Tonga - Neiafu, capital of Vavau

June 3 – left Niue for the Vavau islands in Tonga.  Our next port is Neiafu, the main town and capital of Vavau, about 220 miles to the west.

June 5 – arrived Neiafu 1100 hours local time.  The MaxSea electronic charts were fine till we were near the entrance of Neiafu harbor.  We’d been warned that most electronic charts contained errors at the approach.  We were able to see the red and green buoys marking the harbor entrance and the green turning buoy beyond them.  Eyeballing the course into the harbor posed no problem and we headed to the Fisheries wharf for our Health, Immigration and Customs clearances, which had been arranged by the rally organizers.

 Landfall in Vavau

Yacht anchorage, Neiafu

After clearance, it was a short distance to the moorings provided by Beluga Diving.  We picked one up quite close to the dinghy dock and went ashore to look around.  Activity in the town of Neiafu is centered on the road along the shoreline.  There are 2 banks there – ANZ and MBF (whose logo looked familiar to that of the Malaysian financial services company of the same name).  There are a few stores selling provisions and a fresh market which seemed to focus on Kava.

 Main Street, Neiafu

The Catholic church was a prominent landmark perched on high ground and could be seen when approaching the harbor.  The next day was Sunday and I went to the 10 am mass during which the choir put on quite a performance.  It was like a concert of Polynesian music.  The church was full of Tongans as well as visiting yachties, most of whom were non-Catholic, judging from who went forward to receive communion.  The Tongans came in their Sunday best, men and women wearing ornamental woven straw (from some kind of pandanus plant) mats and belts.

Sunday at the Catholic church

Monday June 7  -- Francois left Skylark to join his wife and friends on a Moorings catamaran they had chartered for a week.  Ed and I explore Neiafu and its surroundings mostly on foot and do some boat maintenance.  We went out to the open sea a couple of times for an afternoon's sail and to empty holding tanks and run the water maker.  On Friday June 11, we took a private tour of the island -- by a friendly Tongan named Sam whose taxi service was called Road Runner, after the cartoon character.  Sam's wife is German and he is well traveled, sophisticated and has a rock band that some times has gigs as far away as Tongatapu.  He told us from the outset that Vavau didn't have nuch by way sights (other than its beautiful islands) but that the history and contemporary social and political environment should be of more interest to us.  It was a tour tailor-made for Ed and I as those were areas we were always interested in when we visited a new place. At least from Sam's perspective, there was some rot in the system and a lack of enterprise among the Tongans.  He seemed to imply that the men went to work each day in the bush -- but really to sleep off the effects of too much Kava the night before.  The women on the other hand worked at weaving and other crafts and the market and stores.  That seemed to fit with our fleeting observations of life in Neiafu.  The current members of royalty seldom set foot in Vavau, preferring the amenities of Tongatapu and displayed little of the noblesse oblige of the former king.  Along the way, Sam took us to visit with his two horses and his friends water melon patch, as well as some scenic spots from which to view the coast line.  We stopped at a Kava grinding shop where the dried root was ground into a fine powder by electric prowered grinding machines.  Sam also pointed out the Neiafu prison - an open compound which quarters for prison staff and housing for the "prisoners"  They were free to go out each morning to work the fields and the prison gates were always open.  Sam said the prisoners were mostly in there for fighting when drunk and that there was no risk of flight -- where would they go on this island where every one knew every one...?

the Neiafu jail....

Sam, the Road Runner took us off-roading, sort of (on the way to meet his horses)

the rugged coast line of Vavau

Francois came back to the boat with his wife on Monday, June 14.  We planned to leave Neiafu on Tuesday, June 15 and made arrangements for diesel to be delivered by tank truck at the wharf at 1 pm that day.  Immigration formalities were completed the day before but  Customs clearance could only be done oin the day of departure. All was done by 2 pm, June 15 and we left the wharf and headed out of the harbor and set course for Fiji. Strong winds and rough seas were predicted but they were all within Skylark's limits.  The breeeze freshened a few hours later and the waves got gradually to thje predicted 3.5 to 4 meters, making for a rather bouncy passage.  The wind was sustained near 30 knots and gusted frequently to 40 - 42 knots.  The genoa pole was taken in because of the rough conditions and I did not want to risk damage to our rig.  Francois' wife was sea sick and retired to their cabin for the next two days.  On the third day, as we approached Suva, the wind settled to around 20 knots and seas were a lot calmer.  Fiji will be the topic of the next post.

