Safely arrived in Tonga
21 06.6S 175 10.0W Pangaimotu Island, Tongatapu, Tonga
We made it! We are safely anchored in Tonga after an action packed final 24 hours. It feels like a pretty huge achievement, which we could never have done without the help and support of friends, family and complete strangers. Thank you to everyone who has been a piece of the jigsaw that got us out of our house in Winchester and on to a boat here in the South Pacific. Eloise kept saying today, "I can't believe we are actually in Tonga. It doesn't feel real!" I think we all feel the same. There were some difficult times on the passage, and some scary moments too. The wind and the waves were powerful, and reminded us of how small and vulnerable we are, even with a good solid boat to look after us. The children were amazing, and put up with the motion and the discomfort and the very small amount of real attention that Angus and I managed to give them on passage. We managed a few activities - colouring, finger painting, bread making, paper beads, pom poms and knot school, but there were a couple of days when all they could do was lie down on a bunk and watch paw patrol or play minecraft. It was a bit tougher than we were expecting, or maybe we just hadn't given it enough thought. Put it this way - there was not a chance of any formal homeschool or baking a cake, which is how I thought we might fill our days.
We arrived last night in the dead of night, crept into the back of the busy anchorage, dropped the hook at 2am, had a quick tidy up and then opened a celebratory beer. We were slightly exhausted and very glad to be here. There is a rule when cruising that you should try not to arrive in the dead of night. Especially if there is no moon (still!), the destination is unfamiliar to you, there is a reef to navigate, and a chance of uncharted coral heads. All of the above applied, and we should have realised 24 hours earlier that there was absolutely no chance we could arrive before dark. However, we were optimistic about our boat speed, and pushed on. We were about ten miles off the coast when darkness fell. We could see some lights on the shore. The route from the reef entrance to west of the anchorage looked possible; there were leading lights to guide us through the gap in the reef, according to the chart. But could we find them? We nosed around for ages, a mile from the reef, trying to see the leading lights, but in the end had to admit defeat. Our options then were to hope the GPS position was precise and charge on through the reef where we thought the gap should be, hang around at sea until first light, or take a 15 mile detour to enter by the main shipping channel. We opted for the detour, which added three hours to our final approach, but was well marked with lots of flashing buoys.
The sun came up today to reveal a sun-drenched island with palm trees, azure blue water, and reef sharks taking an interest in George's fishing lure and biscuit crumbs. We had to wait on board until this afternoon to clear customs, so it gave us a chance to clean up the boat a bit. After that the kids played on the beach, swam and snorkelled, while the adults had a beer in the sun and swapped "biggest-wave" stories with other crews. Tomorow we'll head into town in search of fresh fruit and vegetables, local cash (TOP - tongan pounds), and the most important thing - a Tonga sim card with data for our phones so we can communicate with our friends and families.
There won't be much news for a while, except laundry and fixing the things we broke on the way, so this is the final daily passage blog, which I hope gave an idea of life on board at sea. A huge thank you to Rosie for posting our blogs for us and being our shore liaison officer, to Eddie and Serena for their happy hour jokes and stories, and a massive Well Done to Tim (Angus' son) who has just climbed Mount Dinali.
Lots of love all from sunny (and rainy) Tonga
L A E G J xxxx
We made it! We are safely anchored in Tonga after an action packed final 24 hours. It feels like a pretty huge achievement, which we could never have done without the help and support of friends, family and complete strangers. Thank you to everyone who has been a piece of the jigsaw that got us out of our house in Winchester and on to a boat here in the South Pacific. Eloise kept saying today, "I can't believe we are actually in Tonga. It doesn't feel real!" I think we all feel the same. There were some difficult times on the passage, and some scary moments too. The wind and the waves were powerful, and reminded us of how small and vulnerable we are, even with a good solid boat to look after us. The children were amazing, and put up with the motion and the discomfort and the very small amount of real attention that Angus and I managed to give them on passage. We managed a few activities - colouring, finger painting, bread making, paper beads, pom poms and knot school, but there were a couple of days when all they could do was lie down on a bunk and watch paw patrol or play minecraft. It was a bit tougher than we were expecting, or maybe we just hadn't given it enough thought. Put it this way - there was not a chance of any formal homeschool or baking a cake, which is how I thought we might fill our days.
We arrived last night in the dead of night, crept into the back of the busy anchorage, dropped the hook at 2am, had a quick tidy up and then opened a celebratory beer. We were slightly exhausted and very glad to be here. There is a rule when cruising that you should try not to arrive in the dead of night. Especially if there is no moon (still!), the destination is unfamiliar to you, there is a reef to navigate, and a chance of uncharted coral heads. All of the above applied, and we should have realised 24 hours earlier that there was absolutely no chance we could arrive before dark. However, we were optimistic about our boat speed, and pushed on. We were about ten miles off the coast when darkness fell. We could see some lights on the shore. The route from the reef entrance to west of the anchorage looked possible; there were leading lights to guide us through the gap in the reef, according to the chart. But could we find them? We nosed around for ages, a mile from the reef, trying to see the leading lights, but in the end had to admit defeat. Our options then were to hope the GPS position was precise and charge on through the reef where we thought the gap should be, hang around at sea until first light, or take a 15 mile detour to enter by the main shipping channel. We opted for the detour, which added three hours to our final approach, but was well marked with lots of flashing buoys.
The sun came up today to reveal a sun-drenched island with palm trees, azure blue water, and reef sharks taking an interest in George's fishing lure and biscuit crumbs. We had to wait on board until this afternoon to clear customs, so it gave us a chance to clean up the boat a bit. After that the kids played on the beach, swam and snorkelled, while the adults had a beer in the sun and swapped "biggest-wave" stories with other crews. Tomorow we'll head into town in search of fresh fruit and vegetables, local cash (TOP - tongan pounds), and the most important thing - a Tonga sim card with data for our phones so we can communicate with our friends and families.
There won't be much news for a while, except laundry and fixing the things we broke on the way, so this is the final daily passage blog, which I hope gave an idea of life on board at sea. A huge thank you to Rosie for posting our blogs for us and being our shore liaison officer, to Eddie and Serena for their happy hour jokes and stories, and a massive Well Done to Tim (Angus' son) who has just climbed Mount Dinali.
Lots of love all from sunny (and rainy) Tonga
L A E G J xxxx
Glad you guys made it safe and sound. Been loving the updates, and really pleased for you all. A huge well done.
ReplyDelete'.. baking a cake... which is how I thought we might spend our days...'. Haha. Love it!!!