Passage to New Zealand

[Kyle]This one was easy. We had light winds almost the whole way, giving us a nice, easy ride at about four knots. I know it doesn't make for an impressive day's run, but I’d be satisfied making passages at four knots if they could all be this gentle and stress free. Occasionally, we had burst of double that for a dose of fun before dropping back down to four. In the last few days, we ran out of wind altogether and had to spend a most of each day motoring. Noise, fumes, yuck! {Maryanne: Kyle motored - A LOT - something he hates to do and I joke he only likes to motor when we are drifting backwards (for more than an hour). I was glad we were advancing towards NZ}

Arriving in New Zealand at the Bay of Islands,
and finding ourselves alone on the empty 'Q' dock in Opua (until the morning, when we waited in line with 7 other boats to clear in)

Twenty four hours before our arrival, the wind finally returned in earnest and we were able to arrive respectably with full sail flying. Instead of Whangarei like last year, this year we arrived at Opua in the Bay of Islands. The Bay of Islands is soooo pretty and weaving our way into the tranquil bay from the boisterous sea was just magical.

[Maryanne]Just as Kyle was enjoying sailing again, I asked him to slow down. I didn't want to arrive too early in the evening at the Quarantine dock and risk being cleared in and booted off. I figured it would be best to arrive just after they finished (before sunset) and spend the evening relaxing and recovering from the trip - and for free - and be ready to make the most of the marina and neighbouring facilities the following day. Poor Kyle wasn't so keen to slow down, but he obliged.

The passage to New Zealand was significant a very unusual way - a milestone reached! We clocked just over 1 year of sailing hours with Begonia (in 321 'trips' according to the logbooks). Since we've owned Begonia since June of 2012, that means we've been sailing over 26 hours a week since the purchase. In that statistic are some extremes: with some of that time has been spent stuck at the dock with only a rare weekend sail (e.g. in San Fransisco Bay), and some of the time spent underway for days on end (e.g. the 46 day passage to Chile). Whatever the event, a milestone of any kind is always a time to reflect on our own past achievements. It also means our 'average' sail is 27hours and 23 minutes long (for each trip), that still blows my mind!

Like any passage, we are happy to be 'there'. Since our last visit to NZ was primarily a haul out and yard visit prepping the boat for the passage to Chile - this time we plan to enjoy and explore!

South Minerva Reef

[Kyle]We spent three days anchored in the northeast corner of the lagoon. Other boats had also stopped at Minerva, but they were all anchored at North Minerva, twenty-five miles to the northeast. Occasionally, we could hear bits of radio transmissions or static from the vessels with the stronger transmitters in the other group, but otherwise we had an ocean to ourselves.

South Minerva Reef - not much to see above the water, but beautifully protected
We were briefly joined by the friendly folks from Flying Cloud and (separately) from Katariana while we were anchored in the N end of the reef.

We spent our days snorkeling and catching up on boat jobs at the manageable pace of one per day. The coral and sea life are beautiful, but the water is noticeably cooler than it was back in Tonga. We knew that once we left to sail even further south, recreational swimming would be suspended until we were back at similar latitudes again.

Mostly our first few days were spent alone enjoying the snorkelling

On the fourth day, another catamaran (Flying Cloud from New Zealand) sailed down from North Minerva for a change of scenery before continuing on to New Zealand. They anchored near us, so we were able to spend the evening socializing with this fun group of four, before they set off the following morning. A wind shift was in the forecast, so we followed them as far as the pass and then anchored nearby, where we would have better protection from the blow. We had another night there all to ourselves before three other boats joined us from North Minerva. Apparently it was starting to get a little crowded up there.

More snorkelling after moving more to the South of the atoll

{Maryanne: I took to snorkelling with a stick "just in case" after another cruiser had warned of multiple Tiger Shark attacks in Minerva Reef. I regularly research Shark attacks using the shark attack file database but had found no reports (aside from a spear fishing incident in 2010) - later general research still found no such reports}

It blew pretty hard for a couple of days, churning up the lagoon and making it pretty rough. My daily swims were limited to keeping the bottom clean to be certain we'd comply with New Zealand’s biosecurity requirements and to check our anchor and rode for trouble.

When the wind calmed down, two of the other boats left, leaving us with just another catamaran (Pogeyan). They swung by in their dinghy after a snorkel and invited us to join them the next day for a swim.

Snorkelling outside the reef

With the use of their fast dinghy, the four of us were able to go to the far side of the lagoon, where we went into the water by a small fissure in the reef. After winding our way through the crack, we emerged on the outside of the reef. The fish were much bigger there and we could see them patrolling the coral at various depths until obscured by the black depths below.

Next, they took us to a low spot on the reef between lagoons. Unlike North Minerva or Beveridge, South Minerva is actually two lagoons connected in a figure eight shape. Northeast South Minerva has a pass, Southwest South Minerva does not. It is only accessible at half tide or higher by shallow draft dinghy. We were a bit early for that and all had to get out and wade to lighten the load. Inside the closed lagoon, we found lots of sea life that seemed not be used to or bothered by human visitors. One curious white tipped shark followed us everywhere and I saw the biggest puffer fish I have ever seen. He fled into a hole when I approached, but since he was the size of an ottoman, there weren’t many from which he could choose.

