Do you remember that nursery rhyme about the girl with the curl? It went like this: There was once a girl who had a curl in the middle of her forehead. When she was good she was very, very good and when she was bad she was horrid. That pretty much sums up our last month as we sailed to and around Tonga. But we will start with the very, very good which is where we left off in our last blog entry. What a wonderful experience we had in Niue. We are still marveling at this tiny island nation jam packed with geological gems. As we said in our Instagram post, natural wonders abound in Niue! After an initially reluctant visit (we were dreading that wharf and the dinghy lift), we now consider Niue one of the highlights of our trip so far. We could have easily filled several additional days hiking down the Sea Tracks to explore more of the pools and formations along the coastline. But we have a schedule and it was time to depart for Tonga. So, after a wonderful morning with Niue Blue, enjoying a 2 tank dive that took us through underwater caves and caverns and having a lovely dinner aboard he Figata, we departed for Tonga at about 7:30 on July 6. We were originally scheduled to depart on the morning of July 7 but the weather forecast had the wind diminishing pretty significantly over the course of the upcoming days. The weather models we use estimate the amount of motoring expected based on different departure times and the difference in motoring hours between a July 6 evening departure and a July 7 morning departure were fairly dramatic. So we decided to leave after dinner on July 6 for the ~ 230 nautical mile passage to maximize our sail time.
True to the forecast, we had some wind the first day once we got out of the lee of the island. It wasn’t tremendous but it allowed us to sail with our genoa on a port tack under a broad reach through most of the evening and into the morning. Unfortunately, the wind died sooner than predicted (shocker, right?!?) and, especially with a severely compromised main, we ended up motor sailing or motoring most of the next day (July 7). Though the sailing wasn’t great we did enjoy a nice dinner that evening. Zack visited a small grocery store when he went ashore on July 6 to clear out and scored a wonderful head of Bibb lettuce. Jill combined that with some red cabbage, red onions, greens beans and cannelloni beans and tossed it all in a lovely garlic lemon vinaigrette to make a dinner size salad. A small cup of black bean curry accompanied the meal. Following dinner Jill planned to do her usual 9:00 PM – 3 AM watch. After a delicious meal all was good and Zack went down to get some sleep by 9 PM.
Jill kept busy catching up with the news and finalizing our blog post covering our transit to Niue and fabulous experience there. All was well until about 1 AM when the engine seemed to slow down and then pick back up again. Jill, becoming somewhat accustomed to that sound, assumed that meant that the fuel tank feeding the engine was empty and she started back to our master cabin to wake Zack up. By the time she reached Zack the engine had shut down completely. Zack, who is very sensitive to changes in engine noise, bolted out of bed quickly and went to look at the fuel tanks. We were on tank number 2. Because this is very relevant to what happened next, we need to add that we have 4 fuel tanks. Fuel tank 3 was totally empty and fuel tanks 1 and 4 were vey low. The only tank that had any appreciable fuel was tank 2 — it still appeared to be half full. After investigating the situation, Zack tried to restart the engine. It would initially engage but, after just a few moments, it would wind down like the fuel tank was out of gas. While Zack was busy assessing the problem, Jill deployed the genoa sail. Of course, the wind was very light — under 6 knot — and the wind direction was lousy. (This is why we were motoring!) To even get a modest broad reach we had to steer Che Figata to port quite a bit which had us pointing about 60 degrees off our course and traveling slower than 4 knots. Not ideal but better to be moving than bobbing in the water!
Zack pretty quickly deduced that there seemed to be an issue with the intake from the fuel tank to the engine. Probably a blockage of some sort. Our concern at this point was ensuring that we had adequate fuel to get to Tonga. We still had about 80 nautical miles left to go to reach our destination and the light winds we were experiencing were expected to continue for the duration of our passage. We knew that technically we had sufficient fuel — the key was to be able to access it. Fortunately, our fuel tanks are set up to allow us to transfer fuel from one tank to another. We can do that a few ways. We can do that when the engine isn’t on by running a pump or we can do that when the engine is running by setting up the system so that the extra fuel that is pumped out of one tank into the engine is returned to another tank. With the blockage in tank 2, Zack’s plan was to consolidate all of the fuel into tank 1. Zack was able to easily transfer the fuel from tank 4 into tank 1 but was not able to transfer the fuel from tank 2. The same issue that was preventing the fuel from feeding the engine was preventing the fuel from transferring from tank 2 to tank 1. Unable to transfer the fuel from tank 2 we tried a couple of times to run the engine on tank 2 (hoping that the blockage would self-correct) but each time the engine quickly failed. It was now 1:45 AM and there was really little we could do so Jill talked Zack into going to bed and running the engine on tank 1. We figured we had enough fuel in tank 1 (with the addition of the small amount of fuel from tank 4) to get us through until morning. Wanting Zack to get sleep, Jill encourage Zack to take an extra hour of sleep to make up for the sleep he lost.
While Captain Zack doesn’t always take instructions from the admiral, he did listen this time and did not get up to relieve Jill until 4 AM. That extra hour rejuvenated Zack and he had an epiphany. Specifically he remembered that each tank has a hose leading to the engine as well as a hose leading to the generator since our generator also runs on diesel fuel. Though the hose leading to the engine was clearly blocked, the hose leading to the generator should be clear. That should allow him to run the generator off tank 2 and transfer fuel to tank 1 by having the excess fuel return go into tank 1. It was a brilliant idea but, by 4 AM, Jill was pretty tired so she suggested that they test Zack’s theory after she got some sleep.
