Year Two
Date: 19/6/2009 16:00
Weather: Shorts and t shirt
Location: Uoleva Island (19 51.07' S, 174 25.28' W)
Author: Peter.

Sunset at Ha'afeva anchorage. Volcano in the distance

Over the past few days we have done a little island hopping. Its interesting cruising Tonga. If you split the Kingdom up into three main island groups the sailing is actually quite easy. Around Tongatapu, everything is a short 2 hour or less sail away (ten nm or less). Then when the weather is right a short 35nm hop up into the Ha'apai group. Every sail we do in this group seems to be an easy 15nm or less hop (Sydney Harbour to Broken Bay). All with an ever present ominous back drop (more about this shortly). Finally, approximately 100nm sail up into the Vavua group where every thing is right next to everything else. Ie: Really short sails.

The first two regions appear to be mainly flat coral based islands. The highest point of each seems to be whatever a palm or some other tree can grow too (30m). So the majority of islands appear over the horizon at about 10 nm distance. Then there is the exception. Out to the west of the Ha'apai group are two massive stand outs that you can see from everywhere. Both are volcanic in nature. The one to the south being relatively long and flat (yet high) and possible currently active, the other being how we all imagine volcanoes to look. It looks exactly like those paper mache volcanoes everyone makes for science class or fairs except much larger than I had expected. On most days it reaches so far up that you cannot see the top for the blanket of clouds surrounding the top quarter. This was the wonderful backdrop for our next port of call Haafeva Island (19 56.48' S, 174 25.28' W). We anchored in a coral fringed lagoon on the western side of the island where the supply ship docks for the local village. Although not as perfect as some of the other anchorages we have stayed in, it was still nice (Perhaps it would have been better if we could have gone for a snorkel, but I still had cold symptoms and we thought it best not to push our luck). On the eastern side of the island is a small village (one of the powered ones) which again we thought I should not bring my bug too but would have been nice to visit. What does stand out however were the sunsets with Haafeva Island being the closest island to these two monsters looming off to the west.

The weather and time constraints sometimes determine what you can and can't do. So it was with a forecast for strong winds approaching that we sped up our plans to try and see certain islands, and that also saw us miss a few we wanted to see. Our next hop saw a quick two hour sail back out to the east and to the chain of islands strung along the Barrier reef. Limu Island (20 01.65' S, 174 27.78' W) is a tiny little island that although we spent only two hours left us with some nice memories. Again a picture post card, what stands out were the sighting of our first shark, a small black tipped reef shark swimming 2 metres off the beach, the track of a sea snake making its way up out of the water across the sands and into the tree line in the center of the island (this is as close as either of us want to get to one of these poisonous creatures) and some pristine shells.
Limu Island

Heart Anenome

Sea snake track




Beautiful sea shells

We then rushed to Tofanga Island(19 57.44' S, 174 28.21' W) for some protection from the approaching bad weather and winds. Its interesting to note that when sailing the east coast of Australia and plotting on the chart manually you would use prominent land features. Here I find I am sailing from reef to reef and using these points to work out my position and my next course. This feels reel strange but it sure seems easier than using these flat and featureless islands. It also gives you a position fix more regularly as there are reefs every where. I am also glad for a high sun and wind as the breaking waves over the reefs sure make identifying them easier. I'm not sure I would like to move on a dead calm day. I would love to give some form of description of Tofanga Island but that would be difficult given we only spent the night there and two hours ashore before being forced to move on again. I would definitely like to go back here and spend a few days though as there are three islands linked together by small sand spits at low tide and it looks great.

We are currently anchored at Uoleva Island where the sands are perfect for long walks and a resort seems to be under construction just off our bow. I can easily see why they choose this location. We have been here for just a few hours and have just gone for our first snorkel, Yippee. The coral was not great but there was plenty of marine life and some new species for us to look at. We have invited another New Zealand couple over for pizza tonight and are just starting to prepare for that. Tanya and Dudley off Baikal much to our surprise are both very close to our ages! We have only discovered one other boat with younger people, the rest of the cruising fleet being mainly retirees. Not that this is a problem as we have spent many a wonderful time on board a variety of other boats with fanatic people. Our names book is growing with other cruisers at a great rate.

The one thing that has surprised me this year is the change in sea life. Last year we were seeing dolphins every other day. This year I have only seen one pod at a distance. What we do see every other day here is flying fish. Reflective iridescent blue flying missiles. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this earlier but on the crossing over from NZ we found two dead squid and two dead flying fish onboard. How the squid pulled off getting onto deck I would like to know. I have been disappointed by the lack of butterflies so far but the kingfishers we see on some of the islands do make up for this a little.

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