Good Times In Vava'u

Hello to all,

It's been a very social time here in Vava'u the past couple weeks. Just about everyone we've met along the coconut milk run has congregated in Tonga although a few boats chose to go to Fiji and a few boats have left for Haapai. We've been racing on Fridays and doing well although we can't seem to actually win outright. There is always some big boat or two which is just too darn fast to beat boat for boat. We console ourselves that if this was 'real' racing with any kind of handicap system we'd be well ahead of the game. Of course, what would happen with the boats who are slower and have correspondingly greater handicap ratings than us? Best not to think about it. We've had only one casualty. Glen from "Tin Soldier" who crews for us trimming the traveler got whacked by the mainsheet when the boom came over in a jibe. Luckily there are a couple doctors in the fleet. A few stitches here and there and he was racing again with us next week. And watching the main sheet very carefully!

We've spent more time in the 'big city' of Neiafu than we planned. We were waiting for our new windlass to be delivered. This is not such a simple matter since it came by air from New Zealand to Tongatapu and then by the weekly ferry from Tongatapu to Neiafu. This has been known to take awhile. For us it worked just fine and after a little discussion with the customs officials, very gentlemanly and sweet, and the exchange of some cash in the form of a 'use tax' we had our new windlass. A few hours of wiring, hammering and bolting and, low and behold, it works as advertised! I feel now my fingers and feet have a much better chance of survival than had we tried to continue with the previous old beast.

The weather has been a bit of a disappointment. Just too much rain and overcast. We could have been in the Pacific northwest if it were about ten degrees cooler. That system does now seem to have finally broken down and we've had some sun and we're looking forward to more.

We went whale watching and swimming with Humpback whales a few days ago. It was a really rough day so they were on the move and we only got in the water a few minutes with a cow and a calf. Still very impressive to be snorkeling along with a forty foot beast and her ten foot calf. Day after tomorrow we plan to head south to the Haapai group and spend at least a few days there. Then we go a little further south to Tongatapu and the capitol of Tonga, Nuku'Alofa. From there we shove off for New Zealand. So this is the beginning of the third phase of the season for us. We did the passage to Polynesia, we have crossed much of Polynesia and now we leave Polynesia for New Zealand. There are certainly mixed feelings about this. We have already said goodbye to some good friends who we may not see anymore. There's the feeling that we won't be coming this way again and that we haven't done all we should have done. There's the thought that we're letting 'time' and 'insurance criteria' (the insurance companies require boats to be out of the tropics during the typhoon season) run our lives. But there's also the desire to move on. And desire to meet friends in New Zealand. And, the truth be told, the desire to actually come back to our home for a while and see family and friends and cats.

Love to all,
Bill & Janet

Life Around Vava'u Tonga

Hello to all,

My apologies for the length of time since our last update. Could it be we've been having a pretty good time in Tonga? Yep, 'tis true, and since we survived yesterday's weekly 'friendly' yacht race, sometimes called the 'Friday Night Fight', I'm inspired to write.

The Vava'u Group of Tonga is a busier place than ten years ago when we last visited. There are a few small resorts on the out islands now and town (Neiafu) has more to offer in the way of feeding and watering establishments. Actual provisioning from the grocery stores is still pretty sparse. There is decent wireless internet coverage in the anchorage. How we lived before this became available I do not know. We've been alternating between time spent at out island anchorages and time spent on a mooring in Neiafu. Both have their joys. However, Janet is still healing up from her exhaust pipe burn so she's not been engaging in her principle joy which is snorkeling and scuba diving in these waters. As she puts it, "Spying on the private lives of fishes." She's about healed and says next week it's back into the water. Around Neiafu the principle joy is the daily discovery of some small thing about the place interspersed with a lot of cruiser social activity. Most of our friends are here now. It's high season in Tonga and the Aquarium Cafe, the Bounty Bar, the Mermaid, etc., can be pretty crowded any time of the day. Since everything depends on the arrival of the inter-island cargo boats and then the not-so-efficient dispersal of goods you never know where you can eat what from one day to the next. Last night one of our favorite places was "out of food". The ferry didn't get unloaded. Often times the ice cream place is out of ice cream, horrors! A couple days ago I stopped by the local 'ice cream parlor' and they said they would have ice cream in the afternoon. There were a bunch of very large rather determined looking Tongan guys just standing around. I came back in the afternoon and the guys were gone and they were now "out of ice cream". Oh well.

