1600 position 18-42S 173-56W. At anchor in 25 feet off of Kenutu Island,
Vava'u, Tonga
After a day in Aisea Beach we sailed to Nuku Island to anchor and snorkel,
and then moved a few hundred yards to Falevai Tahi Village where we were
sheltered by the Kapa Island headland for the evening. We took a beach
walk the following morning and then sailed in to Neiafu for water and
provisions. We enjoyed rum punch and "Po Boys" for dinner at the Bounty
Bar and after a night on the hook took off for the Vaka'eitu lagoon where
Matt and Lori snorkeled the coral garden and we spent another night. On
the way there we had a way too close encounter with a humpback that
surfaced just a couple of boat lengths in front of us. The whale saw us
at the last minute and accelerated to avoid a collision, but I was already
diving for the autopilot to turn it off and make a hard left turn to miss
him. It was way too close.
We have been experiencing strong trade winds since Matt and Vicki arrived
which is less than ideal for seeing all of Vava'u's hot spots. Lighter
winds would be better, but we are making the best of it. Kenutu isn't a
great anchorage when it is windy, but it is a must see so we sailed out
here today, walked across Kenutu, and dinghied to Umuna, the next island,
to see the sink hole cave.
The Dyers are great cooks, and they bring a whole different repertoire to
our galley. Matt grew up in Hawaii and loves local kine food. Yesterday
was musubi day, and they used some Tongan chicken hot dogs to make hot dog
musubi, which was delicious. Good thing we have plenty of spam in the
food locker!
Your whale encounter reminds me of one off La'au Pt. in about 1985. Lisa Schoen and I were bringing back one of the charter boats, Cygnus, a Cape Dory 30 ketch (!), that had been abandoned by the charterers off Ka'anapali (happened way more often than I had predicted). The wind was ESE, we had the jib poled out, main prevented out, and mizzen run out tending itself. We were going fast for that boat and the waves were not small. Things were so lazy, though, that it was hard to stay awake in the cockpit. The bow pitched down on a particularly steep wave, and there, right in front of us, was a reef! Light green water, yikes! the heart stopped, then restarted in triple-time. I jumped up and spun the helm, sails jibed and backed. I thought for sure we were going to hit as we sort of surfed down the wave, but the whale woke up at the last second and in an explosion of water, dodged out of the way. I wonder what triple heart rate is for a whale. No more dozing the rest of that trip!
ReplyDelete