Departure Preps

We arrived in Tongatapu on Thursday Oct 30, and our visas were set to expire the following Saturday, just over a week. We intended to be ready to go and clear out on Thursday, so that gave us just under one full week to prep for the passage. We wanted to shoot for Thursday rather than Friday, because we’ve learned from experience you just don’t leave these sorts of things to the last day of the working week. There could be a surprise holiday or a requirement we didn’t know about or anything that might delay us a day, and then our visas would expire adding a whole extra layer of bureaucracy. So, we worked fast and furious to meet that deadline. Tim did a ton of boat work and inspections so that we knew Exodus was ready for the passage too. It wasn’t time yet for an engine oil change, but Tim inspected fluid levels, cleaned raw water intake, checked electrical connections, etc., etc. He also made sure the rigging was good to go, which included hoisting him up the mast to check all the standing rigging, the main sail batten car track, and the VHF antenna that sits atop the mast. Of course, there were other inspections too, like the steering system and the SSB connections and ground plane.

In addition to all the inspections there was also a sail to repair, and for good measure Tim spent a fair amount of time onshore helping our friends from Fluenta repair their sail too. The boys chipped in a bit and cleaned both hulls in between all the play time with the other kid boats. For my part, I shored up all of our provisions, prepared and froze passage meals (so we are well fed our first few days at sea, even if I don’t feel like cooking), handled the paperwork for clearing out of Tonga and clearing into New Zealand, and spent a fair amount of time studying the weather in an effort to pick “the best possible window” for heading to New Zealand. We worked hard and comfortably met our deadline and were ready to clear out Thursday morning, and that includes carving out several evenings for epic games of resistance with Iguana, and our new friends on Tusitala.