Loraine and Doug go from Vava'u Tonga to Suva Fiji

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Doug and Lorraine on Hakura

Details - Total run from Neiafu, Vava’u to Suva was 505 n miles.

Left Neiafu 20th August at 1600 and arrived Suva, 25th August at 0800.

Before we deal with the crossing, I should just outline how the cleanup went.

Would you believe that I did it all on the first day and had the rest off? What about I did it all by the morning of Wednesday and had time to wait patiently at the café for Lorraine?

Surprising, as it may seem, the latter is what happened. Boy did I work up bucket load of sweat so I did need to take those frequent breaks and drinks.

Well when Wednesday arvo arrived I headed into the Café (Hakura was on a mooring just off the Café) for the fruit smoothe and to wait for Lorraine. The trip into the wharf went well though not up the steps as I slipped on the mud and landed on my side - shorts and backpack now muddy and after cleaning both. Oh well, the smoothe helped no end.

Lorraine arrived about 45 minutes late, which in Tonga was early. We had a cold drink and then went to have dinner. We watched a great floorshow from the kids from a local village while waiting for our meals. All money the money they got was for the school fees. Such a poor place and such great kids.

Our meals were a bit slow; actually they had forgotten them so we got free drinks (which did not cost them much as I only drink fruit juice). Lorraine’s tuna steak was magnificent while my maui maui was a bit tough. One out of two was ok.

The next day we started re-provisioning Hakura with fresh fruit and vegies and a few bits from the stores. We did not buy a lot from the stores cause of the price, for example two 500 gm blocks of Anchor cheese were $30.00 Tongan. We also fuelled and watered up Hakura.

Friday morning we got the last of the fresh veggies and went through the process of clearing out of Tonga. This involved visiting Immigration, then the Harbour Master to pay our $4.00 port fees and finally Customs. By 12:30 we were cleared.


The final job was to clean and pack up Ethelred, the dinghy (it is an inflatitable and gets stowed in the front cabin while at sea).

This was all done by 1600 and we headed out of Neiafu hoping for a mooring though due to the lateness of our arrival at the outer anchorages thee was little hope of getting one. Tis proved to be the case and we anchored in 7 metres of water just north of Vaka’eitu. In the morning we picked up a mooring so that we could remove and stow the anchor below and seal up the anchor well.

By 0730 on 21st August we had left the anchorage and were on our way to Suva Fiji.

There are several options of routes to take. Straight across involved going through one of several small passes (at about 18º 30’S) between coral reefs through the Lau Group (the eastern most islands of Fiji). We choose the safer southern route that dropped south of the Lau Group (to 19º 30’S) as it was easier and not much longer (I was told it was about 15 nautical miles (28km) longer which as about 3 hours at 5 knots.

There was a stiff SE breeze of about 15 knots, which pushed us along at a good clip. In the middle of the afternoon we passed over some areas of discoloured water with an occasional smell of sulphur. The chart said the area head been the site of previous volcanic activity. We kept going, not wishing to see how recent. About this stage we saw several areas of birds working and later that evening when I pulled in the trolling line there was no lure. There must have been a good bit.

The wind was moving slowly around to the east so we were loosing speed and the sails were beginning to flog. This makes for a noisy bumpy ship and it was hard to settle in the early part of the evening. We did get some sleep after I furled the headsail and started the motor.

Next morning at 0900 we had done 150 nautical miles in the past 24 hours. The second day was a process of sailing and motor sailing. We entered the Fijian chart at 0106 on the morning of 23rd. We had a full moon, which rose just before sunset and set just before sunrise so the nights were fairly bright and we were able to see the shadows of the islands as we passed them. Fifteen to 20 nautical miles was the closest we came to any of the island and usually only saw the tops of the higher ones. We were still 2 days out of Suva and the weather was mainly fine with the rare light shower.

We followed a “3 hours on and 3 hours off” watch system with occasional 4 hours during the day if I needed more sleep. This was cause I had jobs to do before I could go to sleep after a watch, including recording and plotting our position and once a day call Radio Taupo to give a Trip Report (which consisted of vessel name and call sign, position (lat and long), course and speed plus statement on crew). I usually did the trip report between 0100 and 0400, as there was not a lot else going on onboard or on the airways.

We shared the cooking with either cooked and cold breakfasts, crackers cheese and spreads for lunch and cooked dinner. Cups of tea happened whenever somebody offered to make them. We also drank between 2 to 3 litres of waters with fruit juice or cordial to hid the taste of Tongan hard water.

During the day when the motor was running we would play either an audio book (usually a Terry Pratchett story) or either Larraine’s or Doug’s playlist off my Ipod.

During the second 24 hours we covered 120 nautical miles, mainly as we had been under the motor for most of the time.