When Jill got out of bed at 8:30 AM Zack was eager to put his plan in place. Sure enough, the plan worked beautifully. There was no issue running the generator off tank 2 (serving as one more data point that, indeed, the problem was a blockage in the hose feeding the engine from tank 2) and this allowed us to transfer fuel from tank 2 to tank 1 by diverting the return to tank 1. While we still had an issue to address — we needed to clear the blockage in that hose so we could use tank 2 — we now knew we had adequate fuel to get to Tonga. Never a dull moment on a boat! (Spoiler alert: we were able to resolve the issue but things are often not what they appear to be despite the numerous facts that seemingly point in a single direction! We had a real-life lesson in confirmation bias!) And, for those curious, this fuel tank issue, though inconvenient, is not the horrid part — not even close — but we will get to that later.
We arrived in Tonga by about noon on July 9. With our July 6 departure that July 9 day is very misleading and makes the passage sound much longer that it was. As we mentioned in our last blog post, we crossed the international date line on this short passage so while our friends and family woke up to Saturday, July 8, when Jill woke up in the morning after her extended watch it was Sunday, July 9. We lost a day. Everything is closed on Tonga on Sunday. There is no clearing in with customs and immigration so there was no need to anchor or pick up a mooring near town. Instead we found a lovely bay, Port Maurelle, with no development and anchored there. Aside from the beauty of this lush horseshoe bay with a small sandy beach at its apex, after days in Niue’s rolly mooring field we enjoyed the calm of this anchorage. Once successfully anchored, we both crashed for a few hours and woke up just in time to shower, prepare dinner and enjoy a lovely meal under a dark sky with bright stars and the sounds of tree frogs chirping in the background. It was an absolutely magical evening. If we didn’t have to check in with customs and immigration the next day we would have stayed a few days in this little slice of heaven.
But we did have to check in so, after a very leisurely morning, we headed over to the customs dock. It seems funny to describe the process this way but it was a delight. Officers from customs, immigration and health visited us right on our boat. We didn’t have any local currency so they allowed us to leave the wharf to go to an ATM even though we hadn’t checked in. When we didn’t have exact change — the ATM dispensed large bills — they allowed us to use smaller denominations of US dollars to pay the difference. And before we left the officials asked us if we needed fuel and they had a diesel fuel truck pull along side our boat. It could not have been easier! After a few hours (which included waiting 45 minutes when we initially arrived for the officers to complete their lunch break), we were cleared in and had 4 tanks full of diesel. It was a short hop to the mooring field near the main town and restaurants where we planned to stay at least a few days to enjoy the area.
A few words about Tonga before we write further about our visit. Tonga is an independent island kingdom which is part of the British Commonwealth. Tonga is comprised of 175 islands, many uninhabited, in 3 groups: Vava’u (the north most chain), The Niuas (the most remote chain farthest south — which happens to be where the king lives), and Ha’apai, in the middle. Closest to Niue, we first sailed to the Vava’u group and landed in Neiafu, which is the main town and capital of Vava’u which is also the name of the main island in that chain. Two interesting and conflicting facts about Tonga. First, and really fascinating to us, is the subculture of boys, Fakaleiti, or “Leitis ” (as they preferred to be called) being raised as girls. Traditionally families would create a Leitis when they had many sons but no daughters to carry on the female traditions like cooking, cleaning, weaving, sewing and caring for elders. Though this practice is now outlawed, it is still firmly entrenched in the Tongan culture. Second, thanks to the influence of missionaries, Tonga is a deeply conservative and religious country. Sunday is the day of rest and operating a business is illegal. Nothing happens in Tonga on Sunday and you are advised to dress modestly as you walk through town — no exposed shoulders or short shorts. Interestingly, while this conservative influence has caused some to look at Leitis with disdain, they are still revered creating an intriguing clash between culture and religion. (Another side note, we were also surprised with the large Chinese presence in Tonga. Part of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” China is supporting every aspect of Tonga’s infrastructure from roads to agriculture. Signs around active projects read: “Building Community with Shared future”. All the grocery stores were Chinese owned. We saw this in Niue as well but not in French Polynesia. France seems to have a heavier thumb on French Polynesia than New Zealand has on Niue or Great Britain has on Tonga.)
We had a fair amount of time to explore Tonga. Our next stop was Fiji and the rally organizers had pre-arranged a special clearance process for us from August 3 through August 8 in the Lau Group, the eastern most islands in Fiji. It is just under 300 nautical miles from Tonga to the Lau island group. Based on our experience so far, we estimated it would take us about 2 days to get there. That meant that we could enjoy Tonga until at least August 1 (possibly longer), giving us 3 weeks to sail around one or more of the 3 Tongan island groups. With its 40 small islands and 42 anchorages you could easily spend all of you time in just Vava’u. Though we hoped to visit one of the other island groups, our plans was to play it by ear based on weather and wind and develop our sailing itinerary accordingly.
Early on, our sailing plans — at least for the first few weeks — became quite clear. Within a few days of picking up our mooring, the weather took an unfortunate turn. For nearly 2 weeks it was overcast, rainy and quite cool. More like a damp and dreary New England day in late October than the South Pacific. In addition, for a portion of that time fronts came in bringing heavy winds making it unwise to leave the security of our protected mooring field near town. So, while it definitely wasn’t our initial hope or plan, we remained on our mooring near town for nearly 2 weeks — with exception of the one clear day when we snuck off for a quick overnight back in Port Maurelle. Despite the weather, we made the most of our time moored off Neiafu, going on some short hikes (including a hike to the Mt. Talau lookout point and to the Veimumuni Cave) as well as participating in some scheduled activities including a 2 tank dive, a tour of the Ene’io Botanical Gardens, a swim with the whales tour and a visit to the Annual Royal Agricultural & Fisheries Show (which due to COVID was happening during our visit for the first time in three years!). Unfortunately for you, we will be describing each of these activities — they fall in the very, very good category!
