Tonga

We arrived in the Vava'u group of Tonga on August 1st, which was really August 2nd, because we crossed the date line. It was a Sunday, so we had to stay aboard and could not check in. We hoisted our yellow quarantine flag and planned to check in the next day. Alas, that was the King's birthday (yes Tonga is a Kingdom), no chance of checking in either. Finally on Tuesday we went to the customs dock, filled out all the paperwork, hoisted the Tongan flag and were legal. To celebrate we went out for dinner on shore.

Two and a half weeks later we are still anchored in the same spot, in front of Neiafu village, the capital of this island group, and loving our life here.

We are just finished with this school year, so we have about three weeks before our next year starts....!! Jet did a research report on Black Pearls as a final project. We visited two pearl farms in the Tuamotos and the Pearl Museum in Papeete, where she gathered her materials. Jet's favored subject this year was Algebra, but her most improved one was Spelling. Hein loved Mythology and made great strides with his compositions. Eltjo's favorite subjects were cursive writing and spelling. He can read quite well by now, but maintains that he does not like reading.

We made 'official' report cards for the three of them, reflecting on their acquired skills and 'need to work on' subjects. Then we had a feast and they received 'graduation' presents.

Life after school

For Ewout's birthday Hein wrote him a card in the style that we usually do for the children. It was rather funny, it went as follows: Dear Dad, You're becoming big and strong, there are many new things you can do. You are especially good in team operations and letting Mom do new things. You can work on empathy and less computer time. Love Hein.

There is a fantastic Austrian bakery here in town. For Ewout's birthday we had breakfast there. We also had boat T-shirts made for his B-day. He was not as enthusiastic as the rest of the family, because we all chose different colors, but we liked them and we needed some new clothes.

Back and Front of our new Bravado shirts

The weather has been overcast and rainy. We miss the beautiful French Polynesian weather. The anchorage is really full, which is lovely because there are so many kids boats. We met a new boat called 'All the Colours'. They have been cruising for 5 years!! They started in the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic, did Brazil and the Amazon River, the Caribbean, crossed the Pacific and are now here. And we thought that we were adventurous!!

Everyone is busy with the ferry disaster. Has that been on the news in the rest of the world? An inter-island ferry called Princess Ashika sunk and all the women and children on it drowned because they were asleep down below. Very sad. There are a number of fund-raising events organized for the families and all the 'yachties' try to participate as much as they can.

We have become members of the local library. It is a nice change that we can speak and read English again. The Tongans are very friendly. The boys wear skirts for their school uniforms!! If a family has 5 sons (or any number of sons and no daughters) they raise the youngest son as a girl. So there are quite a few she-males here. We went to the hairdresser and our hair was cut by a man with his hand and toe-nails painted red and pink. The woman in the shop referred to him as she. Interesting? He cut our hair quite nicely, Jet and I had not been to a hairdresser since March 3 in Mexico....!

The Peerys (right hand side, blue patch in top of tiny sail) racing in between all the *much* bigger boats

Our dinghy, The Peerys, with Skipper Eltjo and his crew Ewout won second place in a local sailing race. Eltjo was so proud, he was still dancing while brushing his teeth that night. He won a coupon for five smoothies at a local cafe. Next week Skipper Hein wants to participate in the race, we will keep you informed how he fares.

Skipper Eltjo and crew Ewout.

Bravadites wishing you well from Tonga.

Mopelia and Palmerston

About a hundred nautical miles west of Maupiti there is a little atoll named Mopelia (=aka Maupihaa). We did not plan to stop there, but the latest Grib files forcast a little more wind than we considered comfortable, thus we decided to wait inside the lagoon until the worst of the weather was over. The pass into Mopelia was the scariest we have done so far. The charts were off, the markers did not match the pilot book and the pass is so narrow, that the reef on both sides looked dangerously close to Bravado (as in a 3 meter gap either side of the boat!).

