Tainui Internet Log
August 2000
Recorded by Brian Fairweather
We're heading West this month, back towards Australia... We will be visiting a few out-of-the-way places and debating whether we will go to Fiji or not. The political situation seems to be clearing up, but we'll wait for more news.
When we were leaving Rarotonga, Dan bought a decorated ironwood spear from a local woodcarver, Henry Tapetu, who made it for him over the weekend - it's about 8 feet long and has special TAINUI tribe carvings along it! Henry wrote a description of each type of marking on the spear and gave it the name "Te Toa Moana," meaning "Sea Warrior" or "Navigator of the Wide Ocean," which we think is pretty cool. It fits nicely in the main cabin of the boat, tied to the handrail, but I'm not sure how Dan will get it on the plane to England!
As always, I have been taking pictures of everything...
August 1 – Sailing/motoring away from Rarotonga and heading for Beveridge Reef - this reef is located about 140 miles southeast of Niue and doesn't actually break the surface of the water - however, you can anchor there in the middle of the ocean, with waves breaking on the outside and calm harbour inside! We are eager to see the place - it is supposed to be a bit disconcerting to spend a night at anchor there in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with nothing in sight but the stars...
It's rainy and foggy, but we are making great time and at this rate will arrive at the reef almost a half day earlier than planned...
August 2 – Mostly cloudy, with occasional good weather - not much happened, except that a rogue wave managed to turn the cockpit into a swimming pool for a brief moment...
August 3 – Jasper started the day by being headbutted by a flying fish - we have seen more of them than any other kind of marine life - still looking out for whales, as they are supposed to frequent these waters. We have now calculated that we will be approaching the reef near nightfall - this is not optimal! We have gone so far west now that the sun is not setting until about 7pm, by our watches - however, the weather is still rainy, so the light is not great in the evening...
At about 4pm, we started looking hard for the reef, as we were within about 10 miles of it - there is not much to see, just a change in the wave pattern, with breakers rising a few metres high in the middle of the ocean. Once the reef was spotted, we had to make sure that we knew where the boundaries are! The charts of this area are not always 100% right and certain places have been found to be as much as four miles off of their previously charted positions! However, we had a photocopied GPS survey done by another cruising yacht that turned out to be very accurate.
We rounded the southern point of Beveridge Reef about 1730, with daylight starting to fade in the cloudy sky - then the rain started in earnest. We had just taken down the mainsail, so that we could motor through the reef entrance when we decided that it was too risky to try to enter an unfamiliar reef in a downpour, at nightfall, very far out in the Pacific Ocean with nobody else around! There is a wreck of a 90-foot trawler on Beveridge Reef, to remind us of what could happen - while it is a neat landmark, we don't want to become another one!
So, we take some pictures and regretfully keep going, wondering what it would have been like inside - at least we will arrive in Niue early and have more time to spend there...
A note about Niue: There are less than 2000 people here, and the population is declining, as a lot of the younger people end up going to New Zealand and not returning to live - many houses are boarded up and we never saw more than 10 people in one place during our stay, except in the church service...
August 4 – We sighted the coast of the tiny island of Niue at about 1000 hours, a low dark line on the horizon - there is not much to distinguish Niue, as it is not really a typical volcanic island, with peaks and a surrounding reef. Instead, Niue is a coral reef that has been thrust up by some subterranean force, causing a large, nearly flat limestone mass to rise up out of the water. Many people compare it to a wedding cake, as it has distinct upper and lower tiers.
As we approached, we could see huge waves being thrown vertically up the cliff faces, as they impacted the limestone walls of the island. There are lots of caves and rockpools on Niue, as the limestone has been cut away by the water over a long period of time - however, it is reputed to be a difficult anchorage and landing, as there is no real reef or harbour.
