Back home from an adventure I had never thought I would have the opportunity to experience - sailing the Pacific Ocean - albeit a tiny part of it, though enough for me. Our friend (with beautiful catarmaran) invited us to join him for part of his grand adventure which saw him leave Wollongong on Easter Sunday and return home sometime in October. (We were crew number 4).
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| That tiny speck in the ocean is where we were headed. |
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| The northern group of Tongan Islands. |
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| Much like the Whitsundays in northern Australia. |
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| And from Google satellite maps it looks like this...... |
We arrived in Tongatapu at 2:30am and as we were scheduled to fly to Vava'u around 8am we thought it would be easy to go to the domestic terminal and settle in there to wait for 4 hours before we were supposed to check in. WRONG!
For a start, the 'terminal' (little more than a shed) was completely locked up, no kiosk, taps, toilets and little light. (You begin to realise how spoilt we are....) We were left to sit out the quite chilly night air on plastic chairs - or share the wooden bench with Milo - a young aussie bloke also joining a boat in Vava'u as crew.
We were taken care of though by a local family with a family member also travelling on the morning flight. They were well equipped with blankets and food and invited us to join them to eat or sleep on the ground with them. We chatted but declined their kind offers but did accept some water to drink. They kept a close eye on us and periodically asked if we wanted food or a blanket, even putting a blanket over Milo as he hunkered down on the bench trying to keep warm and sleep.
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| The family camped right at the door. |
We were frequently 'serenaded' by roosters wandering in the vicinity and just on dawn bells in a convent next door, then churches in the vicinity began to ring. In a nutshell - zero sleep.......
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| Milo waking up..... |
Around 6:30 cars off-loaded staff and the doors of the terminal creaked open. We checked our bags in and discovered our flight would be leaving at 9 (or thereafter).
Mercifully the cafe next door opened around 7am and I had the best toast and pot of tea I've had in a long time. Sometimes the small things make a huge difference......
We finally got to Vava'u mid morning and found our 'captain' in a cafe waiting to meet us - and looking VERY relaxed and loving life.
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| Captain Chris, Milo and Bob |
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| Viewof the harbour from the cafe..... |
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| 'Catmarat' waiting for us... |
After some shoppping at the market and stores we loaded up and motored off.
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| The galley.... |
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| The dining / lounge space (before we put the shopping away) |
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| The galley in action.... |
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| Warm water and sunshine....... |
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| First night's dinner - caught just in time .... |
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| ....and barbequed at once.... |
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| The next night's dinner and lunch........ |
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| A quiet and calm spot to sleep......... |
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| Even a spot of rain had its benefits..... |
This post has been WAY too long coming so I'll come back soon to tell you about 'The Golden Day' - or that's what I called it in the ship's log.
Sue xxxx
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