have to monitor the weather more closely to make a safe passage to Fiji. As we enter the cyclone season, weather is becoming a bigger issue. In fact, as I write this, the first named storm of the season, Tropical Cyclone Daman, is bearing down on Fiji, with over 100 kts of wind, and is expected to hit Tonga in a few days.
Today, John is trying to get our propane stove to work properly until we can get to a place where we can buy a new one. HAWKEYE is now 23 years old and shows her age when things like the stove have to be replaced. The warm, salt-water environment in the Tropics creates havoc with most materials used on boats. John is putting his mechanical abilities to the test constantly to keep HAWKEYE running by improvising parts, none of which are available in Tonga. I don’t know how people that don’t have this gift manage to keep their boats going in places where there are no experts to hire to fix the problems that arise and there are no parts available. This is probably the biggest reason that people eventually give up the cruising life. John had his 74th birthday October 18 and, thankfully, he continues to enjoy good health. We celebrated with pizza and cake aboard a friend’s trimaran, a boat the size and shape of a small tennis court, which is great for parties!
As the holiday season approaches, we wish you all a glorious time. We don’t miss the hustle and bustle of life in the U.S. but prefer a quiet anchorage with a beautiful sunset. What we do miss is family and friends. So, send us an e-mail and tell us what you are doing!
Linda Keigher & John Kelly, s/v HAWKEYE, Nieafu, Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga
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