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Coming to Vava’u was like coming home. When we pulled into Port Maurelle, our common staging anchorage for arriving or departing the main town of Neiafu, we had six previous anchor waypoints to choose from on the chart plotter. As often as we find ourselves in new places, there’s still something somewhat comforting to be somewhere familiar.

Exodus looks good back in Port Maurelle

After two lazy days anchored at Port Maurelle, we motor-sailed down to the main town of Neiafu, picked up a mooring, and knew exactly what to do. Since we had already cleared in, we didn’t have to go tie up to the precarious customs dock, which was a relief.

After 2 years, very little had changed in Neiafu. It was all the same cast of characters on the daily VHF radio net with their passive aggressive exchanges and their super long commercials for their local businesses. It was the beginning of the cruising season, so it wasn’t nearly as crowded as when we were there before, and you could tell there was fierce competition for the attention of the cruisers and their money. We already knew which restaurants we liked and where to buy Marlin rum at 25 Pa’anga per bottle (about $12US). Best value rum in the world, I’m pretty sure, and made in Tonga. When we were in New Zealand, I went to a liquor store once and asked if they had Tongan rum, and they guy’s response was, “Oh, God no!”

We had so many good memories of this place, like Johnny getting slapped by a whale, rum and whiskey tasting competitions, cart safaris with Nana and Papa, and bar hopping with Lady Carolina. We had dinner at The Rooster Bar, and I knew to avoid the spicy chicken burger, and we spent the late afternoons sipping Vonu beer at the Mango Bar. The Aquarium Cafe had changed owners, and since we didn’t really like it before and had only patronized it because the previous owner Mike was so helpful, we skipped it entirely this time.

I went running and my legs rebelled against something called hills, which they hadn’t experienced in some time. Just like last time, the dogs were a bit aggressive, but we knew how to deal with them now by shouting them down and showing them who the real alpha dog is.

One thing that was different this time was that they had rolled out 3G internet, so we no longer have to sit in a restaurant suffering painfully slow wifi. Instead, I stood in a painfully long line to buy a Digicel hotspot that we could use with all of our devices. The speed wasn’t as good as Fiji or Samoa, but it was huge improvement since the last time we were there.

The familiar channel on the way into Neiafu

After a week in Niuatoputapu, we departed Sunday 15 May around 8am. It was another upwind, overnight passage, and we made it into Port Maurelle, and anchorage in Vava’u that we knew quite well just before 5pm the following evening. Overall, the passage was uneventful, and the only highlight written in the logbook was “caught and released barracuda.”

Passage Summary:

Duration 1 day 8:28 hours

Log miles 174 nmi, Avg speed 5.28 kt

Route miles 171 nmi, Avg VMG 5.19 kt

Track miles 173 nmi, Avg SOG 5.25 kt

Engines hours Port only 1:11, Both 1:28

Passing the familiar “shark tooth rock” on our way into Vava’u

Our track into Vava’u to the Port Maurelle anchorage

Satellite image of Port Maurelle

Almost immediately upon meeting the boys Sia offered for them to go to the high school for a day. I enthusiastically accepted, but to be honest, the boys were lukewarm to the idea at best. They were polite to Sia but complained to me when we were back on the boat, but I just couldn’t see missing this sort of opportunity, so I insisted and they were good sports.

They had to get up early on school day, and although Sia had said she would arrange to get them uniforms to wear, I had them bring their sulus and bula shirts just in case. It was a good thing because the uniforms she had for them were comically the wrong sizes. Alex’s was so big he was swimming in it and Brenden’s was so small he almost couldn’t button it. Brenden really tried to make it work in order to make Sia happy, but in the end, she conceded that they didn’t fit and let them wear their own clothes.

After school, the consensus report from the boys was that it was “mostly boring.” They said the kids were all really nice and Brenden even listed off the names of several boys who were “his new friends.” They both enjoyed the math class best, probably because that’s something that easily crosses language barriers.

Alex had just finished his 8th grade curriculum, and since he would be starting 9th grade in the fall back in California, the pressure was off and we were just going to focus on writing and algebra. Brenden, on the other hand, still had a ways to go in his 7th grade program, so we were doing a speed version in order to get him ready for 8th. Basically, we were focusing on math, reading, and writing while just hitting the high points in science. (Spoiler alert: they both eventually transitioned back to traditional school quite seamlessly)

Headed to high school in Niuatoputapu

While the boys were in school, Tim tried to fix an old generator of Sia’s while I mostly impatiently hung around asking if he was done yet so we could go explore the island. We weren’t the first cruisers to have a go at fixing this generator. There was a note taped to it from the previous season explaining their unsuccessful troubleshooting. In the end Tim wasn’t able to fix the generator either, but he was able to help Siona, the policeman, with his radio antenna. Later we gave some fish to Siona, and he showed us gratitude with a few coconuts for drinking.

Tim trying to fix Sia’s generator

It became an evening routine for the boys to take fish to shore to share with Sia and others in the village. One evening during their trip to shore they were gone a little longer than usual because they were going to help one of the ladies move something heavy. When they got back to the wharf it was dark and the dinghy was gone.

According to Alex, he calmly scanned the horizon and there was just enough light to spot the dinghy almost even with Exodus, and in the meantime, Brenden was completely freaking out. They started yelling, but Tim and I were back on Exodus probably finishing our sundown drinks and didn’t hear them, so they jumped in the water and swam like mad. Once they were able to get our attention, after running around and telling me to get out of the way, Tim dropped a paddle board and then Brenden hopped on it and raced out to catch the dinghy. The lagoon is not very big, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that just a few more minutes and the dinghy would have been over the reef and out in open ocean. Both boys had jellyfish stings from their swim and then of course blame had to be established. I won’t go into the whole blame thing here, but apparently someone else in our crew ties as bad a bowline as I do.