We raced our own boat yesterday for the first time here. We've got very good sails and this is a fast boat but it's not set up for 'around the buoys' racing. There was the usual turnout of about fifteen fairly serious boats. We a had a nice crew of friends aboard. This racing is very basic. All boats are thrown together with no handicapping and the first boat around the course wins. The course is set up to offer maximum thrills to the spectator/bar flies at the Mermaid (who sponsors the race) so there's a lot of maneuvering of big boats in very close quarters close to shore and obstructions, exciting but dangerous. Baring big problems the fastest machine wins. We won the start but gradually got over hauled by a couple pure racing racing machines a 47 foot catamaran and some sort of fifty foot custom boat. Finished fifth which won us dinner at the 'Dancing Rooster'. More important we all had a blast and nobody got killed or even seriously damaged. There's nothing more exciting than a crowded mark rounding of a bunch of big boats in very tight quarters.

Loren and Mary Halverson were here for a couple weeks and we had a great time. They are active, athletic, outdoorsy types who can deal with a marine toilet and smile. A dark night dinghy ride in the rain seemed to hold no terror for them. They were great company. Michael Roach, the previous owner of this boat, Fred Huffman, who is a mutual friend and who did a lot of rig work on this boat and other friends are here on another boat which is a lot of fun. We did have some pretty crummy weather for a few days. Came down about thirty hours straight and must have rained about a foot. Had enough wind to destroy my wind generator when I didn't get up in time to shut it down. Had three hours straight of absolutely continuous lightning. The most spectacular display I've ever seen from the ground. Our anchor windlass has finally died. I ordered a new replacement from New Zealand yesterday. Thank god the Zealand dollar is even worse off than the US dollar. Windlasses are not cheap. This one lasted twenty-three years and I knew it would go eventually but the thing was getting down right dangerous to use and now it's really squirrelly.

So that's all part of this kind of life. I've now got to replace a wind generator and a windlass. A couple of our good friends just had their genset and their water maker fail on the same day. A very expensive day! Sometimes my sweet spouse thinks I'm lower than whale droppings on the bottom of the sea. Sometimes I'm her hero. Sometimes we have priceless experiences. Sometimes the price seems pretty high. Life out here is life like anywhere else but maybe, I think, a little more direct and pretty darn nice. No matter where you go, there you are. Most of the time!

We'll be in the Vava'u group for a few more weeks and then head down to the Ha-apai Group and then Tongatapu and then to New Zealand. We hope to be under way for NZL by mid October, earlier if possible, all depends on the weather. We'll spend time there with friends and then be back in California until around April. As they say in the cruising community, "That's the plan." We'll see!

Love to all,
Bill & Janet

Niue to Vava'u

Hello to all,

We arrived in the Vava'u group of the Kingdom of Tonga the 22nd after losing a day crossing the dateline. We never had a 21st. We departed Niue the 19th and had a fast passage averaging 6.4 knts for the 250 mile trip with only a reefed main up for most of the run. It was entirely a deep broad reach in 15-25 knts and 6-8 feet of SE swell. A little lumpy. There wasn't any point in going faster, we arrived about midnight as it was and anchored out before entering the harbor at Neiafu after sun up. Although Tonga is still a west longitude somehow they manage to slide into the next day. They must feel it's some advantage to them but it sure screws up the navigational process for those who still depend on traditional methods. And for those of us who do not, these islands are about two tenths of a nautical mile east of their charted position. So using a GPS chart plotter to pick your way around the reef structure is sure to put you on the hard. This a place for visual pilotage and radar, the GPS is good for mapping only.

I don't believe I said much about Niue. Internet service there was minimal and HF propagation was poor. Niue is lovely, very quiet and laid back with the nicest people we've met anywhere. The Washaway Bar is the absolute classic yachtie hangout. The dinghy landing was always a real challenge in that you land at an exposed concrete commercial wharf (there's no harbor) and hoist the dinghy ashore using a commercial dock hoist after you've jumped, hauled or hoisted yourself. When there's a swell running, and there always was, this can be quite exciting. Everyone always got wet but no one got hurt while we were there. There was usually a matter of a few feet and a couple seconds between success and disaster. Watching our friend's very cute seven and eight year old girls bounding off the concrete wharf into the arms of their parents while the dinghy is poised at the top of a six foot swell which will break about ten feet farther down the wharf was really satisfying. Cruising kids are learning far more than they realize. I think this is a wonderful life for kids and they all seem to be having a great time. We rented a motorcycle and went all over the island. I picked up some road rash and Janet got an exhaust pipe leg burn. Comes from using a crummy old Suzuki 125 road bike on a steep gravel trail with two aboard. Operator misjudgment! My first road rash in about 30 years and Janet's first exhaust burn ever, nothing life threatening.

