Pictures from Niuatoputapu

These photos were taken on Niuatoputapu, the most northern of Tonga's islands:

Chris walking in the old village of Falehau with Doug off 'Long Shot II' and Brad and Linda from 'Lark' . Note the pig and horse grazing on the lawns. If you want to keep livestock away, you fence them out, not in...

Horse, 'Long Shot II', and the volcanic cone of Tafahi

Pigs outnumbered the horses and probably humans as well.

Graves were decorated with piles of crushed corals and beautiful hand-sewn quilts

Health nurse, Monica, and her sister. We dunked Monica when she boarded our tender for the return trip to shore.

Pigs are ubiquitous.

Chris seems excited by the fresh baked bread we found in the main village. It was sold from a tiny house that was incredibly hard to find.

Picnic lunch on the beach with the good folks from'Long Shot II' - Sue, Saylor,  Riley, and Charlie (behind).

Hiking to Tafahi - actually across the mouth of a channel as Tafahi is 5 miles away across deep water.

Check out the amazing shell we found.

Woman and child gather up pandanus leaves that had been soaking on the tidal flats. 

Mormon elders Jenkins and Muffe

Kids in Falehau jump for Rani

Cruiser enjoy a traditional dinner hosted by Sia and Nico.

Sia prepares a small pig - the head has already been given to one of the Tongan guests

Traditional outrigger dug-out canoe

Drying kava roots - the drug of choice for any occasion of importance. It is grown on the sides of the nearby volcanic island and then dried and pounded into a powder prior to soaking it to make kava.

Mormon elders hanging out with a friend. The local thatched buildings are almost all gone after the last tsunami went through these islands.

We were fortunate to witness an inter-village rugby tournament, won by 'our' village of Falehau

The Tongans are very religious, beginning each match with prayers.

Chris playing his own verison of rugby with local kids

Chris's team

New village of Falehau located uphill and away from Tsunami prone low lands.

Kids in the elementary school show us their Spam tin ukes.

Weaving pandanus mats. This is done in groups and can take several days to complete a large mat between several women. Notice the empty can of spam that was lunch!

Pictures from the reefs

We are finally back within range of an internet connection - the first one since Samoa that will allow us to post some pictures from Tonga and before. These pictures were provided by our friends on 'Gato Go' and date from Fakarava and on to a pic from 'Legacy' which was taken at the 'Coral Wonder' in Vava'u

Sharks at Fakarava South (photo courtesy Craig and Bruce of  'S/V Gato Go')

Sharks at Fakarava South (photo courtesy Craig and Bruce of  'S/V Gato Go')

I think this is called a pillow star - Photo courtesy of Rich off 'S/V Legacy'

Clam in coral - (photo courtesy Craig and Bruce of  'S/V Gato Go')

The 'Aquarium' at Fakarava South (photo courtesy Craig and Bruce of  'S/V Gato Go')

Giant Napoleon Wrasse (photo courtesy Craig and Bruce of  'S/V Gato Go')

Needle Fish (photo courtesy Craig and Bruce of  'S/V Gato Go')

Venus Rising - Day 15

I am on watch as we coast down to the entrance to the Bay of Islands. It is 0430, Venus is rising to port and the lighthouses wink at me to starboard. I think we timed it just right :) We should see the land clearly at sunrise.

We turned on the engine for 5 hours yesterday as the wind lay down completely and the sea became glossy calm. Ladybug had 43 miles to run but as Trish on "Gulf Harbour Radio" likes to put it, we could see the barn door. It seemed a shame after all those quiet days and the lovely sailing breeze we had enjoyed during the last few days.

Maybe God was listening to my thoughts because at 2130 a light WSW breeze began to rustle the mainsail. We switched off the engine and were soon tacking up towards the north cape. It was slow going with a knot or more of current against us but the seas were almost flat.

We sailed all night, using the radar and frequent visual scans of the horizon to avoid running into any fishing boats or cargo ships. The stars and partial moon were guiding our way. I could see the legendary Maori "sail of Tainui", the Southern Cross and the Magellan nebulae quite clearly. Despite the chilly temperature in the cockpit I sat out there for a long time enjoying this last night of our cruise.