Diving: On July 13 we scheduled a 2 tank dive with Beluga Diving. The diving on Tonga was truly spectacular. With fresh spring water flowing into the dive sites, the water is some of the clearest we have ever seen. Underwater you are treated to a vast network of caves and canyons to explore, some very tight adding an element of fun as you carefully squeezed through tiny openings and navigated through long and narrow passages. Many of these canyons shoot up quite high creating underwater mountains that were reminiscent of the pinnacles we dove in Tahiti. The majority of both our dives (aptly named “Split Rock” and “Fingers”) were spent swimming in and around these structures which were covered with vibrant healthy coral creating a great ecosystems for a large variety of shell fish, giant clams, anemones (complete with the requisite clown fish that reside in them) and colorful pacific reef fish — like the Longnose Butterflyfish, the Orange-lined Triggerfish, the Regal Angelfish, and the Moorish Idolfish — which which never cease to delight.
Ene’io Botanical Gardens Tour: We participating in this group tour organized by the World on on July 14. The tour included a walk through a lush and beautiful privately owned garden, brimming with both native and non-native plants and trees, followed by a demonstration of traditional Tongan weaving techniques (including how the tree bark is converted into fibers), a traditional Tongan feast (roast pig, tropical chicken, yam fritters, rice, bananas cooked in coconut milk, salad and fresh fish) and a dance recital featuring traditional Tongan dances put on by local school children. Throughout the tour our hosts, Haniteli and Lucy, shared information about Tongan culture and its proud people. For instance, we had seen boys in town wearing what looked like a skirt over their trousers. We learned that boys wear these wraps (often hand-woven with fibers produced from local tree bark) over their pants as a sign of respect much as our boys in the USA would wear a tie on school assembly days. We also learn that while early education is funded by the Tongan government, education in the upper grades is provided exclusively through the various religious organizations on the islands.
What we most appreciated though was seeing the love that the Tongan people have for their culture and how thankful they are for the World ARC visits. Tonga was hit particularly hard by COVID and the Tongan people refer to it as a one-two punch. Right before COVID was declared a global pandemic, Tonga was hit by a cyclone in 2020 which caused over $100 million in damage. Just as Tonga was beginning to recover it shut its borders due to COVID in March 2020 and did not reopen its borders again until August 2022, later than most other countries. As Lucy was thanking us for our visit she got very emotional while she explained about how important these visits are for the Tongan people. Not only do we provide important economic support for the nation in general as we spend money on tours, food and gifts around the islands, but proceeds from the tour pay for the cultural demonstrations that allow these traditions to survive. As we listened to Lucy speak from the heart we realized that regardless of how much we enjoyed the tour, sometimes these tours are less about us (though we are always interested to learn about the unique cultures of the places we visit) and more about giving back to the local community by supporting their efforts to preserve their rich cultural heritage and share it with others.
Swimming with whales: What an experience! (Though wait until you read the write up about Jill’s second whale swim below). We booked a Swimming with Whales tour with Tongan Expedition on July 17. As we mentioned previously, from July through October humpback whales return to the waters of the South Pacific, and most notably the waters of Fiji, Tonga and Niue, to mate and calve. To protect the humpback whales it is not legal to approach a humpback whale closer than 300 meters or to ever get into the water to swim with them unless you are aboard a licensed vessel with a certified guide. We were a little circumspect about booking a tour because we heard mixed reviews about how much you really see of the whales once you jump in the water (swimming with whales, really???) but we have always been in awe of humpback whales and could not resist the opportunity — even if remote — to have a close, in water, encounter. Guess we got lucky because we had three really close encounters and two more where we observed whales beneath the surface.
As you might imagine, the tour starts with the boat heading off to find the whales. Once the guide spots the whales the boat captain steers as close as possible and the guide observes their behavior to assess whether they think the whales will provide a good opportunity for a communal swim or will move too quickly away from the tour group. If the guide believes that the whales spotted will allow for a close encounter the captain positions the boat so that it is in front of where the whales are headed and the guide instructs the passengers to get ready and jump in fast. The first time we jumped in we were greeted by 3 humpback whales just under the surface, two adults and a calf. They swam by us ever so slowly and gracefully. The second encounter was, as they say, the bomb. During this encounter we jumped in among 5 whales, three near the surface and a few beneath us which began to rise up to join the others. We watched as the ascending whales seemed to be headed right towards us. The third encounter was brief but lovely. By the time we got in the water there was only one large whale swimming by but it was such a delight to watch this gentle giant glide by slowly with its air of elegance. The last two encounters were very interesting. Apparently, when humpback whales descend they often rest largely motionless in a vertical, head down, position. During our forth and fifth encounters we observed a whale in this position. With the whale head down all you really see is the whale’s tail moving like a leaf blowing in a gentle wind. During our encounters with whales near the surface the whales swam within 5 feet of us (giving us a great perspective on how big a 60 foot whale really is!) but in these encounters with the resting whales they were about 10-15 feet below the surface. We asked the guide how she knew she would find these resting whales and she explained that when she sees a whale descend she can tell from the bubble footprint on the surface whether the whale has continued moving forward or did the dive to take a rest. Fascinating! In between our swims, the whales entertained us by successively breaching close to our boat. Aparently, this behavior becomes more common during mating season because humpbacks use it as a way to attract a mate and as a form of play. Aside from a minor complaint about the weather — our tour was on one of those cold and rainy days and, yes, we would have preferred some sun — our swim with whales adventure exceeded our expectations and we were so glad we booked the tour.