By 1500 hours, we had taken up a mooring in Alofi Bay and were looking with some apprehension at the landing facilities, which were very odd. There is a big concrete wharf, but even the major supply ship that is anchored in fromt of us does not approach it - the surf is a meter high at the wharf and the ship is being unloaded by a barge, tethered to the Niue Search and Rescue Boat, which doubles as a tugboat! Everything that comes to the wharf including the tug is lifted by crane out of the water and rested on the pier! It is so rough at the wharf that the boat would be smashed to bits by the surf if left tied up - our dinghy will receive the same treatment...
Dan headed ashore in the dinghy to meet the Customs officials, with all our passports and ship's papers in a plastic bag, and approaches the wharf as we watch - he manages to scramble up onto the stairs by the crane, after attaching the dinghy to the hook dangling over the water. The stairs are alternatively dry, then covered with a half meter of water - timing is essential... the dinghy is hoisted out of the water and Dan is on his way. We watch another sailor enter his dinghy by swinging out to it on a knotted rope and then dropping in - there are three other smaller yachts moored in the Bay - Mom doesn't like the idea of swinging in and out of the dinghy!
We clean up the boat a bit, then see Dan return to the dinghy, which must be craned down - this time, there is nobody there, so he has to figure it out - this takes a minute or two, but finally the dinghy is in the water and Dan leaps in, with the plastic bag full of our documents in hand. He motors out towards us, just around the point of the reef near the wharf when... the outboard engine quits! The surf is driving the dinghy (inflatable!) right up towards the reef, while Dan tries to restart the outboard. I look at the outboard petrol can, sitting on the stern of the yacht, thinking 'out of gas' - Dan starts paddling, but it's too late, he is about two metres away from the reef and we can only watch as the surf drives the dinghy right up on top...
After trying to push off with the oars, Dan has to jump out of the dinghy, onto the reef through the surf, holding our valuable papers in hand! He is finally able to get the dinghy out of the water and up onto the coral, hopefully without puunctures. Now what? As Dan looks for a place to refloat the dinghy inside the reef, he puts the bag of papers down on the reef in a dry spot - this causes some concern later, when he walks away and seems to forget it - everybody on the boat is yelling in vain, imagining our passports washing away... I called the Niue Yacht Club (which has no yachts) to see if they can assist with a bigger boat, but another yacht anchored nearby comes to the rescue, with a dinghy engine smaller than ours!
Finally, the dinghy is refloated, the papers regathered and Dan is motoring back, very wet in a dinghy full of water, but no serious damage to person or property. We make a mental note to always check the outboard petrol tank before heading out and we decide to all go ashore, carefully avoiding "Dan's Reef," as we now call it. No incidents this time, but we sight the poisonous sea snakes that are common around this island swimming in front of the dinghy as we go... It turns out that the wave action commenced on the day we arrived, and the other yachts had been here for 10 days in calm seas - just our luck!
We spent our last NZ dollars in Charlie's Bar, before moving on to Gabe's Restaurant for a big seafood smorgasbord dinner. There is, by the way, nobody named Charlie or Gabe at either place, as far as we can tell - the owner of Gabe's is named 'Organ' and is also one of the wharf workers - he is very friendly and accepts US dollars, with the understanding that I will bring him NZ dollars to change back before we go. This turns out to be a rather funny theme for the visit, as everything (banks included) is always closed on this island! The island's only band plays at Gabe's on Friday nights and they are all Organ's cousins - small place...
Having had a good quantity of beer, we decide to head back to the boat and the pitching seas, but managed to get aboard safely, thinking about sea snales all the way. The anchorage is very poor, with waves knocking us about all night and nobody got a very good sleep...
August 5 – We had booked in for a tour of the island, and went ashore early to meet our guides. We met 'Happy' (or 'Fia Fia' in the local language), who was to be our guide - her family runs a tour company, although I believe we were their first tour!