At sunrise we were almost at the entrance to the Bay of Islands and Cape Wiwiki glowed like a welcome beacon. Lots of little birds were flying around, fishing and swimming close to Ladybug. A ketch flying its full set of sails was tacking up from Cape Brett and another sailboat was motor-sailing from the east. The spinner dolphins did not show up despite my messages.

Chris woke up to enjoy the scenery unfolding as another day was born. It was wonderful to see the grassy hillsides and trees standing to attention on top of one cliff. We could smell the sweetness of the land! We had arrived!

Sadly, the wind deserted us shortly thereafter. We enjoyed a hot tea, called NZ Maritime Radio to revise our ETA and motored the remaining 12 miles into Opua. There were dozens of boats ranging from jetskis to 50 footers fishing in the bay, so we had to weave our way carefully in the narrow parts of the channel.

As we approached the quarantine dock, a couple of women shouted and waved madly from the marina club house. They were our friends Anne from "Charisma" and Deb from "Buena Vista", calling "Welcome to New Zealand!". That cry was echoed many times as other people saw us go by. What a wonderful feeling! We had truly made it to New Zealand!

Made it to Opua

We have arrived and are anchored in the bay at Opua on the north island of New Zealand. More to follow...

Day 14 - Air planes and Dried Fruit

We are now about 70 miles out of the Bay of Islands, beating into a freshening SSE breeze with a bouncy heeled over motion that makes typing somewhat difficult. Yesterday we had a very pleasant day of easterly winds on our beam. The sun came out after more than 24 hours of cloudy drizzly conditions and our batteries are once more topped up. I can now see that solar energy is not a panacea if you live in this part of the world, although it has worked superbly during our cruises in Mexico and the tropics.

Yesterday we nearly jumped out of our skins when a New Zealand air force Orion zoomed by to get a close look at us. They were down to around one thousand feet - close enough to read our boat name! This is a 4 engined propeller plane, used for coastal surveillance and I would guess they were on fisheries patrol as well as on the look out for approaching yachts. They called us and another nearby yacht on VHF Channel 16 to check our ETA into Opua. You have to email a pre-check-in document to NZ customs 48 hours in advance and then check in via radio 24 hours out with your revised ETA. These guys take border protection seriously!

Apart from the excitement of our aerial visitor, we have been busy eating our fresh produce, dried fruit, and other items that will be confiscated in New Zealand. We are doing quite well, but Rani is still worried they will take away our lentils, beans, and rice - staples in her diet. If you know Rani, you will know how much she hates to waste anything! Because we will arrive early on Sunday morning and will probably not be inspected until Monday, we still have two days to eat 7 potatoes, 4 onions, 3 kilos of rice, a kilo of raisins, and 4 or 5 kilos of assorted legumes. Rani has been threatening to make a giant rice pudding, but our tiny fridge cannot hold much more.

It has been so calm on this passage that we have been able to watch a movie each day. The Coen brothers are becoming favorites on Ladybug - we have watched two of their films in the last few days - "Bad Santa" and "A Serious Man". I love their dark, intelligent humour, even if the profanity and violence can be a bit much.

Our position at 07:45 on Saturday Nov 24 was 34 14 S 175 07 E. We made 110 miles in the last 24 hours.

Day 13 - Things that Break

Yesterday was a day of drizzle and overcast skies. We made about 120 miles in easterly winds, with the main reefed to allow our wind vane to steer more easily.

Rani baked a parrot pie for supper - no she has not given up her vegetarianism - parrot pie is made with eggs, onions, and flour. This turns out sort of like a crustless quiche and always reminds us of our friends on Blue Moon who introduced us to this delicacy on a hike in Mexico. Yummy with Mexican salsa and the highlight of a drizzly, chilly day.

I thought I would mention a few things that we and other boats have had break down on us on this passage. Jimmy Cornell, in his cruising survey, does a more complete job of this, but maybe this will help people who are preparing for an ocean passage. There are two states that seem to cause the most damage to boats - calm or light winds in rolly seas, and heavy winds, particularly squalls. We have had more of the former on this passage, but the rolling around and slatting that a boat goes through out here can cause a surprising amount of damage.