Last time we cleared in to Tonga in Vava’u and cleared out of Tongatapu, so we had no experience with formalities at Niuatoputapu. They made it easy, though. On Monday morning we were contacted by radio and then officials from Health, Quarantine, Immigration, and Customs came to the boat to process us. They took care of all the paperwork, but we would need to go to shore to pay the fees. In the evening we received a radio call from Sia, welcoming us to the island as the first boat of the 2016 cruising season.
The next day we went to shore and Sia gave us a ride to the offices to pay our fees and show us a bit of the island.

Later in the afternoon Tim and Brenden went spearfishing and brought back a big blue trevally and a coral trout. We took the coral trout to Sia and were happy to find they didn’t have ciguatera there, which meant all the fish, including the groupers and snappers, were edible. This was a nice change after Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Marshalls. So, Tim and Brenden went fishing almost every day and made a habit of coming back with dinghies full of fish to share with the village.

Getting a ride around the island from Sia

Niuatoputapu

Map of the Kingdom of Tonga

There are four island groups in Tonga, and last time we had made it to three of the four: Vava’u, Ha’apai, and Tongatapu. This time we checked off the fourth island group: The Niuas. Niuatoputapu is one of three islands in The Niuas, and it’s about 170 nmi north of the more well known Vava’u group. Fortunately, it’s a formal port of entry, so cruising yachts often make the stop here in between Samoa and the rest of Tonga.

The lagoon at Niuatoputapu

Niuatoputapu is a relatively low coral island with only a small lagoon on the northern side. The pass is navigable, but not entirely straightforward, so we were glad to have waypoints from cruisers who came before us and also satellite imagery for truth data against our chart plotter. We made it in no problem with good visibility from the mid-day sus. The shallowest depth measurement we took in the pass was 17 ft and we clocked a current of about 1 kt (although I didn’t write down if it was incoming or outgoing). The SE trades were blowing pretty steady the whole time we were there, so we had good protection and a nice flat lagoon to enjoy.

Anchor location 15 56.511 S, 173 46.096 W, 24 ft

The view of the island from our anchorage

This beautiful island has some tragedy in its recent history. On 29 Sept 2009 there was an 8.1 magnitude earthquake that caused a devastating tsunami. Nine people on the island died as a result of the tsunami and 60% of the buildings were destroyed. There are three villages on the island, and needless to say the one that is at a higher elevation suffered the least amount of damage. They have rebuilt nicely, and you’d hardly know of the destruction now except for the small memorial and that they now have all these tsunami safety signs and clearly marked evacuation routes to higher ground.

Tsunami warning signs are posted at several locations on the island

We departed Apia, Samoa in the morning on Saturday 7 May after staying up late and saying good-bye to our friends and cyclone buddies from s/v Nefertiti. It was a fast and bumpy one night passage upwind into a steady 15-16 kts of SE trades. It certainly wasn’t one of our worst passages, but it wasn’t one of our best either. The forecast predicted a slight unfavorable wind shift, so we pointed as high as we could until we were about halfway there and then fell off the wind a bit. The shift never really materialized, so the second half of the passage was slightly more comfortable than the first. You can see our track in the satellite image below. We arrived about noon on Sunday, and since it was Sunday, we laid low and didn’t go ashore and disturb anyone.

Track of our passage from Somoa to Niuatoputapu

Passage Summary:

Duration 1 day 5:01 hours

Log miles 190 nmi, Avg Speed 6.55 kt

DMG 184 nmi, Avg VMG 6.34 kt

Track miles 188 nmi, Avg SOG 6.48 kt

Engines – SB only 5:28 hrs, Both 1:25 hrs

Going to Tonga again was a mixture of new experiences and reliving old memories. We made it to Niuatoputapu this time around and also spent time in our old stomping grounds of Vava’u. The main purpose for our re-visit to Tonga was to make use of the new haul-out facility and boatyard, but that didn’t keep us from also enjoying Port Maurelle and Hunga Lagoon the second time around. Last time we were in Vava’u we said good-bye to our long-time cruising buds on Lady Carolina, while this time we struck up a new friendship with the family from Del Viento.

We had previously spent three months in Tonga but that time we missed the small island of Niuatoputapu, so that’s where we’ll be headed next. Then on to our old stomping frounds of Vava’u for some fun with a new kid boat and a haul-out for Exodus.

One final look back at Apia as we pulled away

It looked like we had a weather window to depart on a Saturday, so we spent Friday taking care of formalities and last-minute provisioning of fresh items.

We spent the evening, until almost midnight, hanging out with Fred and Emelie on Exodus. We had a sad good-bye, since by that time they were very dear friends even though we had only known them for two weeks. It took me awhile to learn that in this lifestyle you have to put yourself out there quickly in order to make friends because everyone is moving at a different pace in different directions and if you hold back you will miss out on knowing really special people because before you know it they are gone, or you are gone or both. So, at midnight we started getting the boat ready for a morning departure to Tonga.

The last several days we were in Apia we had to leave the marina and go anchor in the harbor to make room for a bunch of power boats, since there was a big sport fishing tournament, and the marina was booked. It was sort of a pain to have to move, but I think it was a good thing we were out there and not in the marina since it became over-run with beer-chugging, foul-mouthed, fishermen. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with beer chugging, foul mouths, and/or fishermen, but so many in one place might be a little much.

A cargo ship brought some of the boats that were participating in the fishing tournament

I’m pretty sure the sunsets were prettier while anchored in the harbor