Niue

May 31 – the approximately 1000 mile passage from Raitea to Niue was uneventful other than for some rain squalls.  Winds were mostly from the  east south east .  We arrived at the mooring field around mid-day on May 31 and picked up a Yacht Club mooring. 

 landfall Niue....

Niue is an autonomous state in free association with New Zealand.  About 20000 Niueans live in New Zealand  and only1500 live on the island, most of whom are employed by the state,  The local currency is New Zealand dollars and Kiwi expats are conspicuous, many of them engaged in well intentioned voluntary projects to re-make Niue in the image of the mother land with varying degrees of success.  A striking feature was the significant presence of Mormon missionaries or the LDS (Latter Day Saints) church.  After more than three centuries, Christian conversion of Polynesian natives continues albeit without the swords and muskets….

The wharf has a narrow deep draft area alongside  at which supply ships from New Zealand tie up to unload the essentials of life.  Dinghies from visiting sailboats have to be lifted by an electric powered crane and set down on the dock.  It took a little effort to set up the lifting bridle on the dinghy but everything after that was easy. 

Niue Yacht Club moorings

 dinghy lift at the wharf

The seafront road is the main street of the town of Alofi with a bank, police, customs and other government buildings a supermarket and a small strip shopping center.  The clearing in process is quick and easy and there’s a sight to gladden the hearts of sea-worn sailors -- a duty free liquor store right next to the Customs office. 

 Main street, Alofi 

seat of government in Niue

The Niue Yacht Club styles itself as “the Biggest Little Yacht Club in the World.  It’s commodore Keith Vial, a self deprecating retired Kiwi school principal, says without a trace of embarrassment that it is a yacht club with no yachts.  The club house is a friendly little building with a bar and café of sorts.  For twenty of anything (Sterling, AUD, NZD, USD but not Malaysian Ringgit), you could become a member of the club and be given a nice laminated membership card.  Keith also runs the “Commodore’s tour of Niue” in which guests are driven around in a rusty van and given an orientation about Niue’s history, geography and geology.  The island was badly damaged by the 2004 cyclone in which the storm surge hit Alofi and surrounding areas. We took the tour and were rewarded not just with Keith’s entertaining narratives but also stops at some of the coastal caves and canyons (see photos below).

 entrance to one of Niue's many coastal cave complexes

 stops along the Commodore's tour...

The tour also revealed the impact of Niuean migration to New Zealand – abandoned derelict homes to which owners still claimed possession but failed to maintain.  They were a blight on the landscape.  Then there were the family properties with the aptly labeled “bush gardens” each with some fruit trees or vegetable patch, and some family graves (which presumably, makes government   expropriation of the properties politically infeasible).

 bush garden burial plot...

The Monday night dinner hosted by the Yacht Club was an informal barbeque with the local Hash House Harriers in attendance, beers in hand of course.  They had a couple of guitars and a ukelele and lustily rendered what would best be classified as vintage music (e.g. You are my Sunshine…)

We stayed at Niue for an extra day after the ARC office shut down and enjoyed the friendly island’s easy going atmosphere.  Dinner on the final night was at a local restaurant on its opening night, complete with traditional dancing. 

Raitea

May 22 - Simone (Francois' sister-in-law of a previous marriage) came to Papeete's Quai d'Yacht at  2 pm with garlands of flowers for each of us.  A sweet gesture.  She waited till we pulled away from the pontoon at around 3, probably glad that we were finally on our way and would not show up at her house again to borrow her car that we'd used extensively during our prolonged stay at Papeete.

We made our way out of Papeete harbor's northern pass and headed for Raitea which lay about 120 miles to the north.  Having spent more time than planned at Tahiti, we decided to give Suwarrow in the Cook Islands a miss.

We arrived at the pass into Raitea's main harbour at 11 am the next day and made for the town wharf.  It was still in the lagoon and as we motored through it, we could see a smal town with widely spaced buildings.  At the wharf, we found a spot between two sailboats that were tied up there.  We tied Skylark up and set about doing the usua arrival tasks.  Futile calls were made to the port authorities, but no one was answering, the day being Sunday.  No way to check in and pay any port fees that might have been levied.

