28 July - It's Still a Small World

1700 position 18-43S 173-59W. At anchor in 25 feet, sand bottom, Taunga
Island, Vava'u, Tonga

We dinghied over to the Ark Gallery to have a look, and there met owners
Larry and Sherry, a lovely American couple who have lived in Tonga for
eight years. When they learned we were from the windward side of Oahu
they asked, "Do you know Dave and Ann Ayling?"

"As a matter of fact, we do," I replied, "and they sold us the boat we
sailed here on! She is anchored right over there."

It turns out Larry and Sherry had done two yacht deliveries for the
Aylings, including delivering Moku pe'a from Tahiti to Hawaii. We had
even met before when Moku pe'a (then named Le Christian) first arrived at
Kaneohe Yacht Club. Dave had given me a tour of the boat and I recall
discussing her sailing characteristics with Larry although neither one of
us now recognized the other. Small world indeed.

My hunch about the art gallery not being their sole source of income
proved to be correct. They have done fifty five yacht deliveries over the
years, and they also rent out moorings and baby sit boats for owners that
fly home for work or visits. They have a good thing here, but the
business is for sale as they are ready to move on after eight years.

Every Saturday night Sherry and Larry organize a cruisers pot luck for all
of the boats in the anchorage. We attended and met some real characters.
There were cruisers from Scotland, England, New Zealand, Australia,
Tazmania, and the U.S. It reminded us of the crowd at Rick's Café in the
movie Casablanca, unique folks from all over the world that might be
running away from something. We had some time to visit with Dave and
Sara, two kids from the U.S. on their engineless Contessa 26, who have
been cruising for three years since leaving Port Townsend, WA. We had
seen them sail into Neiafu harbor at sunrise a few days earlier with their
quarantine flag up, pick up a mooring under sail, and then launch their
dinghy and row over to check into the country. Their hard dinghy seemed
to be nearly as big as their boat and I was puzzled as to where it was
stowed aboard. Turns out it was a nesting dinghy (it comes apart into
two pieces that nest together for storage on deck). The dinghy was a
beautiful piece of engineering. Gotta get me one of those. Dave and Sara
have no plans or money, go where the wind and urges take them, and are
having a ball.