Annual Royal Agricultural & Fisheries Show: We were very fortunate that our visit to Tonga coincided with the Annual Royal Agricultural & Fisheries Show which took place on July 20. This is an annual public event (if you exclude the 3 years lost to COVID) designed to showcase Tonga’s agricultural harvest and crops, fresh produce, fresh seafood, local animals, marine products and local handicrafts including weaving, baskets, wood carvings and jewelry. These items are displayed in a series side-by-side tented individual booths curated by the producers and/or purveyors of these goods. As we walked around the booths we could not believe the quantity and quality of the fresh produce and seafood. It was the most beautiful cornucopia of vine ripened tomatoes, eggplant, cauliflower, scallions, carrots, red peppers, green beans, lettuce, cabbage, etc. we have seen since attending a farmers market in the States. And the seafood — booth after booth (after booth) with every manner of edible sea creatures out on display including a huge variety of fish, rays, squids, octopus, lobsters, crabs and shellfish. (We posted some very impressive pictures of the seafood on our @sailingchefigata Instagram account.)
The King of Tonga, who traveled from his home in The Niuas, kicks off the event by personally surveying each booth leading a small procession of royals and dignitaries. Once the King has passed by each booth the owners of the items are free to sell them to the public. And this is when the flood gates open. Being of far superior quality to anything you find in the supermarkets or fresh food markets, Tongans flock to this event and descend on the booths as soon as they open for business. The enormity of the mob-like crowd all competing for the best of the best vegetables made it difficult to get up front to purchase your desired produce. Fortunately, Jill, ever resourceful, devised a plan. After unsuccessfully, making any progress at a booth overrun with prospective purchasers she rushed to a booth that had not yet been visited by the king and stood there until the king and his procession passed in order to be the first in line. Well, she actually ended up being second in line because another member of our fleet, our friends Torsten and Sue on Seaside, had the same strategy and beat her to the booth! Still, as the second in line, she was very successful, walking away with a bag full of beautiful eggplant, cauliflower, green onions, tomatoes and carrots. After that she rushed to another booth not yet open to the public. This time a crowd had already formed but Zack was able to muscle his way in among the Tongan women (Jill was quite impressed) to purchase the most exquisite red peppers and lettuce. After spending the equivalent of about $30 USD we now had food for 10 days and Jill was very excited about her menu featuring some of their favorite meals including Cauliflower Shawarma with Spicy Tahini and Gochujang-Glazed Eggplant with Fried Scallions! Since we still hoped to leave the main Vava’u port once the weather cleared, and most of the smaller islands in the Vava’u group (or other island groups) do not have restaurants or food markets (they are largely uninhabited), this was a fortuity worth celebrating!
During our time on the Neiafu mooring, when we weren’t out exploring — above or below water — we could often be found at The Kraken, a really nice casual waterfront bar and restaurant that became the unofficial happy hour location for our fleet. After going our separate ways during the day it was nice to meet up and compare notes. Aside from the opportunity to socialize with our fleet family, the food at The Kraken was really excellent. Zack had several amazing dishes including chili lime fish, coconut fish, fish and chips and chili chicken while Jill enjoyed a spicy Thai salad made with cabbage and glass noodles. And, after sticker shock in Bora Bora, we appreciated being able to enjoy a fabulous meal for 2 with a glass of wine for the equivalent of $40 – $55 US dollars! We also had a really nice evening at Mangos (next door to The Kraken) with our friends on Rumpus, Rupert and Kristin. They are the lovely NZ couple we met in Rangiroa (Tuamotus, French Polynesia). Though we had definitely planned to visit them in NZ, it was a very pleasant surprise to run into them again during our sail west. (Not mentioned above, but we were also pleased that Kristin joined us on our dive.)
Of course, no South Pacific island visit would be complete without some yacht maintenance as well as some boat drama. We (well Zack, actually) used some of those cold and rainy days to fix the latch on the cupboard responsible for the flying induction plate caper and also to attend to our fuel line blockage issue. We had great fun strategizing about how to clear the blockage. We didn’t want to blow it back into the fuel tank so we would have to siphon it out. The problem was that the hose in question was very thin so most of the pump apparatuses we own were way too big to be used with the hose. Jill remembered that we had some very small hoses with teeny apertures that came with our vacuum cleaner — apparently designed to get into small crevices. Her idea was to use one of those and turn on the vacuum to suck out the blockage. For understandable reasons, while he appreciated Jill’s ingenuity, Zack wasn’t keen on sucking the fuel that would invariably follow the blockage into our vacuum cleaner. His idea was to use those same tiny cleaning attachments but to find a way to secure them to the hand pump we use to pump water out of our dinghy after a rain. That could have worked in theory but tightly securing a cleaning part to the pump’s hose would have been a bit of a challenge since those pieces did not even come close to fitting together. After some additional creative suggestions, Zack remembered that we had a syringe in our medical kit. The tip of the syringe was small enough to fit inside the fuel hose and, hopefully, as we pulled out the plunger, the suction created would be powerful enough to remove the blockage.
After all of this planning, suction was not necessary. The rubber hose from the fuel tank fits over a small metal pipe that protrudes from the manifold to connect the hose to manifold that distributes the fuel. As Zack examined the hose to get ready to disengage it from the manifold he noticed that one of the two clamps that secured the hose to the pipe to had fallen off. He further observed that there were some very small holes in the hose near the remaining clamp. Apparently, these small holes were large enough to suck in air while the fuel pump to the engine was engaged and that was sufficient to interfere with the fuel flow. It’s similar to what happens when you try (unsuccessfully) to drink out of a straw with a hole in it above the liquid line. Zack simply reattached the second clamp. Since this was the closest clamp to the source of the fuel, the now tight fit of the hose around the pipe cut off the air supply and the engine appeared to work beautifully. So, in the end, the issue wasn’t a blockage at all! Similar impact but much different cause. We will still need to replace the hose when we arrive at a proper boatyard in Fiji or Australia but, for the time being, we should be able to access the fuel in tank 2. (By the way, we hope you are taking notes. When we return to the States we plan to organize a virtual Trivial Pursuits with questions based on obscure facts — mostly concerning repairs and sail plans — pulled from our blog. Okay, not really, but we may create a quiz just for fun so you can test your knowledge about our repairs in exotic places as well as some of our most memorable mishaps and moments.)
