The last Kingdom ...

Tonga is the only pacific island nation that was never colonized and it is the oldest and last remaining South Pacific monarchy. Besides having strong traditions it is also staunchly 'christian' and on Sunday morning the turnout at church must surely be the envy of most christian nation throughout the world. But not only the numbers are impressing, it’s the singing that matters ….

Tonga is bordered by Fiji to the west and the Tongan Trench to the east, with 10632m depth the second deepest ocean trench in the world. It is composed of 171 islands, clustered into 4 different groups. Vava’u in the north with its magnificent archipelago is considered the sailing centre of Tonga and is also well known for the presence of humpback whales during breeding season. A mother and calf greeted us while going through the pass into the islands.

Neiafu is the main town in Vava’u and somehow reflects the islands south pacific attitude – it is so laid back that it is almost falling over and everything works on ‘island time’, including all the governmental offices. We spent almost 2 weeks there including a week of boat maintenance and admin catch-up, necessary after having been almost 4 weeks under way between French Polynesia and Tonga. We almost qualified as ‘locals’, walking several times daily between the Cafés Tropicana and Aquarium checking for the best internet connection.

Finally our new crew arrived – Helen and Diana from [neighboring] Australia and Tilman from Germany, after a mammoth 50 hour flight around more than half the world [the same distance has taken us so far only about 12 months … so, what’s your choice ????]

After the clearing-out procedure with customs and immigration officials and victualing the boat at the local market we set off to spend the first 5 days somewhere in the maze of islands … to get the crew used to their new duties.

Before leaving Neiafu we organized to get picked up at our first anchorage by a dive operator to experience the outstanding corals and underwater lava architecture. Unfortunately we were at the tail end of the whale season and the humpbacks didn’t show up for the ‘booked’ swim along. However the corals we saw diving and snorkeling were outstanding.

It was easy spending the days cruising between the beautiful spots in the archipelago, waiting for the right weather to arrive for our passage to Fiji.

Some local fisherman came around to give us some of their catch and we bulked it out with a conch shell we found snorkeling in the Blue Lagoon.

Unfortunately the weather forecast never quite promised the perfect wind conditions and after a rainy day and thundery night at anchor we decided we might as well split.

The morning we set sail looked still pretty threatening with more rain, but once we were out on the ocean it turned out to be a great day for sailing with 15-20 knots of wind, coming from northeast to start. By the end of the day we had the wind go to the north, then over northwest to west and then to the south. We never had a dull moment with setting and re-setting the sails.

Our destination was SavuSavu on Fiji’s northern island of Vanua Levu, but we had our mind set to make an ‘illegal’ stop over in one of the islands in the northern Lau group in Fiji’s east. To visit the Lau islands one normally needs a special and rather costly cruising permit, but … we had a steering problem [we really did!!!] and needed to make an emergency stop on Vanuabalavu, an island in the Exploring Islands group.  Separated from the rest of the Fijian islands by 120 miles against the prevailing trade winds it is really a forgotten and hence isolated corner – but just amazing. In the early morning after 3 days of better than expected sailing we negotiated a reef pass into the lagoon and after not having had an anchorage to ourselves for a very long time we were all alone in this wonderful place called the Bay of Islands. Although the sun wasn’t really cooperating, the flora and colour of the water were still out of this world and cruising with the dinghy through the limestone island-scape really felt like no one was there since 8-8-92 …

In fact our stop over was not that illegal as there were no beaches near our anchorage and the steep and sharp limestone pinnacles prevented us from setting food on land.

We weighed anchor early the next morning and left the lagoon via the Qilaqila Pass in the north, with no channel markers in sight besides 2 lonely leading beacons disappearing in the glare of the rising sun.

The wind was still somewhat elusive, but the itinerary ruled and we had to do some motor assisted sailing. Dodging some more reefs we soon saw the outline of Taveuni Island at the horizon. At 0330h we crossed the charted east / west latitude line and 180 deg W became 180 deg E - from now on we are ‘on our way home’.

We were also blessed again with 2 great catches, a succulent tuna and an impressive mahi-mahi. We appreciate the gift of the seas.

We rounded the reef into SavuSavu Bay on the morning of Nov 1, right on time with our sailing plan. At 1100h we made fast at the dock of the Copra Shed marina and next was clearing in with the Fijian authorities, but that is another story …

A secret to keep ...

After waiting for a few days for a weather window we left Bora Bora hanging onto the tail end of a mara’amu, a Polynesian southeasterly wind, which gave us 2 days of fast but wet sailing conditions. Then the gods presented us with 3-4 days of little wind, but great sun rises and yet another good size mahi mahi for sustenance.

The French Polynesian islands are without doubt a hard act to follow, but the next destination on the itinerary lived up to it – in a completely different manner.

After having experienced this absolute piece of paradise we are not quite sure if we should simply not tell anyone about it, because the less people know the better are the chances that it will stay like that. However, because of its out-of-the-way location and its natural and logistical limitations of being an atoll in the middle of nowhere it has the chance to continue to stay more or less like it is.