The wharf is by the main road with free public access and a number of somewhat unsavoury looking characters hung out on the benches by the waterfront with some apparent interest in us.  The American yacht to our stern told us that they'd been broken into and had lost 2 laptop computers among other things.  We decided to have someone onboard Skylark at all times.  When Serge, Francois' nephew showed up, Ed volunteered to stay while we went to visit with Serge at his house.  Serge had built his house from scratch atop a hill on a large property all by himself and lives there with his wife Sondra and their two daughters (pictures later).  He has a variety of fruit trees and a large managerie of cats, dogs and chickens all of whom seem to co-exist in relative harmony, or at least succeed in ignoring each other.

Some of Sege's animals

Later in the afternoon, we went with Serge to pick up his family at the home of Sondra's cousin.  It was an extended family compound with a large house on the hill, a beach front home and another house for their son -- all at a lovely sea front setting.

Serge and his family

Back at the wharf, the waterfront was by now deserted.  It was a Sunday evening and there was only food to be had at a nearby Roulotte -- the ubiquitous restaurant on wheels found all over French Polynesia.  Food was served up by a group of transexuals, one of whom was well on his way to becoming a woman, except for the deep male voice when he spoke.  We brought the food back to the boat as we were still uneasy about the security at the wharf.

Some pictures of the lagoon at Raitea:

May 24 -- It was a Monday but a public holiday, and no one at the port was answering the VHF.  So we left Raitea without paying any port fees, having made best efforts to contact the authorities.  We reached the pass, took alignment with the leading marks and set a westerly course for our next destination -- Niue, some 970 miles away.

Tahiti

April 7 -- left Fakarawa at 1530 hours after provisioning at the general store and the boulangerie. Creeping along the edge of the atoll, we approached the pass which looked a little wilder at this time of day due to the flooding tide.  There were white caps and occasional breakers at the pass and a   sailor could be forgiven for mistaking the track through the pass as  a direct path over a coral reef.  The tide gave us an adverse current of around 2 to 2.5 knots and Skylark slogged through the pass under engine with speed over ground of little more than 4 knots.  The Pacific pilots all suggest that transiting the pass when the tide is either flooding or ebbing is safe only if a boat is capable of making at least 8 knots under power.  Our experience made believers out of us.

Back on the waves and the familiar ocean swells, we set course for the fabled island of Tahiti.  It is a relatively short passage of around 470 miles. At dawn, April 10, we sighted Tahiti and the island of Moorea just to its north.  Our timing for a daylight approach through a pass and into an unfamiliar harbor was about right -  in addition to the display on the chartplotter, we could also eyeball the approach to the pass,  The entrance to the harbor is relatively narrow and busy with commercial shipping, especially high speed ferries to Moorea.  We called port control on the VHF for permission to enter the harbor and were given the OK to go in but to standby at the west cardinal mark for further instruction.  Once in the harbor, we could see the main waterfront street of Papeete, seat of government of French Polynesia.  It is a nondescript scene of unattractive, untidy urban architecture, commercial buildings that were a throwback to the 1960's, complete with buzzing traffic as all routes to the city had to flow through this one street. Transit in the winding lagoon is highly controlled as boating traffic passes both ends of the airport runway.  After about 15 minutes holding, port control gave us the go ahead to proceed along the lagoon towards the Marina Taina at Punaauia, but to hold short of the runway.  We waited there while several small planes landed and were then cleared to proceed to the martina.  It was an interesting passage passing by low buildings onshore and the reef to our starboard.  At a number of spots on the reef, we saw some huts with small power boats tied to them.  There were families fishing, some standing on the reef and a number of barking dogs running around on the reef.  It was a strange scene, almost as if these people and their animals were walking on water as we passed them in 10 - 12 meters of water.  There were a lot of sailboats at anchor at designated areas in the lagoon.  They were anchored just off the reef where the water turned from deep blue to lighter shades of turqouise.   We made the Marina Taina at 11:30 and waited for a berth.  It was quite full and we were directed to a tight space alongside the concrete quay.  There was much concern on the small sailboat to our stern (tied alongside) and the larger boat in front of us (tied stern to).  Their owners were at their rails ready to fend us off in case we threatened to hit them, but we moved Skylark smartly into place in one pass using the bow thruster.  There was less than 2 meters to spare at each end when we tied up.  The marina provided a diver to tie the boat off to an underwater point -- to hold off her from banging into the concrete wharf when occasional swells hit the marina.