In the drama department, we had a little scare and a big scare. We will cover the little scare here — you’ll have to read to nearly the end to get to the big scare which falls within the “horrid” category. The little scare occurred during our brief departure from the mooring in Neiafu during our otherwise initial 12 day stay there. As we mentioned, the weather wasn’t great but we knew it was only going to get worse — the weather forecast called for rain and winds reaching 40 MPH — so, having become stir crazy, we decided to leave the safety of the mooring for one night while we could notwithstanding the cloudy conditions. As we mentioned, we headed back to beautiful Port Maurelle which was a short hop, skip and jump from our mooring. The attraction of that bay was two fold. First, as we have already described, it is beautiful. Second, it is easy access to both Mariners and Swallows caves. Unfortunately, the overcast skies did not really bode well for cave exploration (so we ditched those plans) but the unspoiled bay was still a treat. We arrive early afternoon and were able to quickly get a good anchor hold. We spent a fabulous night aboard Che Figata enjoying a lovely dinner (Mongolian Tofu with brown rice) and a nice Cote du Rhône.
All in all, it was a perfect one night getaway— at least until we decided to pick up our anchor the next day to return to the safety of our protected mooring in advance of the expected big blow. We were anchored in about 55 feet of water and as Jill brought up the anchor using our electric windlass the chain started coming up very slowly and then stopped to a grinding halt. We had this happen before and the cause was a bad solenoid. (Read our January 17, 2022 blog entry entitled “Circumnavigating Antigua – January 3 through January 17 (subtitle: the Yin and Yang of our sailing life v2.0)” if you need a refresher). To check whether the solenoid was the culprit again, Jill tried to lower the anchor (ever so slightly) using the down peddle. If the issue was the solenoid controlling the up action, the down peddle should have worked except it didn’t. When the down peddle didn’t work both of us surmised that the problem was most likely battery related. Of course, the problem could have been a catastrophic failure of the windless motor but we have learned that most of the time when things go wrong the cause is something simple and, thankfully, fixable . So, with fingers tightly crossed, we started our generator to recharge the windlass batteries. (If the problem wasn’t the batteries we had big problems because it would be very difficult to raise our 100 pound stainless steel anchor up manually from what was now probably 30 feet below the surface.) Fortunately, after about 10 – 15 minutes of charging, Jill tried the up peddle again and the anchor rose. There was much rejoicing on Che Figata and we triumphantly returned to our mooring to wait out the storm.
On July 22 — and now we are back to the very, very good — after 12 consecutive overcast and rainy days, we finally woke up to sunshine. That was our cue to depart the town mooring and head off for parts unknown. After a quick and early run into the local market for a few more fresh veggies, we wasted no time letting our mooring loose and sailing away, destination TBD. Following some discussion we decided to head for anchorage #24 (within the Vava’u group), a beautiful spot off the small island of Ngau. An old Moorings Guidebook that has made the rounds among our fleet described the anchorage as having one of the most beautiful beaches in the Vava’u group and we can believe that. Crystal blue waters and gorgeous white sand — some quite coarse like bits of shells and coral and some very fine like sugar — surrounded the nearby islands. The only downside was that we had a hard time setting our anchor. While there were many spots in the anchorage that looked like a perfect sandy bottom, our anchor didn’t hold. It’s apparently one of those places with just a thin layer of white sand covering a hard coral floor. Very misleading. Finally, on the fifth try (and after moving around the corner to the next bay), we found a spot that gave us adequate (though not perfect) holding given the expected benign conditions. We decided that we wouldn’t allow great get in the way of good and we declared ourselves settled!
We ended up spending 3 nights and 2 full days in the anchorage. Unplanned, but always a delight, we were joined in the anchorage for the first two evenings by our friends on Aliena. We enjoyed gin and tonics together both nights taking turns hosting a friendly cocktail competition on our respective boats. On the third night Aliena had to move on but we were joined by 5 other boats in our fleet, prompting a “sundowner” gathering around a bonfire on a nearby beach. During the day we explored the area by dinghy, visiting the gorgeous beaches surrounding us. (We posted pictures of these exquisite beaches on Instagram @sailingchefigata.) We also did some snorkeling. While the coral was disappointing we saw many colorful starfish and reef fish including a plethora of vibrant blue/violet starfish which, not surprisingly, are called the Blue Seastar, Pennant Bannerfish, Saddled Butterflyfish, Bicolor Angelfish, quintessential Moroon Clownfish (which, as you know, are actually an orangish brown color not moroon) that were (of course!) swimming among sea anemone and a starfish we have been unable to identify that, with its bulbous body and equally pudgy 4 legs, looked like something out of a claymation movie.
As much as we loved our first anchorage away from Neiafu, there were so many anchorages to be explored so on July 25 Moved to “anchorage 16,” located off the island of Vaka’eitu. On the way there we were visited by a lone humpback whale that decided to swim alongside us. This whale was splashing its pectoral fins and and flapping its tale as if it was trying to get our attention — it seemed to be saying “come play with me.” Not wanting to violate Tongan law and risk big fines and jail time, we resisted the temptation to jump in the water. Eventually, the whale gave up and swam away. Still, we enjoyed our partial escort to our next anchorage.