Suvarov Atoll – or Suwarrow as the Cook Island government has decided to call it now, is part of the northern group of the Cook Islands. It is named after a Russian ship that first called in at the atoll on September 17, 1814. It has been declared a National Park and with two park rangers stationed there between April 1 and October 30 it is open to receive the yachts people who are prepared to make the 700 miles journey to get there from basically anywhere, and afterwards another 700 miles or so to get to somewhere else. This precious gem really is in the middle of nowhere. The atoll is about 11 miles by 9 miles and the highest elevation is some 15m above sea level. It is made of coral with 11 motus [or islets] scattered around the perimeter, with Anchorage Island being the biggest and the only one to be able to be visited.

On the day of our arrival the pass into the atoll presented itself in the most docile way, but more often than not it has a treacherous tidal current that needs to be negotiated with great respect and care.

The season was almost finished when we got there and only 4 other yachts were anchored in the lee of Anchorage Island. Should you feel inclined to research a bit more about the place you will find that a kiwi with the name of Tom Neale has made this island his paradise over a period of 20 or so years between the 50’s and 70’s. His book called ‘An Island To Oneself’ gives a description of the spirit he involuntarily created during his stay. After visiting there for unfortunately only 8 days we can confirm that this spirit is still alive. The convivial atmosphere amongst the visiting yachts people is very different to anything we experienced before. Harry and Anthony, the two resident rangers provide an area on the beach scattered with hammocks, chairs and the legendary 44gallon drum for whoever wants to participate in a ‘pot-luck bbq’ every other night. They add to this by being a ‘class act’ in entertainment and hospitality. Anthony cooks a mean coconut crab on the bbq and has an apparently limitless repertoire of songs, accompanied skillfully by Harry on the guitar. No one ever misses these events nor a swing under the coconut tree next to the signpost.

During the day there are ample spots close to Anchorage Island providing for great diving and snorkeling. The sea life is abundant in all respects and we’ve never seen coral more alive.

Another activity is exploring some of the other motus and inner reefs with Anthony. The colour of the coral when snorkeling at the small reefs rising in the middle of the lagoon is simply unbelievable. Next was a stop at Gull Island to check out the nesting grounds of all the sea birds you always see cruising the oceans. Frigate birds, boobies, noddies and terns – all nesting peacefully next to each other. And lastly, catching huge coconut crabs for the pot-luck bbq that night.

Suvarov can only be described as a pristine atoll and after having done one of these excursions it is easy to accept that it is only permitted to do these excursions with the guidance of the ranger and not with your own dinghy. Just look at the pictures and make up your own mind.

The lagoon and the Pass are littered with sharks and each boat seemed to have their special lot hanging around the perimeter of the boat. Although they are ‘only’ reef sharks it takes a few days until you get used to them. Then swimming amongst them becomes ok, but there are still no-go zones, especially the spot where the fish are being cleaned.

Life for Harry and Anthony is not luxurious. They get dropped off in April with basic supplies and live of fishing, coconuts, crabs and whatever the yachts people can contribute. When we were there they were waiting since 6 weeks already for the next supply boat to arrive. It did arrive, with 2 drums of fuel and a battery. But then, they are not starving and what a place to live …

Suvarov Shelter is an extension of what Tom Neale left behind and houses ‘the office’ and living quarters of the rangers. Cooking is done on the open fire in the outhouse. The procedure of clearing in and out of the Cook Islands is a pleasure compared to most official business we had to endure during this trip. Although Harry wouldn’t allow me to look through his official logbook to see which yachts have called in during the season, we know that the top was 36 yachts at one time; we considered ourselves fortunate, arriving with 4 and leaving with 8.

Apologies for bombarding you with all these pictures, but it was hard to select some from the hundreds we took.  Just a few more …

Suvarov – what a place.

Before us were 714 miles in southwesterly direction to Vava’u, a group of islands in the north of Tonga. We left together with 2 other yachts and the weather forecast was a mixed bag. Before we could count on the more reliable southeasterly trade winds closer to Tonga knew we had to cross the SPCZ – the South Pacific Convergence Zone, an area of unstable tropical weather with thunderstorms developing out of nowhere producing very erratic winds. It was textbook material. You could literally watch within an hour how a massive white wall of cumulonimbus cloud sucked up all adjoining clouds and turned into a dark front right before your eyes. For 2 days we were dodging thunderstorms and lightning, looking for gaps in the fronts to escape through. Then after a short lull we got into the trade wind belt and made a run for Vava’u. On day 6 we were broad reaching down the northern coastline of the main island under full sail with 8-9 knots trying to beat nightfall. While going through the Pass we were greeted by 2 humpback whales and managed to drop anchor with the last rays of light.

We opened a well-earned coldie and said goodbye to yesterday – as we officially had crossed the dateline. During the convention to establish the exact run of the dateline the Tongan King then decided that he didn’t want his country to be at the end of the day. So by the time we got up to greet the next morning we had jumped a day, our Sunday became a Monday. We were lucky as on Sunday everything stops in Tonga and we wouldn’t have been able to clear in, meaning we would have been confined to stay on our boat for another day.

Was that luck or perfect timing ???