We visited several of the natural phenomena on the island, starting with Limu, a trail down to the waterfront, with amazing reef fish swimming in shallow protected pools that connect to the deep ocean reef just outside. There were plenty of sea snakes to entertain Jasper - he started by poking them and by the end of our stay was grabbing them and holding their tails for photographs! It seems that they are very poisonous, but have a small mouth and can't bite humans easily - they are also very timid - probably because people keep grabbing them...
After a swim in the first pools, we went to a second pool in a large chasm, leading out to the ocean. Then, a drive around the other side of the island to Togo, the most amazing place on Niue that we saw! On the eastern side of the island, the coral has been cut into tall pinnacles that protrude all along the coast and form an eerie landscape, like the surface of a strange planet. We hiked through forest to get to the coast and emerged on the path through the pinnacles, which we hiked down towards the water. Then, turning right, we saw a deep chasm with sand at the bottom! A climb down a tall ladder, and we were in a silent oasis of palm trees and a mossy pool, totally insulated from the sound of the waves crashing on the cliff faces fifty metres away! We explored for a while and took lots of photos, then marched back up the cliff trail to the waiting van. Our tour ended with lunch at another cove, but only Jasper went snorkeling, always interested in the life underwater...
That evening, we went to the Matavai Hotel on the island for a talk on whales, followed by dinner. We have not yet seen a whale or a dolphin in the area and were annoyed to find out that a mother and baby have been swimming in the harbour between the yachts, but we have missed them! We find out where the assembled tour group will be going in Tonga and are assured that we will see plenty when we arrive there...
Dinner was another smorgasbord - with lots of wine and the same band that was at Gabe's place playing - Dan decided to do an Elvis number with the band, after a group of 14 year old girls butchered a few tunes... I played along on bass and guitar and actually sat in with the band for the rest of the night, giving the unenthusiastic bass player a break - she was much happier playing cards with Dan and some others than being in the band! For me, it was great fun, as I haven't played guitar in years and we actually did a few decent numbers - mostly forgetting the words, but getting the chorus parts just right...
August 6 – Mom, Dan and Jasper got up early to go listen to the local church choir during the Sunday service, while Dad and I stayed on the boat and took on a few projects, notably the fresh water system. We have ordered a few new pumps for the boat, hopefully going to meet us in Tonga, as a few of our pumps aren't working well. After many hours of taking things apart, priming and testing, we decide to sacrifice the seawater pump and use it for the freshwater system. Works for a while, but this system needs attention. Most of the day goes by this way, much to my annoyance! I had really wanted to go see some of the islands' caves, which we have not yet explored...
Dinner is shared with Jay and Colleen, from a neighbouring yacht named Moon Penny. He is from Vancouver and sailed to the South Pacific alone, meeting Colleen in Tahiti - she is Swiss and sailed from South America to Papeete on a large ketch. We had a nice dinner, with punch brewed in one of our now empty water containers. Excellent...
August 7 – We headed out to go to one of the swimming holes that we had missed on the tour, just a few miles away. We hitchhiked a ride in the back of an open truck, which you have to do on this island as there is no bus or other public transportation. However, locals will almost always stop for you and we only took a taxi once, back to the boat from the hotel late at night.
The swimming hole was great, enclosed in a large cavern - this was the royal swimming hole at one time, it turns out. We swim right off the edge of the reef into the ocean and dive through coral arches, emerging on the other side - the fish were amazing and so were the cavern passages carved into the cliff. Jasper and I stayed back to explore some cave entrances, but they turned out to be dead ends and we didn't get far.
We got back to the 'town centre' for lunch, but the island was nearly out of food! The local cafe had only chips, so we had several orders, along with the last three meat pies from the shop across the street. Other tourists had arrived by plane and a few wandered through the shops, but the place was largely a ghost town.
A quick trip to the FREE internet cafe, which was set up for tourists by the local government, then back to the boat for an evening departure. We are now quite good at getting in and out of the pitching dinghy alongside the wharf and do it for the last time, waving goodbye to a unique and strangely unsatisfying island (in my opinion). On one hand, I wanted to stay longer to see whales, explore caves and maybe even jam with the band again. On the other, I was a bit sick of the uncomfortable mooring, rainy weather, the lack of people and the sad feeling that this is a dying island. We set out for Tonga with the expectation that it would be more captivating.