Here is my list based on about 40 boats on passage:

Broken sail slugs and batten cars - These and the webbing that ties the sails to the slugs wear quickly as the sails slap back and forth. Even a few days of this can destroy hardware and chafe right through webbing. Suggest you bring spares. One boat was forced to motor when their batten car broke at the top the mainsail, while another had a repair kit on board and carried on sailing. We had one slug break. This was our fault because we have reefed our mainsail while running in the past, which wears through the plastic sail track slugs in short order due to side loads. We now round up to reef or un-reef and will replace our plastic slugs with metal ones in NZ.

Head sail clew ring - one boat had this pull right out, presumably in a squall 'though I did not hear the details. They admitted that the clew ring webbing was tired. Suggest you restitch or renew this area if in doubt.

Head sail UV strip failure - not sure if the boat that suffered this had this happen in a squall. Apparently the sail cloth under the UV canvas was damaged and failed as well, so it was not just stitching (which is usually the first thing to go).

Staysail and jib failures - did not hear the details, but a few boats reported damage to their fore-sails in the heavier winds that the earlier fleet experienced a few weeks ago.

Auto-pilot - at least one boat had a failure of their autopilot. Not repairable on passage.

Pactor modem - we rely on this for email communications and weather forecasts. Two boats reported failures and we relayed weather to one of these boats that was in the area of a cyclone.

Wind vane steering - We heard of three boats who had wind vane steering failures. Two were repairable on passage. Bring spares for your wind vane (Monitor provides a complete rebuild kit when you buy their wind vane).

Solar panels. One boat had a panel destroyed in heavy weather. They suggested that we lash our panels down before we get into bad conditions. They went through 50+ knots of wind and seas of more than 7 meters.

Engine transfer plate - I think I have this term correct. The bit that transfers power from the engine to the transmission failed. This meant that the boat could neither motor nor re-charge its batteries. Not sure how one could prevent this. Conditions were so benign that another boat actually towed the disabled boat for a couple of days until the wind filled in!

Engine impeller followed by muffler melt-down. An old impeller (3 years) came apart and the hot exhaust melted the plastic muffler before the engine overheat alarm went off. Replace old impellers before your trip..

Our position at 7:45 this morning was 32 42 S 176 10 E. We are sailing now under sunny skies in a light NE breeze and are 160 miles out of Opua.

Becalmed - Day 12

We beat all our other records yesterday by clocking 36 miles on the odometer but arriving only 4 miles west of our previous daily position! We hove to at 11am and then took the sails down altogether to save them from slatting in the 15-20 degree rolls. There was a brief discussion about motoring for a day but we decided against it for aesthetic and practical reasons.

One gets used to being tossed around after a while but occasionally it takes one by surprise. As it did to Chris when he went to tie the preventer on the boom. A sudden jerk and he was hanging with his legs dangling in the water! Luckily he still had the sturdy line in one hand and was able to grab the stanchion at the gate. I would not have been able to pull him up with my puny muscles and weak wrists. Thankfully, as the boat came down on the next swell he was able to pull himself up. Ladybug was sailing around 3.5 knots at that time, so it is a good thing he did not fall off completely. The only injury was a scrape on his shin on the way down. On the plus side it was a good excuse for a hot shower and a glass of brandy. It was also a reminder to keep the gate closed at all times (we keep them open as they interfere with the jib sheets).

The afternoon matinee on Ladybug was "A Serious Man" from the Coen brothers with their trademark black humour. I would give it 3 stars.

Gulf Harbour Radio's forecast for the next 3 days was for light wind conditions, so we did not worry about being caught out in anything nasty while bobbing about out here. We enjoyed a glorious sunset, undulating hills of molten gold under a spectrum of red, gold and blue streaks in the sky.

Our 0745 position this morning was 31 05 S 177 14 E.

Day 11 - No wind

We have sat around most of today after a few hours of sailing in the morning. Hope for wind in a few hours...

At 7:45 we were at 31 04 S 177 18 E after a daily run of 90 miles. Hope to be in Opua on Saturday or Sunday.