We made three attempts to enter and went back the same number of times. On our fourth attempt Aedgard (Lariekoek) went ahead of us (he has boat loads of experience, has insurance, draws 3 ft less and has only 1 person aboard). We gladly followed him and made it through. I was shaking and Ewout with his nerves of steel also indicated that he might not have gone in without Aedgard leading the way. Aedgard contemplated that he rather has 40 knots of wind than doing a pass like that. One guide says:
"Narrow Passe Taihaaru Vahine on Ile Mopelia challenges the best nerves". There are two little huts with people on the southern tip of the island, and lots of pigs. We only stayed for 36 hours until the worst of the weather had passed.

A different guide (South Pacific Anchorages) says: "A number who have visited this atoll consider that there was not suffcient compensation for the trauma of entry and exit"...

Lariekoek in high waves underway from Mopelia to Palmerston

On the way out we followed our track from going in. It was still scary, because we had 5 knots of current with us, so everything went really fast. However Ewout was great and steered Bravado safely through. We still had 38 knots of wind and huge seas on our way to Palmerston. We didn't quite hit the 15 knots we did heading down the coast of the US, but still kept up a nice pace and the boat stays very dry and handles extremely well in these conditions. Eltjo and Hein were seasick however, they could not stop throwing up (Jet remarked that she did not think she could ever eat salad again out of our multi-purpose salad bowl). Once we arrived at Palmerston Eltjo woke Judith early in the morning and wolfed down an enormous pancake breakfast to make up for the lost calories.

Alpha Sierra (aka Edward) takes crew of Runnaway Bunny, Lariekoek, and Bravado ashore at Palmerston

The church and William Masters original home in main street.

The anchorage at Palmerston was really roly and the moorings were only a 100ft away from the reef. We had to trust that they were good moorings... (later we heard that the mooring of our friends on Wayward Wind broke within 10 minutes.. However, their ship displaces 70 tons against Bravado's 10 tons.). The visit to Palmerston was very interesting. Do you know that the island was settled by William Marsters from Lancashire, England, who came there with his three Penrhyn Island wives in 1862 and fathered 26 children? All the current inhabitants are descendants of this William Marsters. At present there are 63 people living on this atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, of whom 25 are children. Our hosts were Edward and his brother Simon, who gave us a tour around the island and then drinks of fresh coconut milk.

Kiwi teachers shows Judith and Aedgard the one room school.

Children playing at Edward Marsters home.

Edward serves fresh coconut milk after the island tour.

Palmerston sometimes only gets 2 visits by a supply vessel a year and hence relies greatly on visit yachties for supplies. We took the opportunity to lighten Bravado leaving behind many items we had carried specially since Mexico (diving and fishing gear, fire extinguishers, clothing, cloth, rope, cd players, school supplies, plywood, etc. etc.). After two nights at Palmerston we continued on to Tonga. The weather seemed relatively good, so we decided not to stop at Nuie. We had 25 to 30 knot winds and waves from the side, which made for a rocky but fast passage. We all thought that the 3000 mile crossing from Mexico to the Marquesas was easier than this 1250 mile one.

Maupiti

We wanted to stop in Maupiti, 27 miles west of Bora Bora, which has a narrow pass that is difficult to enter with a high south-east swell. One has to surf in on the breakers. Because of this, most yachts avoid this island. We sent our scouts on Loon III a day ahead of us and with their information it went as follows:

Bravado going through the Maupiti Pass in the surf. Crew on deck to help look for the reef.

Bravado inside the Maupiti lagoon

Maupiti Pass and Motu

Bravado and Lariekoek anchored in Maupiti's lagoon

Our stay in Maupiti was great, we really loved it. Maupiti is beautiful and a lot less commercialized than Bora Bora. We did some excellent hikes with our friends Aly and Iain from Loon III. One can walk around the island in about 2.5 to 3 hours. You can also walk up the big rock in the middle of the island. However, once at the top, you should not have a fear of heights.

Eltjo hiking around the island

Ewout getting a haircut from Aly

The Heiva Festival, that was going on at the other French Polynesian Islands was also
going on at Maupiti. The dancers and singers wear the most amazing hand-made costumes.

