28 May - It's A Small World After All

0600 position 18-39S 173-59W. At anchor in 16 feet, coral and sand
bottom, Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga

A front decided to come through while we were hove to offshore waiting for
the sun to come up. The wind shifted to the west, so now instead of being
in the lee of the island we were on a lee shore, the wind came up, and it
started pouring. Fortunately we were being conservative and had plenty of
sea room and with just two reefs in the main we were rigged to handle the
big winds. The pouring rain and 100% overcast also kept it from getting
light until later, but at 7AM we could start to see things so we ran off
and into the maze of islands that is Vava'u. We zigged and zagged the
seven miles into Port of Refuge Harbor which must be the most protected
natural harbor in the world. The anchor was down at 830AM and our voyage
to Tonga was over.

It remained rainy and overcast all day long, but I had to go up the mast
to get some critical measurements for Lori's headstay replacement project
and we also had to go ashore to check in with customs. Still only four
strands broken on the headstay so things didn't get any worse on the trip
south from Niuatoputapu. We found customs after going ashore but it was
during their lunch hour, so we hiked up the hill to the Tropicana Café
where we bumped into our pal Tom from Maine that had brought us fruit in
Suwarrow. They had arrived with the rally fleet the night before.
Interesting that the rally fleet all decided to come into Vava'u in the
middle of the night trusting their GPSs (and more importantly the charts)
to be accurate. I suppose the fleet manager had been here before and
could confirm the accuracy of the charts/GPS positions. They all made it
in fine, but I didn't have that navigational confidence so I still think
we did the right thing by waiting offshore. I had a hamburger for lunch
(no steak on the menu), but I couldn't guarantee that there was any beef
in that burger.

After lunch we checked in with customs, bought some limes in the open
market, and headed over to the Aquarium Café where they reportedly had
free WIFI. This was a much nicer place than the Tropicana, they did
indeed have free WIFI, and their hot brownies were wonderful with a beer
chaser. We met the owner Mike, who's wife Lisa is a 1978 Kailua High
School graduate and the cousin of Paul Silen, my next door neighbor
growing up and lifelong pal. Mike and Lisa stay at Paul's house whenever
they are in or passing through Hawaii. It is a small world.

I'd been almost 24 hours without sleep and was falling apart, so we headed
back to the boat. On the way we walked through the Bounty Bar where there
was a live NBA playoff game on the television. Rocky loves his NBA and
would have loved to stay and watch the game, but he took pity on me and
came back to the boat where I promptly passed out.