Snorkelling the reefs and channels between the lagoons - our favourite snorkel in South Minerva Reef
We knew this might well be our last snorkel in a while since the water was going to be much colder as we headed south.

Once we were all swimmed out for the day, we gave our hosts an hour or so to warm up and change into some dry clothes before we had them over for farewell drinks at Begonia. The weather window was opening up tomorrow and we would be off to sea.

Passage to Minerva Reef

[Kyle]The morning we left Tongatapu, the wind was still howling through the rigging. As soon as we cleared the anchorage at Big Mama’s, we set the mainsail flying with two reefs taken in, which easily made the engines unnecessary. With only one sail up, it was easier to gybe from one tack to the other as we wove our way along the channel through the coral heads.

Once we were outside in the deep ocean, we unrolled the jib to two reefs and had a nice, fast sail along Tongatapu’s northwest coast in the protection of its lee.

As we approached the island’s westernmost point, everything started to change. The big swell moving past the blowholes along that coast wrapped around the corner and slammed into Duff Reef just as a smaller swell hit from the other direction. These waves would curl over and slam headfirst into one another, exploding majestically into jets of water thrown straight up twice the height of our mast. The high winds would then catch all of this water and disperse it towards us in a fine mist as gentle as a morning fog by the time it reached us a mile later. The reflected swell from these impacts bounced every which way back into the sea, turning it into a sloppy mess of waves of random heights from random directions that increased in ferocity with each passing minute. The drag cut our speed in half. It was a good thirty minutes before the swell organized itself into one direction and we were able to go fast again through a beam sea that rolled us just a little too far and a little too quick to be able to trust our footing or to sleep peacefully.

Two days later, we arrived at South Minerva reef. As we sailed into its lee, we were glad to finally get some relief from the tedious and annoying swell.

Exploring Tongatapu Island, Tonga

[Kyle]We found a cheap car rental for a day (FAB rentals - $40TOT), and did a complete circuit of Tongatapu Island. We managed to see everything on our map of sights to see and still got the car back with dozens of seconds left until the rental company closed. The island is the perfect size for a day trip.

The ancient Terraced Tombs (near Lapaha),
and one of the Fishing Pigs (near Talafo'ou)

One of my favorite things was our cave swim. Maryanne was prescient enough to bring masks, snorkels and an underwater flashlight, so we had lots of fun among the stalagmites and ‘tites. Unfortunately ALL of our underwater cameras are playing up so if you want to see what we saw, you have to come to Tonga. You’ll love it. The people are all really nice.

After a quick tour of the Ha'amonga Trilithon,
we spent an hour exploring and swimming in Anahulu Cave (A rare fresh water swim!)

Hafangalupe Natural Land bridge (a cave roof collapsed), and the spectacular nearby Lookout

Also, they have a whole section of coast that is blowholes and crazy crashing surf as far as the eye can see. We have a couple of pictures that look like big waterfalls, but they’re just the spray running down the rocks after a big wave.

We stopped at several of the sites along the coast where blowholes were visible - our favorite was the "Whistle of the Noble" (Mapu a Vaea) Blowholes (Houma, Tongatapu, Tonga)

Tsunami Rock is the largest tsunami displaced boulder in the world (see the car to the bottom right) - when that landed was not a good day to be exploring the coast!
Then we went to visit the Flying Foxes (fruit bats) on the island - apparently they are all the property of the King!

As if all of the scenery weren’t entertainment enough, the WHOLE island was decked out in decorations. Tonga and Australia were scheduled to play their first rugby league match and the whole island was covered in the Tongan colors of red and white. It was like Christmas, with almost every house, business and vehicle trying to outdo the rest.

It seemed the whole of Tonga were looking forward to the Rugby League match: Tonga v. Australia

We watched the match at Big Mama’s on Pangaimotu Island. It was a good game, although Tonga fell behind right at the beginning and despite playing a really good second half, were never able to close the gap. Most of the Tongans didn’t care. The overwhelming sentiment amongst them was that they were proud of their team for being good enough to play a team at Australia’s level. They are the most gracious losers I’ve ever seen. Everyone was still all smiles the next day.

For us, what was even more entertaining than the big game was the crowd at Big Mama’s, particularly one happy Tongan woman who is our own one woman stadium. She giggled and cheered the whole way through at full volume. That woman has got some lungs on her! She was cheering for Australia. I think it was to wind up her friends, the Tonga fans. Every time Tonga scored, though, she switched sides like a snitch in a gangster movie and started waving her Tonga flags and yelling “Yeeeee-Hooooo!!!” Everyone left with big smiles and ears ringing like they’d been to a rock concert.

Tongan flags were still everywhere we went into Nuku’alofa to clear out. As for the weather, the region has been experiencing a meteorological phenomenon known as “reinforced trades”. It’s been blowing like Hell for days now. You can go any direction you want as long as it is west. We’re going southwest. Close enough.