The feature of this anchorage was the nearby coral gardens. The coral garden was on the other side of a very shallow reef from the anchorage so the only way to access it was via dinghy during high tide. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in the anchorage we had missed high tide so we took a short dinghy tour of the area and spent the rest of the day doing various boat chores. Jill, taking advantage of our vegetable haul from the agricultural fair, cooked up gochujang-glazed eggplant for dinner and, following a brief intermission to drink pina coladas on SV Zissou (another fleet mate) with Hannah and Sam, we had a nice evening aboard Che Figata listening to the humpback whales singing off in distance as the early evening gave way to night. The next day we waited for high tide (~ 12:30 PM) and headed to the coral gardens. This coral garden definitely boasted the best coral we have seen since we left the Tuamotus in French Polynesia. Beautiful and abundant live coral in bright colors including some intense deep blue staghorn coral. And where there’s healthy coral there are plenty of reef fish so we saw a lot of the usual suspects already mentioned in this blog entry. But what we will remember most about this snorkel experience was the underwater sounds of the humpback whales. We had seen them off in the distance as we crossed the reef in our dinghy but were surprised to hear their haunting moan-like songs beneath the surface. The sound is both beautiful and dark — almost like the howling of the wind or a Brahms symphony. We learned afterwords that the sounds of the humpback whale can travel miles underwater. We also discovered that the songs we heard are produced by males in their breeding grounds and that each year the males create a new song that then remains constant for that season among all the males. We took turns diving below the surface to listen to them as they communicated with one another.
On Thursday, July 27 it was back to town. Unfortunately, the weather was again forecasted to take a turn for the worse so we figured we would head back to Neiafu and use the rainy days to do laundry, some provisioning (our alcohol stash was getting dangerously low) and miscellaneous boat chores. The plan was to wait out the cold and rainy days on the mooring and leave the mooring field on Saturday or Sunday as the weather turned nice again — assuming the forecast held true. There were still several more anchorages we wanted to visit and were particularly interested in returning to Port Maurelle to snorkel both Mariner’s and Swallows caves and also visit Mounu Island where several of our fleet mates got to swim (under the auspices of a licensed and certified operator) with a particularly friendly and inquisitive pod of whales. Unfortunately, this is where the horrid part comes in. Read on . . .
On Friday morning (the day after our arrival back to the mooring field) Zack decided to check on our engine. It should be noted that Zack is fastidious about checking the engine while we are underway whenever we have the engine running and had never observed anything of concern. Still, we felt a slight but increasing level of vibration from the running engine, particularly if we were standing in our back cabin. A few years ago two of the bolts securing our diesel engine to the engine mounts (these are the mounts that hold the engine in place, preventing the heavy engine from shifting and damaging the drive shaft to the propeller), broke off without us even realizing it. We discovered the problem when we reported vibration to our boatyard after we arrived for annual maintenance in June 2021. Though that was only 2 years ago, and we replaced all 4 engine mounts at the time to ensure our engine was secure, out of an abundance of caution, Zack decided to give the engine a good look over. We were both shocked when he discovered that, once again, 2 of the bolts that secured the engine to the mounts had sheared off and the engine had actually shifted slightly to starboard. We cannot over stress how potentially catastrophic this situation could be. With only 2 mounts holding the engine in place and, with the engine already shifting out of alignment, we were in great risk of the remaining two bolts failing. If this occurred while we were underway, the sudden shift of the engine could cause the connection between the engine and driveshaft to break. The movement of the driveshaft from that break could be significant enough to damage the seal that prevents water from entering the opening through which our propeller extends out of our boat. The volume of water flow could be too great for our bilge to keep up with and, as you might imagine, when a boat fills up with too much water it sinks! This situation was serious (yes, this is the “horrid” part) and while we had probably been motoring with the engine in this precarious state for hundreds of miles, we couldn’t risk leaving the mooring until we had an adequate temporary solution that could get us to Fiji where we knew there would be good resources to replace the mounts.
This then started a series of cascading events: investigating a solid temporary solution with the local boatyard as well as with the manager of the boatyard that had replaced the mounts 2 years ago so we could (hopefully) leave Tonga with the rest of our fleet, coming up with different routes to Fiji depending on the security of the temporary fix, calls to boatyards and mechanics at different locations along these routes within Fiji to line up work, reaching out to several licensed distributors of our engine (a 4JH110 Yanmar engine) in both Fiji and the USA to look into the best way to to get the new parts to us in Fiji in time for the permanent fix and, of course, assembling what we needed to begin work on the temporary solution. The temporary solution, we learned, was to just replace the bolts for now. This would require us to lift the engine to remove the engine mounts with the broken bolts. This, in turn, required us to have a small carjack (not something we carry aboard Che Figata) and also pieces of wood to rest the engine on when the mounts were removed. In record time — by noon the next day — Zack gathered everything he needed and had recruited several volunteers from among our fleet (thankfully the same bad weather that made us return to town had forced others to do the same) to help remove the mounts. Zack, with the help of John from Casamara and Chuck from Side Track, successfully removed the mounts with the broken bolts early Saturday afternoon. Now we had to wait (on pins and needles) until Monday morning to see if someone at the boatyard could actually remove the damaged bolts and insert new bolts. We were keeping our fingers tightly crossed that we could successfully execute the temporary solution. If we couldn’t, we would be unable to leave Tonga (or even our mooring) until we replaced the mounts. The estimated time to get these mounts to Tonga was for 4 – 6 weeks and waiting for them would effectively mean we would be unable to cruise Fiji. The only option would be for Jill to fly to New Zealand to pick up the parts so we could install the new mounts in Tonga without the long wait. We would still lose about a week of our Fiji cruising time but at least we would still have sometime to explore those islands. You can probably see why we were praying that the boatyard could get out the old bolts, install the new and we could be on our way!
