As we write this we are motoring across a glassy sea with no wind. Since leaving Minerva reef this morning we have seen a Humpback whale and its calf and a pod of dolphins. The sea is covered with pumice from a recent undersea volcanic eruption. We have 750 miles to NZ and hope to do the trip in 5 days to avoid bad weather.
At our last entry we were leaving Vava'u for the Haapi. We had a lovely days sail with perfect conditions for our trip to the Haapi and we anchored at Paangi at 16.30 having left Lappe island in Vava'u early morning. After clearing in we moved south to Uoleva which was a pretty anchorage but a little rolly. There was a swell coming into the anchorage so we decided to move. The anchorage we chose was a small deserted island surrounded by reef. We anchored inside the reef and did our Robinson Crusoe tour of the island before moving to a more secure and totally flat anchorage at Uiha for the night.
We moved around the Haapi quite a lot visiting different anchorages in search of a nice flat spot. Eventually we found it by an island called Oua. We stayed anchored at Oua for 4 days all by ourselves enjoying the isolation and the snorkelling. We had a great view and could see 20 different different atolls and islands from the boat. We left to clear out so that we could work our way further down the Haapi group before heading off to Minerva for the start of our trip to NZ. After a spending a lovely evening with 'Astarte', Barbara and Michael, and 'SuperTed', Jean and Matt, we left for Hafeava. As we approached the anchorage we could see it was full of boats and it looked uncomfortable with the swell so we headed back to our favourite spot at Oua for one more night.
We knew unsettled weather was forecast but it wasn't going to be anything bad so we headed south to Nomuka. This was a lovely anchorage in amongst the coral. The water was incredibly clear and we were really looking forward to snorkelling the following day. It was not to be - the following day it was raining heavily and blowing 20 knots. We wanted to move to another anchorage but couldn't because the visibility was so bad. About lunch time the rain stopped but the wind increased to 30/35 knots. At this point we had to get out of the anchorage as it was unsafe. We got the boat ready and left. The exit was between a reef and an island and as we left there was a 4m swell with very short waves due to the shallow seas. It was a little fraught for a while as we were in danger of the seas knocking us down. We were trying to get out to deeper water against a 35 knot wind which took all afternoon and then at about 6pm, the wind just stopped. We contemplated continuing to Minerva but the boat was very wet and we just were not ready for the trip so we drifted down to the next island group called Tongatapu over night. We had to motor into the harbour the following morning in flat seas and sunshine! The contrast from the previous day was unbelievable.
The resort at Tongatapu called Big Mamma's was having a birthday party that night and despite our fatigue we went along for a while. We had no Tongan currency but fortunately they would accept anything! We finished getting ready the following day and then left for Minerva the next morning.
The forecast was for light winds and we were looking forward to spending time in Minerva waiting for a good weather forecast to jump to NZ. Forecasts can be so wrong! It took us 3 1/2 days to get to Minerva, a trip we thought would take 2 days. The winds were much stronger than forecast and were on the nose meaning we had to tack into a very lumpy sea. Lots of work and not much fun. The highlight of the trip was catching 2 Mahi mahi at the same time. Both were a reasonable size so we now have fish in the freezer again. We also caught a good sized Frigate Mackerel on our way into Tonagatapu so hopefully the fish drought has now ended!
We entered Minerva early morning with very light winds. It is such an amazing place, an atoll in the middle of no where and about 2 miles across with the reef just dry at low water. We had to clean the bottom of the boat before going to NZ so Mike put on dive gear to do it. After a short while he surfaced as a big shark was getting too inquisitive, so to finish the job I also had to get in the water and do a shark watch while Mike concentrated on the cleaning. Still, job done!
The following day we awoke to a a beautiful still morning. The sea was lovely and blue with visibility in excess of 60ft. We went for a snorkel along the edge of the reef with Anne and Mark from Blue Rodeo and saw lots of fish we haven't seen before. At low tide we went for a walk on the reef and could see the remains of a number of wrecks. It was such a magical and prefect day which was finished off by dinner on board Blue Rodeo.
We were hoping to stay longer but the weather has other ideas. A low is developing directly over Fiji which means Minerva is definitely a place not to be. The low tracks back south towards NZ so we are all trying to get to NZ ahead of it. This means we are sailing a course that everyone tells you not to do, i.e. straight to Opua. Only time will tell if things will work out.
We should have a few days of nice wind after today to help our progress. We will be keeping a close watch on the forecasts to see what is going to develop.
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