Cruising the "Friendly Isles" of the Kingdom of To

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  Vava'U, Tonga
Thursday, June 29, 2006

After spending a great 5 days in Rarotonga, we set sail for Niue, a 3 day sail. With good winds we were sailing well and on course but decided that we wouldn't have enough time in Tonga if we headed to Niue so we changed course and headed for the Vava'u group of Tonga - the northern most group of the Kingdom.

We were planning on sailing from Tonga to New Zealand to drop off George, John and Nicki and to pick up our family who are flying in from the UK in mid-July. Our plans changed when we read up some more on the 10 to 12 day sail to Auckland, especially as it would have been in mid-winter and reports from other boats were of harsh weather with 2-3°C temperatures and gale force winds on the 1100 mile passage. We were quick to get on the internet to research flights from Tonga to Auckland for the three leaving the boat and vice-versa for the five joining and have decided to stay in the relative warmth of Tonga and fly everybody back and forth to NZ. Even still, we've been in Tonga for a week and haven't had any sunshine and I've been in jeans and hoody every day! Sounds like there's more sunshine and heat in the UK! Good old sods law.

So we now have 3 weeks in Tonga and are enjoying every minute. The locals are really friendly and everything is relatively cheap compared to the extortionate prices in French Polynesia. We've had some great days sailing as there is never any swell due to the many small islands in the group and plenty of wind. Because my brother Jack and sister Grace are flying out for the summer we will have nearly two months to explore the three island groups in Tonga and get a chance to go diving (the visibility is superb here - when the sun's out!) and to snorkel with humpback whales, which are breeding and migrating through Tonga till the end of September; apparently an experience of a lifetime!

We have also sussed out a great local Mexican bar called Tonga Bob's Cantina, which does some of the best Mexican food I've ever had and they are also showing all the rugby and football matches so we're able to keep up to date with the World Cup. I still haven't seen any news since I left the UK 5months ago - bliss!

Our plan is now to sail down to Tongatapu (the southern group of Tonga and its capital) in two and a half weeks to drop the three off and spend a couple of weeks in the south while Grace, Jack, Claire, Sophie and Joe come out from the UK (I haven't seen Claire since leaving in mid-January so I can't wait!) then head back up to the northern group, where the best sailing and diving are until the end of August, when Jack and Grace will fly back to the UK and the remaining five of us will sail to Fiji, and Vanuatu, where we plan to spend a couple of months before heading to New Zealand for the cyclone season.

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