Sunday was our hold our breath day as we waited for the boatyard to open on Monday and learn our fate. We decided it would be best to keep busy — plus we were determined to cross off some of the items on our Tonga bucket list (functional engine or not!) — so we took a long 4 nautical mile dinghy ride to Swallows Cave. Swallows cave is located on the northwest side of Kapa Island. The small, uninhabited island is only accessible by boat, and the cave itself is only accessible by water. The mouth of the cave is about 15′ deep and about 20′ wide. (We used a picture of the cave’s entrance as our feature photo for this blog entry.) You can either take your dinghy and anchor it at the mouth of the cave or, given the width of the mouth, motor your dinghy into the cave and tie up to one of the small pinnacle rocks at the back of the cave. We chose to take our dinghy into the cave and found a stalagmite that had a very convenient hole at the top — like the eye of a needle — allowing us to slip our dinghy painter through and securely tie on. As you dinghy through the mouth of cave, you are treated to a cathedral like opening with a high ceiling and tall columns in a semi circle where the stalagmites and stalagmites have met. Unfortunately, being a very popular tourist destination, these columns are marred by graffiti though if you look closely you will see that some of the writings date back to the late 1800s. Like the ocean water in Tonga generally, the deep blue water in the cave is crystal clear, allowing you to see all the way to the bottom of the barren cave floor — about 60 feet down. The main underwater feature of the cave are the hundreds of bait fish that swim within. As the sunlight streams through the opening of the cave in the afternoon you see these lovely silhouettes as the fish swim in unison about halfway between the water’s surface and the bottom.
After about 45 minutes of cave exploration — both above and under the water — it was time to return to Che Figata in Neiafu. On the dinghy ride back Zack spotted a whale off in the distance and we decided to take a slight detour to get a closer look. We approached slowly and kept a reasonable distance to avoid startling the whale. To our delight, the whale was actually two whales — a mom and her calf — and they were totally unfazed by our presence. They continued to hang out in the same spot of the channel with the baby frolicking around mom showing us his/her pectoral fins and, occasionally, sticking his head of the water as if he wanted to stare back at us. We observed this pair for a solid 30 minutes and, if we could make time stand still, we would have watched for longer. But it was getting late in the day and were were hosting our friends on Choucas 3 for cocktails and nibbles so we reluctantly continued our dinghy ride back to town. We had a lovely evening with the Choucas crew (Fred, Matthew and Ariane) and fell asleep quickly that night after an active and awesome day that allowed us to forget about our engine issue for a while.
After a great rest we woke up Monday to our big day. Zack would be following up with the boatyard — removed mounts and broken bolts in hand — to see if they could remove the sheared bolts and replace them with others. There was really nothing for Jill to do to help Zack with this chore (other than perhaps offer moral support). She had already done everything she could to source the replacement parts and make arrangements for the permanent repairs in Fiji. So while Zack was on a mission to get help with a temporary repair, Jill was free to go off. She decided to do another swim with the whales tour since she was going to miss the swim with whale activity off Mounu Island.
The day was a huge success all around. First, Jill had a fabulous experience. Not sure she would call them inquisitive, but the tour boat came upon a group of three whales with a mom, dad and a calf who were entirely unconcerned about our presence. Most importantly, they had obviously not read the rules about the distance you are supposed to keep from the whales while you are in the water with them. As we swam near them being careful to keep an appropriate distance, they often headed right towards us, forcing us to swim backwards as fast as we could to avoid an unintended collision. We got to watch the interactions between mom and calf for a few hours (in several different installments) and observed dad as he hovered more deeply below the surface and would rise up every once and a while just to check that his family was okay. It was amazing to be in the water with these whales — so close that you could clearly see the patterns of black and white pigmentation that are unique to each individual — and watch their natural behaviors.
The whale swim alone would have been enough for Jill to declare the tour a 10 out of 10 but our tour guide added sprinkles on top before heading back to Neiafu. Jill had mentioned that she was hoping to snorkel Mariner’s Cave. It was the only item on Jill’s Tonga “bucket list” that eluded her. So the guide, eager to please, made a stop there before returning to town. Mariner’s Cave is located on the north end of Nuapupu Island. Unlike Swallows Cave which has a large opening above water, allowing you to easily enter, the entrance to Mariner’s Cave is about 6 feet underwater and, after diving down, you have swim about 10 feet through an underwater tunnel before there is enough head room to allow you to surface inside the cave. There’s a slight current flowing out of the cave that runs against you as you swim in so snorkeling the cave is only recommended for strong swimmers. For those with the requisite skills, however, it is almost a rite of passage among cruisers visiting Tonga. Jill, overly concerned that she would hit her head on the top of the cave tunnel as she swam toward to the part of the cave where the ceiling extends above the water, swam down at least 15 feet (according to the person behind her in the tunnel), adding a degree of difficulty to the experience but she came out fine at the other end and was greeted by the 6 or so snorkelers who were already up at the surface within the cave. Aside from being able to hold your breath long enough to get inside the cave the only thing that might be disconcerting to some — particularly those with claustrophobia — is that as you enter the cave, the narrow tunnel is quite dark so you really can’t see the “end” until you are there. It makes the swim seem much longer than it actually is because you can’t judge the distance — you just keep swimming! Of course, the reverse trip is a snap. When swimming out of the cave you can see the light shining in the cave entrance. With her successful snorkel into Mariner’s cave, Jill was so happy to check that box!
But as she got out of the water back onto the tour boat Jill got a pit in her stomach as she remembered that, upon return to Che Figata, she would learn our fate. The short ride back to Neiafu seemed to take forever! Once the tour boat arrived at its dock, Jill got a dinghy ride back to Che Figata with Caron and Martin on Escapade of London, another fleet mate, who happened to be on the same whale tour. As their dinghy approached Che Figata we all notice a small hard sided dinghy tied off to the boat. Not being an inflatable dinghy, Jill knew, at once, that it did not belong to any of our fleet mates. Was a technician finishing up a repair job or had something gone wrong causing the technician to be on our boat so late in the afternoon?