Love/Hate

I don't think we are alone on Ladybug in our love/hate relationship with passage-making. Rani has told me that she regards passages as a necessary evil. I think she stayed around for this one because she felt that with her on board to watch out for me, my chances of making it to NZ in one piece would greatly improve! She admits that sailing is not a first love for her and that she would rather be hiking on some mountain trail than be out here on the ocean. For her, cruising is a rather inconvenient way to get to very cool places. Sill, she obviously enjoys aspects of each passage - the days when the seas are calm and a gentle breeze ghosts Ladybug along under blue skies and puffy clouds - the nights chock full of bright new stars - the wildlife.

I love to sail, but these long passages are a test of my endurance. I swing between being enraptured by the whole thing and wanting to sell the boat as soon as we arrive in New Zealand. I love the challenge of making progress despite light airs and rolling seas, but only to a point. After two or three days of rolling around in the same part of the ocean, trapped in the middle of a high, I have found that you must re-focus away from the goal of arrival. The alternative is to fall into a foul mood. I think that most of us cope with this by carrying plenty of fuel and motoring when things start to reach this point. And everyone has a different threshold for this.

Having 'Melody' nearby on much of this passage has helped me remain focused on the passage itself. Holger is usually in a good mood when we chat about weather and progress and gently reminds me that we should appreciate the quiet days out here. While he, too, looks forward to getting to New Zealand, Holger clearly enjoys his time on passage. This makes a refreshing change from the majority opinion in the fleet, which, at this point, is that it is high time we were all in port.

Once you start focusing obsessively on making port, you lose much of the ability to enjoy the days and nights out here. You run the diesel all day, to make a few more miles, even when there is enough wind to sail. You refuse to deviate from the straight line course and fail to take advantage of a breeze that may want to waft you a little to the east. And so on...

Day 10 - From Peace to Violence

It began as another calm day, coasting along at a respectable 3.5-5 knots with full main and jib with light NE/ENE winds. Chris was in a writing mood and composed a melody to sing to Roz and Holger on 'Melody', teasing them about leaving us behind. Sadly, we lost sight of them over the horizon and then VHF contact as our paths diverged, Ladybug pointing a little west of south while they continued more to the east.

In the afternoon we began seeing squally looking clouds around us and ahead. We listened to the weather reports from boats south of us on the Pacific Drifters Net. A few had experienced rain but no significant wind under those clouds. Nevertheless, we put a reef in the main at sunset to be ready for change in wind.

Thunder and lightning greeted us at 9pm, so we unplugged our radios and placed the secondary GPS in the oven. I have a terrible fear of lightning and wanted to hide under a blanket when the sky lit up every few seconds. Rain began and wind increased to 15 knots from the northeast. The windvane was able to cope and we were speeding along at 6-7 knots on our rhumb line to Opua. An hour later, the wind built up to 25 knots and we were doing 7-8 knots. Chris furled in part of the jib and we surfed the building waves for a while until it was more comfortable to put a second reef in the main.

Radar showed us under an extensive squall front but it looked to overtake us in another half hour. Well, the clouds disappeared off the radar screen but the winds and seas continued to build. By 2.30am we had dropped the main and had only about 60 sq. ft. of jib giving us 7 knots and more in the gusts. The seas were 2 to 3 meters by this time and closely spaced, coming at us every 5 seconds. Occasionally their force over-powered the windvane, so Chris stood in the cockpit ready to lend a hand. He looked quite wild with the tiller between his legs!

The barometric pressure had fallen 6 mb in 4 hours - not a good sign. I was monitoring the weather station like a dog in the window hoping to see an upward swing but none came. All we could do was to ride it out and let Ladybug do her thing. It was impossible to sleep as I was paranoid about running into another vessel or getting struck by lightning. Visibility was zero outside so we monitored the radar frequently. We knew there were several yachts and possible commercial traffic between NZ and Fiji in our vicinity. I found the rain and sea scatter on the radar very confusing.

To give you an idea of the wind speeds, when we jibed, Ladybug continued to sail at 4-5 knots under bare poles!

Thankfully it was all over by 9.30am this morning and now we have very little wind and bouncy 2m seas. Our happy solution is to point southeast for now with a reefed main and full jib in 6-7 knots from the north, with following seas. The sky was blue for a while with wispy fast moving clouds at high altitude but we are approaching an area of low clouds again. Friends south of us reported light and variable conditions with flattish seas.

Our position at 0745 this morning was 29 53 S 176 51 E and we ran 133 nM in the previous 24 hours.