After we had been on the main island Upolu we sailed over to the next island, Savaii. Anchored in Asau and were the only boat there. A very sheltered anchorage. During our four days we rented a driver with his car to take us around the island. Explored some more and bigger blowholes, lava field and swam with turtle in a small pool.
Niuatoputapu was our next destination. 170 miles, not far but hard! Had to sail south (180) with a wind angle no bigger than 40 degrees and with big swells. The passage into Niuatoputapu seems very tricky and narrow if you look on the chart. Fortunately it is very good marked. The time was around 8 PM and no moon giving light but with waypoints and the well marked pass we came in safe.
This island seems to be a real Aussie/kiwi place. Of four boats we were the only non Aussie/kiwi and some had been here before. We anchored in 30 ft and it was quite sheltered. There was ok snorkelling closer out to the reef and we could here the whale song. The villages are very simple (dust roads, no electricity etc) but charming. Went out to the small island which was very picturesque. After four days we needed to move on. The forecast showed us northerly winds and that were what we needed to get down to Vava’u.
This time the sailing south went much better even though the northerly winds not showed up until the last 12 hours and the wind was stronger than expected. Almost no swell. SE-E-NE 10-20 kt. 170 miles. To be sure we arrive in daylight we made the trip over two nights. Had to reef everything the last 10 hours to not get there to early. Picked a buoy in Neiafu, a very sheltered place! The fee was between 12-15 Tongan (4 Euro) and the ones Aquarium café had included free use on their Internet café. A little bit disappointed when there were no other boats we recognised.
It felt good to bee somewhere civilized with restaurants and other facilities. The prices were ok. A lunch around 7-8 USD, dinner 10-15 USD, etc. After four days on the buoy it was time to discover the small islands. The good thing to sail in Vava’u is the short distances between the islands (a couple of miles). That is also way it is a very popular sailboat charter base. Everywhere we went there were a lot of those charter boats.
The first night did we spend in port Maurelle. Very nice and popular anchorage with clear water. Took the dingy about a mile to the Swallows cave and then we tried to find Marvelers cave but without success. Next morning = new islands. Ovalau. A scenic island with anchorage in 4-15 meter. Could see some whales from this anchorage. Ok snorkelling. The bad thing with most islands is the reefs. There is not many beaches without reefs. After two nights there we moved back to Port Maurelle.
Back in Neiafu on Saturday (four days on the outer islands). Started with some diving. Nice corals and a lot of anemones with different kind of clownfish. A couple of days later it was time for whalewatching! Yeahhh!! This was awesome! Found some crazy whales who first totally breached. When we went in to the water they chased us instead of we chasing them. They were always close (could touch them if we wanted). The female was around 13-15m long and the male around 11 m. Huge!! A day we never will forget.
At this time we had met some familiar boats. Madeline (who we met first in Panama and keep seeing), Prairie Oyster, Silver Curl, and the Swedish boat Tilda with captain Kalle.
Checked out (8th of August 2008) after 2.5 weeks in Tonga. Fiji next (Arrived in Suva the 12th of August 2008).
