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[position] 19 47.943s 174 21.234w

[status] We made it! At 2pm on the 24th of May 2016, the awesome crew of sailing vessel MOONFISH navigated their way (by following FUSIO) into Pangai Harbour (actually we anchored just outside it). Our route into Pangai was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Sasha awoke after a luxuriously long passage sleep (Captain Mike had taken her early morning shift which was very VERY nice of him- he may have been too frightened to wake her – gulp!), she eagerly headed out to the cockpit to establish the current location. Sasha watched Mike walk over to the port hull, spread out his arms and proudly say “LAND HO”. Sasha spied two islands, and later learned the large one that Mike referred to as ‘Rangitoto on Steroids’ was called Tofua, its main attraction - a large (507m tall) rather active volcano with a huge crater lake called Lofia. The smaller of the two islands looked like a miniature version of Mt Fuji, or NZ’s Ngarahoe (sorry about the spelling – I have no google!!). This smaller, bu
t taller, cone peaked island is called Kao (1046m). These two menacing volcano (Sasha has made an executive decision and decided the word ‘Volcano’ is like the word sheep, and requires no plural – haha that’s for you Margo!) drifted off into the distance as Moonfish sailed past postcard picture-perfect white sandy beach islands – their plentiful palm trees waving us on. It was at this point we were greeted on VHF by an Australian accent “To the two sailing vessels arriving into Pangai - This is Ha’apai Beach Resort, Ha’apai Beach Resort”. Warwick on Fusio answered the call, in a very serious tone which quickly warmed as we all established that the Ha’apai Beach Resort was able and willing to contact the immigration and customs office and ask if they could clear us in that afternoon at 4pm. We were all very thankful, and sure to their word three staff, Customs, Immigration and Health all turned up at the Pangai Wharf, awaiting Warwick to pick them up and take
them out to Fusio. Within a matter of minutes both FUSIO and MOONFISH were bringing down their Yellow fluttering Quarantine Flags, and hoisting the red and white crossed Tongan flag, with the good ‘ol NZ flag whipping in the wind beneath it. It was a proud moment, we had successfully completed our first ocean going passage. There was a $100 Tongan fee per boat for the Health Board, a $23 immigration fee, and we were told to head into town tomorrow and finalise our clearance by paying the Marine Infrastructure Fee (for the channel markers and light houses etc), this we found out later is based on the tonnage of your boat, Moonfish is 8 tonnes and this fee cost us $6.44 Tongan, we handed over $7, and were given no change – but we didn’t care, we were just over the ‘MOONfish’ that we had finalised our clearance and we were able to up anchor, away from the Pangai harbour and start our Tongan adventure. Once we had hoisted our Tongan courtesy flag, and after Team FUSIO had
had a swim, we got in the dingy, picked up Team FUSIO and headed into the wharf as Matt and Josie at the Ha’apai Beach Resort had agreed to pick us up and take us to their beach front restaurant and bar. We all hopped in the back of their van, with Spud the dog sizing us up, and snarling at Lanye (hilarious!). The Ha’apai Beach Resort reminded Mike and Sasha of Aitutaki Rarotonga, laid back beach style, with well made wooden tables and chairs, and the odd up-cycled piece of old boat to jazz it up. The proprietors Matt (an Aussie) and J (which we think stood for Josie or Jody – sorry J was a kiwi) were really friendly and very welcoming. The bar was well equipped with nice cold local 5% beer called ‘IKALE’ lager the label proclaimed ‘The First Beer in the World Everyday’ referring to Tonga’s close proximity to the international date line. It was very easy to drink and everyone savoured more than a couple in celebration of the passage finishing. The dinner menu
came out with Mike, Warwick and Layne selecting the MahiMahi Fish Pie and MALibu and Sasha opting for the Island Pizza. The meals were delicious, and Lemon Passionfruit cheesecake was shared as a sweet treat afterwards. The prices were affordable and Layne and Sasha were very appreciative to have a night off cooking. We all headed back to the boats for a long, peaceful sleep – until at what seems like 1am in the morning, the Pangai bells started to toll.. and toll… and TOLL some more. It must have been 6am, but far out did they ring for a while.

[speed] 0knots

[heading] 257M

[weather] not a cloud in the sky here at Pangai harbour, very little wind.

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