The night started out with light winds and rain, motor on to charge the batteries and make water. All was going well until I tried to get the watermaker to push a little harder and the touchy thing shut off. I tried a dozen times, but finally gave up - now there's another project!
August 8 – By morning, the winds had picked up and we were flying along again under sail, but still wet weather. I decided to spend the day inside, updating the log...
August 9 – Hove to off the coast of Vava'u, waiting for daylight to enter the harbour. By 7am, we were entering Vaiutukakau Bay and finally - WHALES! We saw a whale blow and made a small diversion to follow for a half hour, along with a couple other pleasure boats - finally, we turned and headed into the harbour and took a mooring off the main town.
August 10-12 – Spent a couple days in Vava'u, did a scuba dive, went whale watching with a professional boat, went to a Tongan feast and generally enjoyed looking around the beautiful coral islands. The town of Neiafu doesn't really have much to offer, however - everything closes completely on Sunday and the rest of the time it is very quiet. We tried to get plane tickets for Mom and Dad to return down to Nuku'alofa for their flight home, but everything is booked out two weeks in advance, so we will sail down instead.
August 13 – Set sail for Nuku-alofa at about 10pm, planning to sail all night and arrive in the middle group of Tongan islands (the Haapai Group) for a stopover at Ha'afeva and Nomuka.
August 14 – Arrived at Ha'afeva Island at about 4pm - anchored next to a yacht named 'Tara Nui," owned by Richard and Nicky Poor, with their kids Henry, Edith and Esme. We invited them over for drinks before dinner and the 10 of us sat around in the cockpit or a while - we learned that Henry (12 years old?) was a pretty good fisherman, and were embarrased that he had caught more fish that week than we have caught during our entire cruise! They are planning the same route down to Nuku'alofa to drop off Nicky and the kids at the airport, as well. It was raining, so the five TAINUI crew sat inside and watched 'Coming To America' on video, then played a fairly drunken game of cards until late at night...
August 15 – Went for a walk into the village in the morning, but got a rather cold reception from everybody except the kids, who flocked around us and were thrilled to see their photos on my digital camera! After we left, I thought that we should have stopped at the first group of men that we encountered at waited for one of them to approach us, so that we could ask permission to enter the village. I bet that we would have had a warmer reception if we had had a host... oh well, remember that for next time!
We upped anchor at 12:30pm and sailed south towards another small island, Nomuka. Suddenly, we saw a whale with his tail right up out of the water, smacking it down repeatedly! He kept this up for a long time and we sailed right up towards him - he disappeared for a couple minutes and then suddenly breached within 100 metres of our bow! Incredible! We went a bit off course to follow him, but it was worth it...
We anchored for dinner at Nomuka Iki, again just next to Tara Nui - Henry had caught a tuna on the way down and offered us a big plate of fresh meat - we invited them over to help eat it on the BBQ and we ended up having a fabulous meal together. Henry even made us a new fishing lure, so we might have a chance of catching something. (See the September log!)
After dinner, we set sail again for Nuku'alofa, on another overnight passage...
August 16 – Made it to Tongatapu at 10am and tied up at Queen Salote wharf to clear customs, then moved around to the small yacht harbour. About five taxis converged on us, along with a guy who proclaimed that he was a 'master carver' and tried to get us to buy his work...
We took a walk around the town, which seems huge and cosmopolitan compared to the tiny places we've been lately. In truth, it is very limited, but there are a half dozen decent restaurants, some reasonable stores and a pizza place that served massive pies - what a lunch...
