Let the sailing begin

Our lovely Tongan skipper Lepa came out of retirement to show us around, so we got the boat in and started loading the provisions. We had planned our menu's with great thought over many, many hours but we shouldn't have bothered! It ended up that they couldn't source any lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage - in fact most fresh fruit & vegies with the exception of yams and potatoes. Everything else we had was tinned. We did get the last of the eggs in Vava'u we were told. As we had a ridiculous amount like 3 dozen, these could come in handy as bargaining chips if we meet people desperate for eggs as we are for anything fresh. We did learn that all their food stuffs come from New Zealand and unfortunately, the suppliers tend to supply their crappiest and out of date stock they can find!

Our course around the islands

Once again we suffered the feeling of tiredness, hungover and a bit shabby all round really. It was good to get out of the harbour. Made a quick stop to Swallows cave, where we all jumped in and swam in to a cave full of swallows flying around, swallow crap (on the head) and loads of grafitti. Then stopped at our first beautiful anchorage for the night of Port Maurelle. Typical South Pacific with swaying coconut palms and white sandy beaches and the most crystal clear water I have ever seen.

Our Skipper Lepa

We swam like we have never swum before, like it was our first and last time ever. Coming from the Whitsundays you are always worried about stingers but here only the odd shark..

A nice snorkel spot off Mala

Swallows Cave