 Landfall -- Tahiti

view of Moorea from Tahiti

in the lagoon at Tahiti -- a weekend on the reef

park on Papeete's lagoon waterfront

Skylark at the Marina Taina, Punaauia in Tahiti

Our proghram at Tahiti was crowded with things to get down before the crew took a break from sailing to visit with family.  A haulout was booked for a couple of days from May 10 at the yard in Papeete for new bottom paint (in preparation for entry into Australian waters) and for scheduled maintenance such as replacement of the prop seal and various anodes.  Ed left on April 11 for Houston to attend his son's wedding and Francois and I had trips scheduled for Puerto Rico and KL respectively on April 16.  KL was a frantic break for tax returns and personal banking business plus a trip to Singapore for the same reasons.  Back at the Marina Taina on May 7, I awaited Francois' return that night so that we could move the boat to the berthing facilities at Papeete -- the Quai d'Yacht on May 8 so that we could move Skylark to the yard for an early morning haulout on May 10.  The Quai is in fact a small marina with floating steel pontoons and  power and water available from some poorly maintained pedestals.  Electricity at the city pontoon was variable in voltage, in 60 cycles, making it impossible to operate appliaces like clothes washer and microwave.  

The haulout on Monday, May 10 went smoothly and required work was done quickly and efficiently.  A coat of Micron 66 was applied and the Amel U-drive transmission and propeller seals were serviced, new anodes installed at the rudder, line cutter and bow thruster.  The aftermath, however, was a different story... more on that later.

Skylark on the hard

our folding propeller with fresh antifouling

the bow thruster, essential for manouvering at close quarters

Skylark was back in the water the morning of May14.  Ed and Jun, freshly arrived from Houston,  joined us at the yard for the launch and the short trip back to the Quai at which we were tied up by about 11 am.  That night aftyer dinner, I returned to the boat alone.  Francois had gone to spend the night at Simone's (sister of fomer wife) and Ed and Jun were to stay the night at their luxury digs at the Hotel Tahiti Nui.  On returning, I heard the seawater alarm and opening the engine room, found about 10 inches of water -- from an improperly closed sea water filter I'd cleaned earlier at the yard (mea culpa....).  Called Ed for assistance and we determined the cause, pumped out the bilge and rinsed with fresh water.  Damage was minimal given the nature of the problem -- submerged pressure switch for the fresh water system, bottom of the service alternator came in contact with water and shorted out and the sea water pump of the air conditioning system which was mounted low effectively "drowned".  The pressure switch and A/C pump were replaced with locally available substitutes but the 24 volt service alternator made by MasterVolt was not stocked by any vendor in Papeete.  Fortunatelty, a search on the web located a dealer in Auckland, New Zealand and he was able to ship it to us within 3 days.  The search for parts and a technician took the better part of a week but we  were finally fixed and ready to leave on Friday, May 21. Lesson learned -- check all thru-hulls when putting the boat back in the water.  Amel has made it simple by having a single sea water intake for all cooling water requirements on the boat.  We cleared immigration without the services of the WARC agent (simple enough) and set off for Raitea where Francois has a nephew he'd not seen for more than 30 years.  In between, Ed and Jun flew to Bora Bora to spend a few days at a luxury hotel perched on a coral reef.  Francois and I had time to walk Papeete even more extensively while searching for spares.  

Papeete -- Quai d'yacht

 The Chinese presence in Papeete is quite large but this Kuo Min Tang building was a bit of a shocker --did Generalissimo Chiang set up base here when he fled the Chinese mainland.?

...even a patisserie Chinois!

Fakarawa - atoll in the Tuamotus

April 2 – left in the morning for Fakarawa in the Tuamotus archipelago. Conditions were choppy and the wind variable. However, things settled down with an easterly flow once we were clear of the island. In the wee hours of the next day (April 3), heavy seas were encountered with large swells and winds up to 40 knots. We reduced sail to a small triangle in the genoa but were still making 6.5 knots. April 4 – winds and seas more settled. Wind was 15 to 18 knots on the beam giving us a good night of sailing. 

April 5 – approaching the northern pass of the Fakarawa atoll (the passé Garue). We made the pass at around 1530 hours and entered the calm atoll. The passage within the atoll to the village of Rotaova was charted but much of the rest of the atoll was unsurveyed described in the charts as “area non-hydrographie”.. We could see several “motus” or little islands left by volcanic eruptions of a long time past and built upon by coral. After the churning waters of the pass, the atoll was a wonderful change with calm. clear blue water. A scene out of a story book with palm trees fringing low lying reefs.

