Gypsea Heart - June 21, 2014

By Gypsea_Heart on

[password] 1116
[position] 16 53S 168 32E
[speed] 0knts
[heading] 0T
[status] Sailed from Emae Island to NW Tongoa. We could not safely land a dinghy on the rocky shore to find someone to pay our 500 VT (US$ 5) fee each for diving there, so we had to let Jon from Evergreen swim ashore through the surf to do the honors. The wall dive was quite nice.
[diving]
position: 16 52.359s 168 31.821e
title: Tongoa Wall

Allegresse - June 20, 2014

By Allegresse on

[password] Allegre$$e
[position] 36 50 S, 174 45 E
[status]Still in Auckland. Refrigeration back in commission. Galley back together. Sea trial - third time round (this afternoon) with prop number three and we are in business. We will be experts driving into and out of the travel lift!
The delays mean that we have of course missed this week's weather window for departing NZ shores. Mike is busy looking at the next opportunity to get away. Hopefully we can be on our way to warmer climes soon :-)
[END]

Aradonna - 2005 Jun 2014

By Aradonna on

Many of the anchorages in the Vava'u group are in quite deep water but we have found some special places for great snorkeling. One of the outer islands, Avalau has a lovely white sandy beach and a beautiful reef with plenty of colourful fish. We thought this spot was amazing until we went to Kapa Island and went snorkeling at Barnacle Beach. Wow!We were swimming through schools of thousands of fish. Incredible!! It was like being in a snow storm, with tiny sliver fish zipping past everywhere we looked. Yesterday we had a look at Fotula Island reef. Not as many fish but the water was as clear as you can imagine. Even in 25m of water you can see the bottom clearly. Just beautiful. On Wednesday we collected our friends Pieter and Sarah from the airport, they have come to stay with us for a week and we have been looking forward to seeing them. Thankfully their flight was only an hour late - earlier in the week some people were delayed by a few days! Tt seems internal flights from Tongatapu to Vava'u are not very reliable. We all went to the Fakaleiti show Wednesday night, which was very entertaining! In Tonga, if a mother has too many sons, she raises one of them as a girl to help with washing and cooking etc. These boy girls are dressed in pretty dresses and are taught to be more feminine than natural girls who run around in shorts and t-shirts. As adults the Fakaleiti (Faka = in the manner of, leiti = lady)are very graceful and elegant. We thoroughly enjoyed the show, though some of them were more convincing as ladies than others! On Thursday we snorkeled at the Japanese gardens by Mala Island before heading into Hunga Lagoon for the night. Today we explored the Blue Lagoon area, unfortunately the resort was closed and visitors were clearly not welcome. A shame because it is a lovely spot and the water over the reef area is a very pretty blue. Now it is time for an afternoon nap!

Distracted - June 20, 2014

By Distracted on

[password] godd
[position]30 29.082s 176 59.429e
[status]rolling along dead downwind, sea a bit confused.
[speed] 7.2kts
[heading] 005m
[weather] 80% cloud cover, rain & squalls at times. s - sw 15 - 20kts, bar 1016 ( rocketing up)
all good on board. could not raise or hear GH Radio on 8 meg. Taupo Maritime fine on 4 meg.

[END]

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