During the morning of the 3rd day we passed through several lots of birds working and fish jumping. During one of these I watched the troll line start to head out to the side then go slack before I could get to it. Another lure had broken off. Starting to look like these lures are not too good.

The 3rd 24-hour run was 125 nautical miles.

The rest of the fourth day was similar to the second and third, being mainly under motor and main sail. At 1700 hours it became clear that we would make Suva Harbour entrance during dark and I decided to slow down Hakura so that we would arrive after sunrise. So at 1800 we changed course to the NE and stopped the motor. We were doing about 1 knot under the mainsail with plenty of water to move in so we settled down to a slow night.

At 0100 on the 25th we headed back towards the entrance of Suva Harbour (NW) with mainsail and motor. We stayed on about 4 knots till about 0600 when the speed was increased to 5 knots.

We began the entry into Suva Harbour about 0630 and dropped anchor off the Royal Suva Yacht Club at 0801.

It was a smooth crossing with the lose of 2 lures and no fish. A few light showers and no wind over 15 knots and most of the wind less than ten knots. Venus was the evening star before us for the first third of the night and we had a full moon for nearly the whole of each night, which made for very bright nights.

We called the Yacht club so that they could organise the visit from Customs, Immigration, Health and Quarantine. This did not happen till about 1700 and the customs guy did not bring most of the paperwork he needed. The up short was we were cleared to take down the quarantine flag and land that evening. We still had to visit the Customs office the next morning and then the Health office to pay the inspection fee ($34 Fijian) followed by the office of the Internal Affairs Board to get a Fijian Cruising Permit. These steps took most of the next day, though we did get a great look around Suva doing them.

The Fijians are very friendly and smile at you very willingly, though the Indian Fijians are a lot more reserved.

John and Sharron joined us on morning of the 26th. Sharron will stay through to the 9th before flying back to NZ on the 10th. John is going to help me sail Hakura back to NZ in mid September.

As the 26th was Sharron’s birthday we all went out to the floating restaurant for dinner. It is a great place with fresh salads and great fish dishes. This was actually Lorraine and my second visit as we had gone there on the first night. We were welcomed like long-term regulars though as we had not booked we ended up in the smoking section (this did not matter as nobody was smoking). We all had a great dinner and start to our travels together.

As Lorraine was due to fly back to NZ on Sunday (29th) and therefore needed to get to Nadi on the Saturday she would need to catch the bus across on the Saturday morning. We were hoping to go for a day sail out to a local island for swimming and lunch; however, Fijian officialdom stepped in because we needed to get a clearance from Customs to leave Suva. To get the clearance I had to get Lorraine signed off Hakura and John signed on plus show that Lorraine had an outgoing airline ticket. This all took two trips to the Customs office.

The other big need was to put food on Hakura as there was not much left of the food from NZ or Tonga. This lead to several enjoyable visits to the Suva markets, such great food and wonderful people. One of the treats was to get a fresh pineapple skinned and trimmed into two sticks.

The supermarkets in Suva were very good with a wide selection of stuff both new and familiar. We got most things over Friday and Saturday morning, except toilet paper.

Friday afternoon we took the local bus up the hills to the Colo-I-Suva Forest Park. On getting off the bus a couple of locals who had also just got off told us it was too late to walk the tracks as there would be no guides to protect us. So off to the Raintree Lodge, the local restaurant, for afternoon tea before catching the bus back down to Suva.

Upon arrival in Suva John decided that we should head west out of the city to see if there were any restaurants out that way. We all agreed, any thing for a bit of adventure. Well this proved to be a bit weird for the taxi driver as there were no restaurants out past the Yacht Club. We drove for about ten minutes out and ten minutes back and he dropped us about 300 meters along from where he had picked us up. The cost of the cab fare was just over $8 Fijian. Not bad for a view of the outlining parts of Suva.

Friday evening after taking Lorraine out to Hakura, I asked her to run the motor to drive the compressor for the freezer while I went back into the Yacht club to pick up Sharron and John. When we arrived back at Hakura the motor was not running. Lorraine said she had noticed that there was a lot of smoke and no water coming out of the back so she had stopped the motor. A quick run of the motor showed that there was no water coming out the back and I shut down the motor.

Lorraine had again spotted a problem with no water coming out the back and saved the day. Well done Lorraine.

On inspection in the morning the belts that drive the compressor off the motor had come off and taken out the water pump belt. While this was not great it did mean that the water pump and its impellor were still working. Luckily there was a spare water pump belt on Hakura and John and I had the motor running nice and sweetly in no time.

The big down side is that we no longer have a freezer or fridge, so the huge pile of frozen samosas was off the shopping list.

Later Saturday morning we brought Hakura into the yacht club to top up the fuel and water (actually replace as much of the Tongan water as was possible). We also brought Lorraine and her gear into the club so she could go into town for a bus to Nadi and her 4 star resort for the night. So ended the story of Lorraine and Doug’s trip from Vava’u in Tonga to Suva, Fiji.