Dancing at the Heiva Festival in Maupiti

Choir at the Heiva Festival in Maupiti

On July 14 free beers and breakfast were handed out at 9am to everyone. This is how Parisian taxpayers keep the Polynesian population "in the fold".

Handing out free beers at 9:00AM on July 14

Later in the day petanque (= bocce ball or jeu de boules) competitions were being held, but our skills in that sport could by no means match up with the locals, so we stuck to being in the audience.

We stayed in Maupiti for 9 days, because we really enjoyed ourselves and the swell/breakers were too high to get out any sooner.

Resting after a hard days work....


Playing on the beach of a nearby Motu.

Bora Bora

There she is: Bora Bora!!

One day towards the end of June, a 28 knot wind blew us from Tahaa to Bora Bora. We were very interested to learn whether reality would match the beautiful pictures we had seen of the island over the years.

Beautiful Bora Bora

Bora Bora is indeed breathtaking. The main island is surrounded by a ring of sand banks with palm trees ( ‘motus’), which have been turned into a string of 5* resorts for rich European, Japanese and American tourists. The kind of resorts with bungalows over turquoise water, where you can watch sea life by looking through the floor. Our budget would not quite stretch to such luxurious accommodation so we anchored our 'bungalow' off the Bora Bora Yacht Club and enjoyed the sea life by snorkeling.

Playing a game at the Bora Bora Yacht Club


Snorkling with Tim and Finn from Whisper and Hailey from Incantation

The road around Bora Bora is only 27 kilometers long, so we decided to hitch hike again. The first person to stop for us was a lady, who used to be married to a 'tres tres mauvais' Dutchman and lived with him in Veendam. The latter is a place in the north of the Netherlands, that not even many Dutch people have visited. Anyway she could still understand Dutch, although she did not remember how to speak it. She had an artisan shop halfway around the island with lovely engraved oyster shells. Jet, Hein and I had a long look around and after carefully choosing a souvenir, she gave us pamplemousses, homemade jam, coconuts, and more souvenirs. The next car that stopped for us.... had Ewout and Eltjo in the back! So we joined and the friendly driver took us all the way back to the BB Yacht Club.

Fourth of July Party on Wayward Wind
with Scott and Mary from Whisper and Lauren from Wayward Wind

On the Fourth of July the yachts Wayward Wind and Carinthia, the two official party boats of the fleet, organized a wonderful party. Everyone brought a dish to share, which made for a great dinner and later on we were all dancing on the aft deck, yes even Ewout!! Apparently, later on, the party really went wild, however all the kids boats had already left.....

Jet having fun at the party with Mike and Veronica from Apple

Later we anchored at Bora Bora's south end in front of what used to be the famous Bora Bora hotel. The hotel had been abandoned for almost a year, due to the economy being down and thus a lack of tourism. It was still a beautiful spot. From there we walked to 'Bloody Mary's', a bar/restaurant that has two big boards outside with all the names of their famous guests listed. The first name that Eltjo recognized was Bill Gates. Ewout and I celebrated our 18th(!) wedding anniversary by having drinks with Apple, Lariekoek, Whisper and Incantation there.

Right at the top of the row Eltjo recognizes Bill and Melinda Gates

Another night we anchored in front of the village of Vaitapu to watch an evening dancing and singing as part of the Heiva Festival.

Eltjo helping out with stocking up

Then it was back to the Bora Bora Yacht Club and time to stock up again as preparation for the crossing to Tonga. It is still 1250 nautical miles from Bora Bora to Tonga (almost half the distance of the Mexico to Marquesas crossing).

Tahaa

Surf breaking on the reef at Tahaa

From Huahine we sailed to Tahaa. Raiatea and Tahaa are two of the Leeward islands within the same reef. Tahaa is the northern one. We entered via Passe Toahotu and sailed to Baie Apu, where we took a mooring buoy at the Taravana Yacht Club. Our stay was marked by lots of wind and we were happy that we were on a sturdy buoy. To pay for the mooring one had to drink a beer at the Taravana Yacht Club, but we decided to 'splurge' and have a meal with the beer. We had a lovely treat of steak and french fries.

Taravana Yacht Club