1300 position 18-39S 173-59W. At anchor in Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga
Matt loves his fishing, so when the Dyers are aboard I delegate the chief
fisherman's role to Matt. The Dyers have been fishing furiously since
they arrived aboard Moku pe'a, but hadn't had much luck except for the aku
caught off of Hunga, which we threw back. They had been trying many of
the lures aboard, but when we departed Kenutu decided to revert back to
our proven but trashed Randy Reed specials. Sure enough, five minutes
after putting out the hand lines we had a fish on. Matt and I weren't
positive on the species, but it looked kind of like a kahala. We later
found out that the locals here call it an "awa". We saved it for dinner.
We headed into Old Harbor and anchored in front of Makave Village so we
could dinghy ashore and walk to the annual Vava'u Agricultural Fair at the
high school. We arrived at the fair just as the King was arriving, and
Lori got a response to her wave and smile from him as his limo passed.
The half hour of speeches in Tongan were a bit boring, but otherwise the
fair was very interesting with all of the fish, produce, livestock, and
crafts that are produced locally. And what a crowd. It seemed like
everybody in Vava'u was there. We almost felt like locals as we saw a
number of folks we knew including Kolio from Lape Island, John and Sela
from Helala Vanilla Farm, Craig and Anna from Pickity Witch, and some
vendors that Lori knows from the open market.
That night it started raining, and it continued for the next two days. We
did manage to catch a lot of rainwater to fill our tanks and dilute the
foul tasting municipal water. But after two days of being stuck below
decks we were going stir crazy so on the third day we pulled up the hook
and sailed in twenty plus knots of wind and rain back around Vaika'eitu so
Matt and Vicki could swim the Coral Gardens without having to cross the
reef. After sailing twenty plus miles for the day we anchored for the
night in Port Maurelle, which the Dyers hadn't seen yet.
The next morning as we were drinking coffee in the cockpit we could see a
boat's mast over the top of the islands to the west! The boat was a big
one, and as it got closer we could see that it was a big catamaran. We
didn't realize how big until we saw the crew, which looked like ants, on
its deck. It came in to anchor in Port Maurelle just behind a nice forty
plus foot sport fisherman. When we departed that afternoon we sailed by
the sport fisherman for a look. On the back it said "Y/T Hemisphere", and
we had an inconclusive debate about the meaning of "Y/T". A few minutes
later we sailed by the big catamaran, and the name on the back was
"Hemisphere". It became suddenly apparent that the "Y/T" stood for "Yacht
Tender". The big cat's tender was far bigger than Moku pe'a…. When we
got back to Neiafu later that day we googled "Hemisphere", and it turns
out that she is the largest sailing catamaran in the world at 145 feet
long and 45 feet wide. She's available for charter for those of you with
some spare cash lying around.
Back in Neiafu we had lots to do to get organized for the girls'
departure. Shirts to buy, laundry to be done, propane to refill, a trip
to the "fakaleiti show" for Lori and Vicki, and a whale shark lecture at
the Aquarium. We are keeping an eye out for "Rum Doodle", Pauline and
Steve's MacGregor 65 that cruised through Kaneohe Bay and spent time at
KYC in May, who plan on arriving in Neiafu today from Samoa on their way
home to Brisbane. Tonight it is slow roast beef at the Aquarium and quiz
night at the Bounty Bar. The girls depart tomorrow morning.
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