[password]bulletYIT
[position] 21 07.4 S 175 09.8 W
[weather] 12 knots from nw cloudy, warm, no rain
[heading] -
[speed] 0
[status] Day 9 - The eagle has landed. We have just anchored in Tonga at Pangaimotu island at tongatapu. Sailing for 8 days and 2 hrs.
Yesterday at lunch we had a platter of cheese crackers and sliced apple. The wind was blowing about 20 knots from nnw and we were finding it hard to lay to tonga. Predict wind was predicting a wind shift further to the west which never really eventuated. We had hoisted Craig's number 4 headsail on the baby stay and had two reefs in the main. Eventually we put the motor on to give us the height we needed. The sea state made things uncomfortable with some slamming over the bigger rollers that developed. Carmel and Perryn went for an afternoon snooze while craig and I waited for the wind shift. We could see the dark cloudy northern edge of the large low that was over moving eastwards behind us as we pitched northwards into coming darkness... the rain clouds were getting thicker and showing on the radar as we ate our Moroccan lamb with cous cous. Perryn stood staunchly in the cockpit dripping with rain while eating his. Being his favourite dinner he ate his so quickly he burped w
ith a large follow through over the side then kept eating. Truly seasoned! Awkward short sharp chop and wind on the nose, rain, dark clouds and no stars had us either sleeping or doing our watches as we watched the miles pass. Eventually the wind died and the sea state settled and we pulled down the sails and motored onwards under the big black clouds. You could smell the smells of the land under the clouds. A mixture of smoke and moisture mainly. At about 30 miles out we could see the long low glow of the lights in Tonga. Toronui had closed the gap and were following us about 6 miles behind.
Sunrise had us about 8 miles off Tonga. The rain had cleared and we were welcomed by blue skies and dolphins on our bow. The islands of Tonga are long and low without hills or mountains of any kind. Covered in palms and with white sand around the shore line and rocks with blowholes in places. We motorsailed up and around the eastern side of tongatapu and around into the piha passage with Toronui beside us. Very pleasant watching the land slide by with a mixture of London techno and happy handbag music on in the cockpit. A nice feeling to get here after a pretty good passage! So now we're anchored in the hot sun and humidity and will have to wait today (Sunday) and tomorrow (kings birthday) until Tuesday to gain customs clearance and be allowed to go ashore. Toronui are anchored behind us 100 m away so hopefully we should be able to get together with them later. The boat is being set up for island cruising now and having a general tidy up and clean. The water is calling and ti
me for a swim! Yeehar.[END]