So arriving here is the completion of our personal version of what's called the 'coconut milk run' across the South Pacific. There are endless permutations but we'll stay in the Kingdom's various island groups until heading for New Zealand sometime in October. We did a bareboat charter here with The Moorings ten years ago and loved the place. It's changed a little, but it's still lovely and laid back and we hear the out islands, where we will spend most of our time, haven't changed at all. Loren and Mary Halverson are coming in to spend some time with us and we'll explore old haunts with them. This is the biggest congregation of cruising boats since Papeete so there's plenty of social scene here when it's desired. We've got friends moored all around us. The Bounty Bar, The Mermaid, the Aquarium, etc. are all owned by ex-cruisers who know the true worth of a hot shower, a cold Ikale (the local brew) and a good crab quesadilla. We're having fun!

Love to all,
Bill & Janet

Opinions of French Polynesia

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Hello to all,

We're still at Beveridge Reef where the winds have begun to decrease and I'm pretty sure we'll get some exploring done this afternoon.

I've been meaning to summarize my feelings about French Polynesia for some time. I guess now is the time. Love, hate relationship is too strong. There was little to hate and plenty to love but there are strong contradictions. For a number of reasons, chiefly the limit of ninety days on our visas, we had to move through the islands faster than we wished. But, contradiction, we were happy to leave as well. In my opinion the only reason, today, for a person to go to Tahiti is to have their boat worked on or get stuff delivered. Not that it's bad place but there are many better and far, far less expensive. We had some really good meals thanks to the guidance of our friends and we got what we needed and, like most cruisers, got out. The Marquesas are lovely. Many of the Tuamotus are South Pacific dream places. The Society Islands beyond Tahiti are very beautiful and, other than Bora Bora, relatively unspoiled. We especially liked Moorea and Huahine. Bora Bora is beautiful but far over developed and the hotel industry appears to be in collapse. Hanging over most of French Polynesia is the expense of the place. It is, I believe, the most expensive place in the world to visit. There are too many other beautiful places for people to go and get far more for their money. For a yacht moving across the South Pacific it's still worth doing, almost a 'must do'. But for a person looking for an exotic vacation I'd recommend looking elsewhere. Quick example, it costs exactly the same in US dollars to rent a scooter for four HOURS in French Polynesia as it does to rent one for a WEEK in the Cook Islands. And the Cook Islands scooters are much better Yamahas. Another example, a case of diet coke costs $65 US in French Polynesia, is costs about $25 US in the Cooks. We got used to paying $40-$80 for a very simple lunch for two in French Polynesia. The same lunch would cost $8-10 in the Cooks. The only thing reasonable in FP is the very good baguettes which are cheaper than in the states. A great fresh baguette can be had for about $.75 US. Everything else you can think of is so expensive as to be ridiculous. A couple bags of groceries will shock the hell out of any 'new to the islands' shopper. The Polynesian people were very friendly and kind and the French we met were equally charming and very generous. But the islands live off the French subsidys. It's generally felt that there are jobs for anyone who wants to work but, for those who don't, there's an elaborate subsidy system. To balance some of that cost taxes are really high. So few new businesses are interested in coming.

In contrast the Cooks are still in a loose association with New Zealand but I don't believe there's any subsidy system. It's pretty common for Cook Islanders go to New Zealand and work and send home money. Somehow Rarotonga seemed a livelier, more vital place than anywhere we found in FP, including Tahiti. It's a small place but it's bustling in a good natured manner. There's definitely a different attitude. The good natured Polynesian kindness and sweetness is still there but they seem to be having a lot more fun with life.

So I'll hazard some very broad conclusions and say that what we're looking at is a high tax, high cost, socialistic society versus a low tax, low cost, more free enterprise society. Also we're looking at a legacy of different colonial systems. In fact French Polynesia is still French whereas the Cooks and Niue are now independent of NZL and Tonga has always been independent. The French we talked with in Papeete and elsewhere are very aware of the problems and feel that things have to change but say that no one is willing to take the political heat for the inevitable, very painful, change. Judging from what we saw of hotel occupancy, change will come one way or another.

So, what would I recommend for a non sailor who wants to visit FP? First, understand your wallet and kiss much of it goodbye forever. Second, stay at the Mai Tai in Fakarava or the Kia Ora in Rangoria or the Shangri La in Moorea. You'll have a good time and have chance at a real South Pacific experience. There are a lot of smaller and very nice places but I'd stay away from Tahiti and Bora Bora in the Society islands. Moorea, Huahine, Tahaa and Raiatea are more beautiful and there are many places to stay.

Better yet, go to the Cooks or the Vava'u group of Tonga.

So, I guess no one has asked, but those are my opinions. Janet feels you could spend as much money in some other very nice places. I think the point is you can't avoid spending the money if you're in FP. Time for a little lunch and an exploration.

Love to all,
Bill & Janet