We took the dinghy ashore to a small beach near the village church. There were coral heads near shore which were hard to see in the fading light..

 Skylark at anchor in Fakarawa's pristine lagoon

The atoll was a good anchorage, an abrupt change from the rolling ocean outside. The water was flat and in daylight, was a permanent backdrop of turquoise and blue. The people were certainly friendly. There were no mre than 1000 inhabitants at Fakarawa, a large number of whom were engaged in pearl farming. The black south sea pearls are highly prized and much of the production is contracted for the Japanese market. The Japanese pearl industry has been decimated by pollution in their pearl farming waters. They are all too aware of this in the Tuamotus and jealously guard their pristine waters. The inhabitants keep the atoll very clean and visiting yachts appreciate the need to do their part by managing boat waste.

The ocean side of the atoll --  not so calm...

Supply ship comes once a week from Tahiti

Sunrise in the lagoon

April 6 – we walked to a family holiday “pension” for dinner. The Polynesian band at the restaurant entrance performed traditional music and sang with a beautiful natural harmony. During dinner, there was a dance performance by a young troupe, grass skirts and all. The thing that struck us was the genuine enjoyment on the part of the dancers – the absence of commercialism made it a great experience.

Dancers perform in Fakarawa

Sunsets on Fakarawa are just as spectacular as the sunrises. The picture below taken from the shore only partially captures the magical interplay of light and reflection on the atoll’s waters

Another day, another sunset in the atoll

Fakarawa, remote as it is without the facilities of the more urbanized parts of French Polynesia, is a truly serene place. The people seemed content and there are few signs of consumerism taking hold. We lunched at a “restaurant” operated from a van with a growth of grass around its wheels that suggested it might not ever move again. The food is best described as simple and wholesome – poisson cru (raw tuna marinated in lime juice and coconut milk), savoury crepes, steak frite… The owner, a French woman, and her staff engaged with customers with an ease that made you feel you’d known them for a long time

Fatu Hiva -- last of the Marquesas

March 31 -- we left Tahuata for Fatu Hivas, some 50 miles south.  The approach was spectacular with jagged volcanic peaksoutlined in the distance...

At the Baie Omoa, Fatu Hiva with the catamarn 1+1

The preferred anchorage at Baie Hanavave, also known as Baie de Virge or Bay of Virgins was crowded with sailboats, leaving little swinging room.  The radio traffic indicated a bunch of them would leave the next day, so we waited at the bay by the little village of Omoa. The holding was not too good and the anchorage was a little rocky in 23 meters of water. Another WARC boat, the French catamaran 1+1 (a Catana 53) was also there waiting for the boats at Hanavave to clear oout. Ed and I went ashore and took a walk in the village. Bought a few items from the local magasin as well as some bread, We had by now established for fact that no matter where you are in French Polynesia, bread was always good and done in the French way.

The next morning, Francois and Marie-Pierre (wife of Christian, owner of 1+1) decided to hike over the hills to Hanavave and meet us there. Ed and I motored to the bay which still had quite a few boats in it and anchored in about 18 meters. It was nice and still and holding was good. As the pictures show, the terrain is spectacular. There was a nice breakwater with a dinghy area and a boat ramp.

Nature's own stone sculpture

...and "Tikis" everywhere

The church at Hanavave

the village horse and....

the village pig..

So here we were on April Fools day at Fatu Hiva, anchored nicely. However, every now and again, the wind would come roaring down the hills and whistle loudly through the rigging and cause Skylark to swing hard on her anchor. Besides 1+1, 2 other ARC boats, Ciao and Lady Lisa were there. There was also a sailboat from Russia with a couple on board, Alexandre and Angelina. Their sails had been destroyed on the way over, their engine was inoperable, a tough situation to be in. Christian of 1+1 gave them an old sail that he’d kept on his boat which could be modified for their use.

That night, we went to dinner of local food at a Marquesan house – an informal affair at 1700 CFP per person. Our party consisted the Skylark crew, Christian and his wife Marie Pierre and the Russians who’d been invited by Christian to join in. The dinner was at the home of Cathie, a local woman who prepared a meal of Tahitian raw tuna, fried chicken, papays salad and fried breadfruit. The food was served up in generous quantities and a great time was had by all.