26 July - Tapana

1100 position 18-43S 173-59W. At anchor in 25 feet, sand bottom, Taunga
Island, Vava'u, Tonga

Lori had mentioned to Lawrence, the English proprietor of the Bounty Bar,
how much we had enjoyed the "plowman's lunch" when traveling in England a
few years ago with Gordon Goldsmith and Ellie Tanswell. The plowman's
wasn't normally on the Bounty Bar menu, but Lawrence was so taken with
Lori that he promised to make her a custom plowman's, so on Thursday we
got to enjoy his version of this classic English luncheon made with what's
available here in Tonga. While the cheeses and pickles (according to
Lawrence) "weren't proper", it was a wonderful spread, and we returned to
the boat stuffed, happy, and longing for a pulled English ale. Lawrence
is a real character, and has been a great friend to Lori, Rocky and me.
Anybody visiting Vava'u needs to be sure to stop in at the Bounty Bar for
a drink, a chat with Lawrence and his sidekick Pete, and to give "Mr.
Bentley" (Lawrence's ever present yellow lab) a scritch.

It has been really cold here, with temperatures dropping into the high 50s
at night. Discussions on the morning radio net indicate it is air from
fifty degrees south latitude brought north around the passing high
pressure area. Hard to believe we are at eighteen degrees south latitude.
I'm wearing my lambs wool booties and hoodie sweatshirt to try to stay
warm, and it is a real ordeal trying to force myself to jump off the stern
for my daily bath.

Reprovisioned and full of water, we departed Neiafu again for our final
week alone. Matt and Vicky Dyer are arriving on 30 July, and there were
still a few Vava'u anchorages we hadn't checked out yet. On the way out
of the harbor we passed Craig on Pickity Witch heading the other way and
yelled greetings. Craig was under sail since he blew his engine head
gasket last week and is awaiting parts from New Zealand. Craig yelled
over that he is still hoping to defend his Friday night race title that
evening even if he has to sail in and out of the anchorage. Ah, the
enthusiasm of youth… We had a beautiful sail out to Tapana, this time
anchoring on the north side of the island (new to us) in a protected cove
that is also home to the island group's only floating art gallery.

We are now anchored a few hundred feet from "The Ark Gallery" and plan to
visit sometime today by dinghy. Interesting that since our arrival almost
24 hours ago we have seen no customers in the gallery. How does a
business like that survive? There are also supposed to be some
archeological ruins on the shore here that warrant exploration. The wind
is supposed to blow for the next few days, and this is a good spot to
hunker down, so we will likely stay put until it is time to head to Neiafu
to meet Matt and Vicki.