Thursday, 7 June 2018 - depart Tonga for Fiji
We sat filling out customs forms for departure - tons of them, asking exactly the same information as for those on clearance in which is a bit ridiculous. So afterwards Dave went to see Customs in Mangoes and Gary, Trevor and I walked up to the shops to get some more onions and stuff for lunches plus some beer naturally. We used every last cent of Tonga dollars bar $6 I had in my pocket which I spent on a tube of toothpaste from a street seller lady on the way back to the boat.
We had just started back when I heard Dave shouting from the water in the dinghy - he had come down to the small dinghy dock as he had just had a call from Rally Control that we had been allocated an earlier refueling slot at 1030 so as it was already 1015 we had to get a wiggle on.
Back on board we just picked up the dinghy and stowed it , dropped the mooring line and motored over to the re-fueling dock where the tanker lorry awaited us. A quick fill up and we were off out of the islands of Tonga towards Fiji, but not before Catherine from Tintamara made her way across with Cally whose birthday it was and gave us a piece of birthday cake and fond farewells. We will not see Tintamara again on the trip as they head direct for Australia. Bon Voyage.
It was good to be back on the ocean again after some 10 days. Our ETA on Vanua Balavu, the northernmost of the Lau Group of islands which is the furthest east in the islands making up Fiji to clear in, is Saturday 9th June around 10 am perfect for an entry into a tricky atoll. We have been warned again that electronic charts have been proven to be inaccurate by some way.
Once out at sea we rigged the spinnaker right away in 15 knots NE winds and are now on a course of 292 degrees doing 7-8 knots in brilliant sunshine - marvelous! All was going swimmingly until 4.30 pm when a rain squall approached broadside on which demanded an urgent dowsing of the spinnaker - the well oiled machine had the thing on the deck in two minutes flat. In fact there was little wind in it but the rain was monumental.So I made a vegetable chilli for tea and used two dried chillies to add a little heat but maybe it was one chilli too many as it was a bit lively! Nice though.
The wind is blowing NE 15 knots (despite the chilli) as predicted but there are a few rain squalls about.
Friday, 8th June 2018 - en route Lau Group
A weird and wonderful night! The wind dropped enough to need the engine for a couple of hours and it came around onto the nose, whereupon it filled back in from the NE and remained at 15 knots. But at first light the clouds were gathering and I noticed a band of wind on the water coming at us from completely the opposite direction with a lot of rain following it in. It then proceeded to blow over 30 knots southerly in no time and we reefed progressively right down to third reef and the genoa rolled in too yet we were still doing 7 knots. The sea was building steadily too in front of the wind so we were rolling about again with a very uncomfortable motion, not too badly unless you ask the opinion of the ladies aboard that is! Initially I thought it may be a squall but then looking at the banks of cloud behind the wind line there was no end to it, it was the early arrival of a new weather system which was on the forecast but much further south and not due until much later - that's forecasting for you! The difficulty will be to slow down as we don't want to get there at night and have to bobby about outside in a lot of wind until daylight.
Dave and I had to go on deck in the dark to put the spinnaker pole away which was a bit bouncy as the sea state was getting worse, and the boat was rocking and rolling, just the sort of weather to go below and make a bacon hot-pot for tea. All that practice in harbour cooking with one hand behind my back and hopping on one leg has paid off!
1200 Position: 17 degs 56.6' S 176 degs 23.6' W SOG: 6.5 knts DTR: 143 nm Distance run: 150 nm
At least it has stopped raining - for now at least! In fact, it stayed off all afternoon yet the seas have remained moderate at around 3 meters confused quartering swells rolling the boat like mad. Dave came on deck late afternoon in clean shirt and shorts and sat down at the wheel only to be immediately swamped by a broadside wave - I was already wet, but he was less than amused judging by the expletives!
We have Shepherd Moon for company this evening, having caught us up. The rest of the fleet have now left Neiafu but have run slap bang into the 30-35 knots we have seen today. They are certainly less than pleased with the quality of the forecasting still showing 15 knots maximum. But we continue into the night with three reefs and a small genoa in 22 knots of southerly wind and a big sea, after a very nice dinner of hot-pot although it does feel as if both wind and sea are abating a little - but I may be wrong!
Shepherd Moon called up in the night to say that Rally Control had sent an email to notify that Customs, who should have been there tomorrow (Saturday) were now not going to be there until Sunday morning which is a right pain as we had planned our departure to coincide with an early clearance in given our need to make Nadi on time to drop off Dave and Wendy at the airport. We are not really allowed ashore until we have cleared for risk of heavy fines. Oh well,