Fortunately, Jill knew the answer right away because, upon hearing a dinghy motor approach Che Figata, Zack came out from down below deck to greet Jill with a huge smile on his face. The news was better than either of us could have possibly hoped. It turns out that when Zack visited the boatyard on Friday the manager of the boatyard, Allen, said that though they did not have any replacement mounts, the Moorings charter company may have some. Allen figured that with lots of charter boats to maintain, the Moorings may carry spares. He kindly called over to the Moorings operation for us but, unfortunately, he came up dry. That is when Allen suggested that if we could remove the mounts they may be able to removed the broken bolts to reattach the mounts with new bolts. When Zack went back to the boatyard on Monday with the removed mounts Allen greeted him by saying that he was just about to give Zack a call. After an additional search, it turned out the the Moorings did have some spare mounts and that they would be willing to sell them to us. The dinghy Jill spotted tied to our boat belonged to a technician who was able to install the new mounts and bolts. It is not a permanent solution because there is still an underlying problem causing the bolts to break (plus one of the mounts wasn’t an exact replacement for our broken mounts) but this was much better than merely installing new bolts. Moreover, it gave us the confidence that not only could we safely sail to Fiji but, with a very solid temporary solution in place, we could follow our planned itinerary rather than sailing directly to a marina in Fiji for the repair work. In other words, we did not have to go directly to jail — we could pass GO and collect our $200 dollars!!!
This is where life on a boat is very, very good and even gets better! Not only did we have this wonderful interim solution but the next day, which was our wedding anniversary, we got a very special present. Because we weren’t sure if we could go anywhere for our anniversary — we thought we might be stuck on the mooring — we made no plans. We had heard about a lovely resort, The Reef resort (https://reefresortvavau.com/), where several of our fleet mates had enjoyed gourmet 3 course dinners. They shared that the setting was beautiful, the food sublime and the owners warm and welcoming. We were hoping to celebrate our anniversary by dining at the resort but we didn’t dare make reservations with the uncertainty around our engine. With our issue resolved, on Monday evening, just the night before our anniversary, Jill sent an inquiry to the resort to ask if they could accommodate us for an anniversary dinner. Jill heard back from the owner, Herwig, at about 9 PM that the restaurant was actually closed for a few days because they were in between resort guests but, being that it was our anniversary, they were going to open the restaurant privately for us! Who does that!!!!!
The next day — our anniversary— was miserable weather-wise. Another cold, rainy and windy day (which now seemed to be the norm in Tonga). After clearing out with customs, we left our mooring in Neiafu in the afternoon and headed towards the resort on nearby Kapa Island with strong gust of wind and rain pelting into our dodger. After the short 45 minute journey we successfully anchored in about 50 feet of water and then we wondered what we were doing. The wind and rain were relentless. The dinghy ride from our boat to the resort would be “exhilarating” to say the least and who knew what it would be like when we tried to dinghy back to the boat in the dark after dinner and drinks. But then we thought about the owners opening up the restaurant just for us. We knew that this resort only prepared fresh meals built around locally sourced vegetables, fruits, meat and fish. That meant that they had gone out that day to survey what was available fresh and then built a 3 course menu around what they were able to find. There was no way we were cancelling this reservation.
As wet as were were when we arrived at the resort at 6 PM (we arrived in full foul weather gear) we were so glad that we didn’t bow out. We were greeted at the dock by Herwig and staff member Ana who was holding an umbrella. We were quickly escorted to the dining facility which was beyond exquisite. This restaurant was housed in a self-contained stand alone white building with dark wood accents and floor-to-ceiling glass doors all around. As we entered the room after sunset we were enveloped by the warmth of the dark wooden beams, amber lighting and the flicker of the flame from the floating candle set on our table which beckoned us over. As we got close, we saw a table setting that would make Martha Stewart proud — 2 place settings with beautiful linens, stemware and flatware and a simple but elegant flower arrangement with just a few fresh flowers laid on top of lots of greenery cascading off the table. (See the pics on Instagram @sailingchefigata.). The only thing that surpassed the wonderful setting was the hospitality of Herwig, Ana and acclaimed Chef Jürgen (who came out to say hello after our meal) and, of course, the quality of the food itself. We had a 4 course meal that rivaled anything we have eaten at high end restuarants in NYC and now around the world. Before the courses were served, Ana brought over a basket of freshly baked Focaccia with soft butter and garlic olive oil. Our first course was a vegan pumpkin risotto. For our second course Zack was served a beautifully presented and scrumptious snapper ceviche stacked in layers while Jill enjoyed a delicious rich vegetable broth with lots of chunky vegetables — perfect for the cold, wet, evening. Zack’s third course was freshly caught and lightly marinated dogtooth tuna accompanied by cauliflower tempura with a light pumpkin ginger purée drizzled on top of both and served over a creamy root vegetable. Jill had the same meal without the tuna. We practically licked our plates clean. And there was no letting up for dessert. The Chef prepared a trio of desserts splendidly presented on a single plate: a luscious white chocolate almond milk ice cream on top of tiny cubes of candied pineapple, housemade watermelon sorbet bursting with flavor and a gorgeous syrupy sweet coffee like drink, served at room temperature, that felt like silk as you took each sip. Truly, we felt like celebrities. Who else has a private dining experience like this. Only in a remote place like Tonga! After extended good byes and giving heart felt and profuse thanks to Herwig, Ana and Chef Jürgen we donned our foul weather gear and got back in the dinghy for the somewhat harrowing dinghy ride back to the boat. Crazy, yes — we should never have left our boat that night — but we would do it all over again, and again, and again!
After that amazing send off we woke up today (August 2) ready to leave for the 2 day passage to Fiji. It promises to be a sporty one but we will leave you on this happy note! While we definitely had some lows during our Tonga visit we had some highs that more than compensated for the scares and challenges (and the yucky weather). So maybe we should rephrase that nursery rhyme just a bit. Perhaps, after reflecting on the full month and our fortuities, we should say that circumnavigating on a sailboat is a little like that girl who had a curl in the middle of her forehead. When it is awesome it is very, very awesome but when it is bad it’s still worth it.