Overall it was a great time and fantastic adventure.

Report from Lorraine.

As the Captain has given you the details of our adventure I thought I would give you my impressions, what the experience was like for me. I have made a bit of a bucket list (some people would call the items on the list goals) and crewing for an offshore passage was on the list - my time on Hakura for the trip to from Wellington north having whetted my appetite for the adventure of sailing, though I find adventure itself very appealing.

So to my impressions:

Tonga

I flew to Tonga, (Tongatapu) on August 17 and after an interesting night in extremely basic transit accommodation (think what you would expect for $5 per night in NZ and you will get an idea of the rating which I put at about -4), however, the people were welcoming and friendly and did everything they could to make the short stay comfortable. I took a look around the island (including the capital, Nuku’alofa and the blow hole rocks that line the south coast of the island) before I flew to Vava’u to join Hakura. The country is very poor, the roads badly need upgrading, there seems to be more churches per head of population than anywhere I have been, the people are friendly and I learned much about how life is for them from a discussion with the host of the accommodation over breakfast. I also learned from observation that because people a poor and strive for every dollar, most families relying on money sent back by family in places like New Zealand and Australia, the tourist dollar is very competitive. The drivers for instance really compete for customers and it can get quite fraught when tourists unwittingly allow themselves to be poached by rival operators.

Vava’u seemed a little different. Perhaps they are not dealing with such transient customers who can be entertained while waiting for connecting flights - you have pretty much reached your destination by the time you get there.

Whatever the reason, there was not the hype I had experienced in Tongatapu, and my driver was an extremely friendly young man who chatted the whole way to the Aquarium Café where I was meeting Doug. So friendly in fact that he greeted me enthusiastically by name every time he saw me over the next few days. The people are friendly, the buildings simple and the life looks straight forward. I was interested to see all the livestock roaming freely - pigs with their piglets, cattle, chooks etc. There are no dangerous animals or anything venomous to humans on the islands.

Doug has covered the time we spent together in Neiafu. I will carry the memories of his welcome (I did not even notice he was covered in mud until he pointed it out); watching the children performing so they could pay school fees; Hakura looking the best I had ever seen her - the Captain had her absolutely shipshape, not even a dish left to be done; the crystal clear water in the harbour and the delight I experienced getting used to getting on and off Hakura into Ethelred; and the simple joy of spending time with Doug in complete harmony.

I will also remember meeting three young men from Canada, fishermen, who having a shared dream of travelling the world in a yacht had pooled resources, bought a 45ft yacht and were on the adventure of their lives. They were inspiring - they even had a roster system to change cabins each month so that they all got the best and the worst of the yacht.


The Voyage

It took me a while to find my sea legs I have to admit. I am as good as gold in the cockpit, but was finding it a bit hard below to begin with. We were to have a three hours on three hours off roster, so the first day I spent much of my time outside having made a bargain with the Captain to do extra time on the helm if he would look after the cooking while I got my feet. He seems to be able to whip up something in any conditions - the baked beans and eggs he served that first night were delicious! By the next day I was as good as gold and able to participate fully.

I guess this is as good a time as any to note that I was very impressed by his Captainship through the whole journey. I guess that as this was my first ‘offshore’ passage the best indication for me as to how it was going was my sense of security. I do not remember one nervous moment - I was confident for the whole trip largely because of Doug’s decision making and his prowess round the boat. At one stage the wind was behind us and the headsail was not getting any wind causing it to flap around ineffectually. The captain used the spinnaker pole to fashion a boom coming off the mainsail to hold the headsail out at the opposite angle to the mainsail. While I am sure yachties all over will say, ho hum, and? …. To me it was insight into what these boats are capable of, and watching someone carrying out this feat in an unstable environment was pretty impressive. I found that by the end of the trip I was more confident in working the boat and the sails and far more insight in how it handles in different situations. As the Captain says “if it is hard you are doing it wrong”.

When I say there were no nervous moments I might be overstating it a bit. When he suddenly said he could smell sulphur and see discolouration in the water I had visions of a huge erupting explosion sending water and heaven knows what else shooting up around us though I did manage to go to my ‘happy place’ and hope I did not let him see that I was perhaps letting my overly developed imagination run away with me.