August 17 - This was Mom and Dad's last day, so we spent the day hanging out and getting ready for their departure - had a nice dinner at the Billfish Restaurant, then off to the airport, to say our Goodbyes - it was great to have Mom and Dad aboard - we haven't spent this much time together in over 10 years!
August 18-20 – Hanging out in Nuka'alofa, doing altogether too much drinking - I spent Sunday recovering from the effects of alcohol and (I think) a bit of a stomach bug that teamed up to wipe me out completely. Nuku'alofa is losing a bit of its limited charm, as we are realising that the water here is fairly polluted and we are looking forward to getting back up to the beautiful clean waters of Vava'u again...
August 21 – Jasper's last morning - he and Dan head off to the airport while I finish my recovery - by noon, Dan is back and I am vertical enough to write in the log! Now, I'm off to the internet place (located in the Federal Reserve Bank!?!?) to upload all this stuff!
August 22 – We spend the morning doing all the things we need to do before sailig north again to Vava'u - or me, this means going to the Australian Consulate early in the morning to see if tey make it any easier to get permanant residency while outside of Australia. Turns out that it's the exact same forms that are used in Sydney, with all the same hassles of getting certified, cleared, etc. It would be impossible to manage on the boat, so I resolve to start again once I'm back in Oz... Since it is now pouring rain, I decide to sit in the Consulate waiting room and fill out my Australian tax form, which I've been meaning to do for about half a year. Finished, I go to the post office to mail it and I ask for a large envelope to put the forms in without folding them. The Post Office does not sell envelopes - there is a store two blocks away that does, however... I walk all the way to the store and buy a big envelope, then back to the Post Office to mail it. Once I arrive, I remember that I am also supposed to be sending the US Government a cheque periodically for my 2000 taxes. Fortunately, I am reminded of this by the mailing envelopes I have stuffed into my Day-Timer, so I don't have to walk back to the store to buy envelopes again!
Funny thing, I haven't used my Day-Timer for about four months...
Dan and I meet up in the market to figure out what else we need to do before leaving - there's not much, but since I haven't eaten in a day or so, I decide to walk back and get lunch on the way, while Dan runs one more errand. I have just enough time to stop in and call Kath before heading back towards the boat, so we talk for a few minutes...
I had a quick lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant, named appropriately as I can see the boat from here. I can also see a super-mega-yacht that is anchored way out in the harbour, and it turns out that the only other patron in the cafe is the navigator for this massive powerboat. The tender that was supposed to pick him up is late and he's having coffee - I lend him the portable VHF radio and he talks to the ship, then tells me a bit about her and her owner - a British businessman who had her built 14 months ago and has already put 40,000 miles on her! Nobody I would know, he assures me.
By 4pm we are leaving Nuku'alofa, and pull up to the fish dock to clean our anchor chain before departing. The bottom of the harbour is disgusting, as I had noticed when we moved the anchor once before - the facilities are limited (i.e. the toilets/showers have no water, so everyne goes in the harbour) and there is little flow of water through the harbour itself. I had noticed that TAINUI has - for the first time since we have owned her - a bit of growth around the waterline, which has started only in the week that we have been here and is quite thick. Fortunately, this is later washed away during our ocean passage - best way to keep a boat clean is to keep it moving, I think!
We wash the anchor chain and the topdecks, which are all foul from the brown/grey mud, then cast off and say Goodbye to Nuku'alofa without too much regret. I was later outraged when I found out that Dan had had to pay about $150 pa'angas at Customs for using the Harbour 'facilities' - what facilities? No water, no toilets, no power, no nothing! Every time that I meet someone now, I tell them to avoind Nuku'alofa - other that the fast Internet connection, there's not much I liked about the place...
We leave Tongatapu with the intention of stopping at the volcanic island of Tofua, if the weather permits. The bilges are found to be foul again and the bilge pump vents noxious fumes every time it activates - thanks to the dirty harbour water, I'm sure. Same as Papeete Harbour - damn.
(Ran out of space on this page - continue on August 2000 Log Part 2!)