Mischief - Up to Mischief Log 44 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes

Tuesday, 29th May 2018 - Neiafu harbor, Tonga

A Boat Day for me! Whilst Dave, Wendy and Trevor went ashore I stayed on board and tidied sails, ropes etc, did some washing and updated the blog. Very nice just to spend time on your own sometimes and catch up with yourself.

The weather has certainly brightened up form yesterday. After we dropped our lines from Spirit of Catherine this morning at 7am we motored to the moorings where there are plenty of buoys to choose from, so we are now sat on a mooring some 100 meters off the Mangoes jetty, very convenient for the pub!

Dave came over to the boat mid-afternoon to pick me up and we spent the rest of the day and most of the evening there when, a little worse for wear we came back again! The prices are so much cheaper here than in French Polynesia so it seems only right to take advantage. Rob and Sue had come over from their B&B - Rob is so much happier now he is attached to land, he is like his old self according to Dave, and he says he 'will never set foot on a boat again!' He believes in the Spike Milligan cure for seasickness: Sit under a tree.

Wednesday, 30th May 2018 - Neiafu harbor, Tonga

My Mother's and son Michael's birthdays today, so Happy Birthday both should you be reading this!

Woke up this morning with a bit of a headache, can't think why., although I had to get up around 5am to get my washing in off the line as the wind had got up and it was in danger of disappearing over the back of the boat.

We went into town to drop off gas bottles to re-fill and I had a hair cut on the way back - it cost TOP$ 10, or the equivalent of £3 so I gave him a TOP$5 tip!

The rest of the day was spent in Mango's doing computer stuff but the wifi is poor, occasionally worse so is a bit frustrating. It seems alright to do a few emails but anything that needs downloading it is hopeless. Whatever, it gave me a blinding headache, so I stayed on board this evening and had some cheese and biscuits whilst the others went to an Italian. Early night for me. Anyway we have booked a Kart Safari for tomorrow so that should be fun.

Thursday, 31st May 2018 - Heiafu harbor, Tonga

Early ashore for a run at first light, around 7am in these parts, and a few hill sprints. My calf muscle seems to be fixed at last, until the next time no doubt when I overdo it!

We went ashore, Dave to check Sue and Rob off the boat at immigration and me to use the wifi. This failed miserably this morning, in fact so badly I wonder if they had even turned it on!

But at 1pm we had our Kart Safari on sand buggies with the owner Ian from Tasmania and his side-kick local, Kelly. Absolutely brilliant from start to finish, all 4 hours or so of it. We had about half a minute instruction on the buggies then we were off around the island, mostly off road on narrow, steep, rutted and muddy tracks through jungle stopping occasionally to have a lesson in the vanilla crops and how they are manually pollinated and nurtured (it has a market price presently in excess of silver due to the poor harvest in the last few years), and to see the sights. One of the highlights were the school kids coming out of school, hundreds of them, high-fiving us as we went along the road (slowly), and almost everyone we passed waving and smiling - it is very true when they say these are the 'Friendly Islands'. We even learnt everything there was to know about coconuts which was fascinating, and even helped them collect a truck load. Only about £50 and worth every penny.

We were back in Mango's for tea and a quiz night but the questions were American biased and we couldn't hear them anyway so gave up after a while, particular when the internet was poor and we couldn't find the answers!