The nights were magical. MAGICAL!!! For example, one night I went up to do my watch at about 3am. By this time I was getting tired and it was becoming hard at times to stay fully alert for the full three hours. I would try to find things to do to occupy my mind and on this night a stunning full moon had been directly above us when I had gone down to get some rest at midnight but coming back on watch it was at about 10 o’clock in line of sight to the direction we were travelling in and of course reflecting off the water - beautiful. I had over an hour watching it move down toward the horizon and finally disappearing. What to do now? I glanced upwards … and the night sky opened out above me. I have never seen it so clearly before nor in such detail - it is so immense. I began looking for the things I knew, then putting together shapes and there before me was perfectly formed horse - unlike clouds the image did not change shape, it just stood there, magnificent amongst the stars. I began to understand the fascination astronomers and astrologists have with the night sky. All too soon it began to get lighter in the east, behind me, and the stars began to become obscured. So my attention shifted to the lightening horizon and I was fascinated by the cloud formations that were in place. It appeared as if standing in a half circle, giant sentinels (they looked like chess pieces) were guarding the sun as it rose. Fanciful? Yes. Awe inspiring? YES. Watching night turn to day at sea is something I will never tire of, the sun when it comes pops above the horizon and suddenly you are greeting the new day - it is like watching a birth and holds so much promise. Three hours of drama - it just doesn’t get better than that.

Sitting about 1.5 meters above the surface of the water in the middle of the pacific with no land in sight is like sitting in a pond, which is especially surreal at night but also amazing in the day. You are in a circle of water, like being in a large circular pond. I think the Captain said we could see approximately 12 nautical miles in every direction - it really does not appear that big. It is just that it goes on and on - you are always in the centre. One gets a tiny perspective of our significance in not only the world but also the universe.

The Captain slept occasionally, he really was a busy boy and does take very seriously the responsibility of the crew and the boat. He plots and charts consistently and is always alert to what is happening and on call for anything that goes wrong or if there is anything at all that needs attention. I have come a long way since calling him up to talk me through the headology situation that occurred off the northern aspect of the East Cape in NZ, and now like to try and ensure he gets all the sleep and rest that he can - after all, if push comes to shove he will be the one doing the hard yards. So at least once while he slept deeply, I managed to have the boat going round in circles as I tried to adjust the sails. The first time I thought I was going to sink the boat at best, having us heading for Outer Mongolia at worst. The second time I figured that it was the second time - I was actually managing it quite well. The third time I was an old hand and by then I was more than comfortable with what she can do. One does, however, wonder if his Captainness would have slept quite so soundly if he had realized we were going round in circles.

Standing off Suva was quite a night. There was really nothing to do on the first watch, just keep an eye on things. Doug asked me for my first watch if there was any music I would like to hear (he had done a fabulous job of putting the music together for the trip - I think there was only one track the whole way I did not enjoy and that was purely because I was not in the mood for anything too heavy at the time). Anyway, I requested Andre Bocelli - there was a particular track I wanted to hear but really was not phased by the thought of listening to him for three hours. So there I was, off Suva with the lights in the distance, a full moon directly overhead, the yacht moving slowly of its own accord and not needing much attention, listening to amazing music - as you do. My enjoyment was such that after each track I was moved to applaud - I suspect it was not just the music that was being acknowledged in the applause, but all the elements that made up a very special three hours. The Captain, bless him, had not complained about the applause but I gather think it had kept him awake - perhaps the thought that he had a complete nutter in the cockpit kept him quiet but I suspect he was enjoying that I was enjoying the moment so much. Thank you Captain.

My second watch that night had me at the helm heading towards the harbour entrance. After nearly four days of not seeing any sign of life, well just one light in the distance, suddenly I had the lights of three large vessels surrounding me. Distance over water is still difficult for me to gauge so it was quite daunting until I figured out how to read the lights I was seeing. In the end I was able to watch them enter the harbour before the Captain came up to take us in.

Entering Suva Harbour is like entering a graveyard for shipwrecks. They lie all over the harbour. Amazing! Sharron took photos so hopefully they will be posted to the blog, it really is not what you expect to see when you enter a port.

Fiji

The bus trip that took us up to the Raintree Lodge passed through many local villages once we got out of the main city area. I was struck, as I had been in Tonga, by the fact that these people in the villages do not appear to have great wealth, they live in houses that many of the people in this country would scoff at and they don’t appear to have all the mod cons. But they have something that I think we have left far behind and that is a sense of real community. We saw groups of people sitting on each others doorsteps talking to each other, kids out playing and learning from watching other kids play. The people looked happy, comfortable and stress free. Several generations were represented in the groups and I had to wonder how we have managed to loose that in this country which is now so different from my childhood years growing up in the 50’s and 60’s when we used to do exactly what I watching.

Conclusion

I had a wonderful time, enjoying every minute with Doug, the journey and all the things we encountered. Would I do it again? Yes - in a heartbeat. Thanks Captain

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Photos

Doug & Lorraine arrive!
at the Royal Suva Yacht Club (with assistance).

Comments

[jude]

Fantastic blog entry both of you, well done!

[Judy]

Lovely report!
Thanks. What a great report on a fantastic trip. I want to go too!