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V202 Cooks islands to Tonga

Noreen Hill writes of the journey from Rarotonga, Cook Islands south and west to Tonga.


betty selling her baskets.
crystal clear waters.

Rarotonga was very welcomed by the ship and her crew. It was the closest we’ve felt to New Zealand since departing in February. After re-stocking the ship with bonded stores, food, fresh fish and new voyage crew we waited for the weather to give way for a friendlier sea and clearer skies. The strong winds blowing in from the north made it very difficult for us to leave the harbor and head towards Palmerston Island, we would spend the night along side and wait out the weather.

We had many boxes dropped off by family members wanting goods delivered back to their families on the island. We managed to make it out of the harbor, make the ship ready for sea and set the main sail for Palmerston. Watches commenced and sails were set, only to take them in for a motor overnight, by 7am the deckies and their watch were busy setting the sails again with a fair breeze off our aft beam. Kate was very excited after her 4-8 watch, she managed to pick up a flying fish that had caught flight and landed on the deck, Stacey was more than happy to fry it up for a tasty breakfast treat!

By Thursday morning the island boats greeted us. The men of Palmerston are very competitive; they want to be the first out to an arriving ship, so that they may be the “host” for those on board. Before our anchor was even down, we had a man scampering up from his boat to our midships deck! By 09:30 VCs had their bags packed and were heading ashore, 6 at a time, in the locals boat. We were unable to bring our dinghy ashore because of the risky channel in the coral, which the locals I am sure knew off by heart!

I was to go ashore in the afternoon, but I was more than happy to entertain our four locals on board the ship and provide them with “fried egg sandwiches” for they had not eaten eggs in some time; fewer and fewer ships are visiting the island, the main source of restocking with food and supplies! By 12:30 James, Peter, Sarah, Bobby, Barry and I joined the crowd on the island. James and I were automatically summoned to the volleyball court, someone had passed on our passion for the game and we spent the next two hours playing very competitive volleyball! John and John, Barb and Rob, as well as many of the local children joined us, after they were dismissed from school! The children begin playing the game at a very early age, and it showed in the fine overhand serve that an eight-year-old boy possessed. One lady commented that volleyball is even more important than eating at times!

We were treated very kindly on the island and felt so welcome by all, a little island paradise that we felt so fortunate to be apart of for the day. By 4:30 everyone was back on board, including 28 people from the island! Stacey was busy in the galley with the help of a local woman preparing some beautiful parrotfish, which was donated by one of the local fisherman (20kg worth!!) By the looks of it we would be feeding almost 60 people for dinner, a task we hadn’t done since charter season! With little kids running around at our feet and adults wanting to hear stories of sailing, music and New Zealand we managed to provide a beautiful meal to everyone. With a singsong by the children and farewell song by all, the locals climbed into their tin boats and waved goodbye as we hauled up the anchor for a sail towards Niue!

With the wind behind us we had a beautiful sail into night. By now everyone has his/her sea legs, a few still needing to eat on deck and not below, but at least the food is staying down! Vlad is busy making up his poetry and helping in the galley when not writing, a great help for Stacey and I. We have numerous of willing dishwashers and the chit chatter on deck is an encouraging sign that all are enjoying the trip and the finer weather that seems to be coming the further west we head!

Upon arrival in Niue on Sunday morning we got the disappointing news that we could not clear customs on the holy day. After much persuasion Tod managed to get the ok to clear in the late afternoon, but after a group discussion the plans had changed. We would not get ashore Sunday, Monday morning would be our only chance, unfortunately a weather front was building and rain was on the forecast, after all were in favor on missing out on our chance to go ashore in Niue, we decided to head for Tonga. After a play on the Tarzan rope and a swim, we ate an awesome lunch and made our way in a westerly direction once again!

dancing trevor.
flaking the main.

group photo.
james teaching the
basics in sailhandling.

john's little boy.
Katey and Alan, and her homemade fishing lure.

katey helping in the galley.
lunchtime,peter's 1st in line!.

making way.
me in the rainbow.

relaxing day soren.
sunrise, vavau..

We have been very lucky with our fishing in the past few weeks and after another two yellow fin tuna were caught we managed to have our third fishmeal of the week, a special treat for all!

The wind has died and we find ourselves motoring once again, but it isn’t such a bad thing, many were in need of a good nights sleep, and that came with the calm seas and constant rumble of the engine ticking over! At breakfast I managed to make use of our last bananas in some pancakes and this seemed to fill the hungry tummies. I was just beginning to serve the last sitting when we began rolling around, in the sort of way where everything begins spilling and sliding, I couldn’t understand this because out my window it looked calm, but we had changed direction…and then I heard the call, “WHALE!” In a matter of seconds the galley was cleared and the foredeck was full of people. Pilot whales in an early morning feeding were scattered along our starboard side and seemed very uninterested in us, unfortunate because we were very interested in them!

Barry did a weather systems “smoko”talk and for the rest of the day the decks were full of sunbathers, clothes washers and musicians (Rob on the tin whistle and Nic on the guitar) enjoying the gorgeous sun that shines upon us. We are very near the Tongan island group, Vavau, and by the morning we should be sighting land!

On Tuesday morning, the 20th of July we cleared into customs just before lunch, but the day would end then…we had crossed the dateline and were now into Wednesday the 21st! We anchored just off the Mermaid Bar and Anna’s Bar, very convenient seeing as we were all thirsty after our trip into Tonga! Stacey and I treated ourselves to an enjoyable dinner for two, neither having to rush or to clean up; we appreciate the great galley helpers that we do have, between Judy, Nic and John I don’t know who washes more dishes, great help guys, but tonight was special for us cause we didn’t do anything!!!

After a calm breakfast at anchor we called up “John’s Feast” on channel 16 on the VHF and organized for a traditional Tongan Feast and Custom Dancing for the evening. We would spend the day on a deserted island with great introductory snorkel for many and an initial view of the Tongan underwater world for others as well as a sandy beach for some well-deserved R&R! Back on board the ship, crew had a visit from “Betty and her husband” selling their handmade carvings and beautifully woven baskets. We were given a brief explanation of what the different carvings represented and before they knew it, they had sold most of what they came with!

Cooks islands to Tonga Part 2 continued

 

 
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