Niuatoputapu

Hi everyone,

Weather has dictated we only spend a few days here in Niuatoputapu.  Next week the weather turns against us so we will be leaving tomorrow.  Yesterday we spent a full day exploring.  The local people are extremely friendly and helpful.

Tafahi Island from Niuatoputapu

Yesterday morning the supply ship arrived at about 0700.  It only visits monthly and stays for a day.  We headed ashore to walk to the fresh-water pool at the western end of the island.  We walked a loop which took us along the shore then back around the three villages.

The anchorage is very safe with a good sandy bottom of 6-12m depth.  It does suffer from chop due to fetch if there's any N in the wind.  No swell.  The wharf has a raw coral dinghy dock and care is needed to avoid puncture damage.

Monthly supply ship arrival

Zen Again with Walkabout and Olmari to right

Wharf dinghy dock

Wharf

The island was impacted by the 2009 tsunami with 9 people killed locally and many more on other Tongan and Samoan islands.  Since then there's been a lot of investment including a new hospital and moving many dwellings to higher locations.  You can read about it here.

The island is neat and tidy.  Perhaps not quite as tidy as Samoa due to drink cans along the roadsides.  But you're more likely to be offered a lift while walking around.  Church is very important here with several on an island of only about 700 people.

Tidy & colourful cemetary

Catholic church

The fresh water pool is nice to visit.  It's at the mouth of a river, apparently downstream of a water treatment plant.  Beyond the pool the river mouth is popular with the local pigs.  Pigs are everywhere here but we also saw sheep, goats, cows and horses.  There's a lot of agriculture with coconuts, bananas, taro, cassava, breadfruit and more.

Lots of banyan trees

Fresh water pool

Pigs downstream of the pool

We did about 12,000 steps on the walk.  It was hot but thankfully there was a breeze.  Back in the anchorage the chop kicked up by the wind led to abandoning a plan for a dinghy sundowner on the Motu adjacent to the anchorage.

Sunset

Today I walked to the Customs office to do our 'domestic clear-out', allowing us to move between island groups.  That was a single form and free.  From there I walked to the bakery which has excellent locally-baked bread.  There are several small stores with very basic supplies only.  Best to leave that for the locals since the supplies come so infrequently.  Likewise we kept our rubbish aboard.

Excellent bakery - the hut under the trees

So we're ready to depart tomorrow for Neiafu in the Vava'u island group.  That's a 170nm passage south.  Winds are expected to be 10-15 knots from the ESE.  Vava'u will be very different with a much larger population and far more cruising boats already there.

Zen again at Niuatoputapu

Trust all's well where you are!

Samoa to Tonga Passage Summary

Hi everyone,

Here is a summary of our almost two day passage from Apia in Samoa to Niuatoputapu in Tonga.  It was a tiring passage due to the beam wind with 2-3m swell.  Quite rolly with occasional side-swipes.  We sailed almost all the way under trisail sized main and partially furled storm staysail to avoid arriving before dawn.

Sailing South

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds

        • Route Distance = 187 nm

        • Logged Distance = 200 nm

        • GPS Distance = 200 nm

        • Duration = 1 days 17 hours

        • Average speed = 4.9 kt

        • Minimum boat speed = 2.5 kt

        • Maximum boat speed = 11.6 kt (surfing outside Niuatoputapu pass)

    • Weather

        • Minimum wind speed = 6 kt

        • Average wind speed = 17 knots

        • Maximum wind speed = 21 with gusts to 28

        • Apparent wind angle range = 70 to 150

        • Seas 1-2m

        • Swell 2-3m

        • Clear with 1/8 cloud mostly except overcast when rain squalls around

        • 1/8 waxing moon

    • Engine

        • Total = 2 hours

        • Driving = 2 hours (leaving and entering harbour only)

        • Charging = 0 hours

    • Failures

        • None

    • Stars

        • The boat - as always

        • Storm Staysail

Apia astern (with rainbow)

We departed Apia at 1635 on Monday.  From there we broad reached W along the N coast of the island.  It was dark by the time we reached the strait between Upolu and Savai'i Islands.  The light on Apolima Island is conspic and quite high.  Winds were light in the lee of Upolu Island in the E wind and we ghosted past Apolima Island.

Once out of the lee the wind returned and we set the storm staysail instead of furled yankee.  The E seas and various swell wave trains made it quite rolly and uncomfortable.  We were deeply reefed to try slow the boat down but she was doing 5-6 knots much of the time.  We had a lovely clear and mostly moonless sky with a spectacular starscape.  But we were taking spray into the cockpit when sideswiped by the seas so didn't see it very often!

Tuesday provided similar wind and sea conditions.  At least with the wind on the beam we were sheltered by the dodger when keeping watch in the companionway.  A couple of light showers passed overhead but without much more wind.  We furled the storm staysail in an attempt to slow the boat.

Tuesday night  was also similar.  At 0500 on Wednesday we hove to, fore-reaching slowly S.  Shortly after dawn at 0645 we gybed and started our approach.  We gybed again for our final approach, finding none of the 20-40m shelf charted on CM93, Navionics and NZ Raster charts.  For a while we thought our depth sounder had died.  We only got into soundings less than 0.5nm from the pass, and the 3m swells really let us know about it!  We surfed down a couple of waves doing 8-10 knots briefly.  Happily the swells dissipated rapidly.

The shore leads for the pass were conspic and gave us a very good indication of when to turn in.  The swells breaking over the reef to the E of the pass were dramatic.  But as soon as we were in the lee of the reef all was calm.  The pass is well marked by old piles and new buoys.  The Navionics SonarCharts are very good in the pass and anchorage.  There's a lot of zigzagging involved so care is needed, including in the anchorage.

We anchored in 12m over sand, having to do so twice since we didn't like our proximity to OCC/EBBYC sv Traveller IV.  Kiwi sv Olmari is here too.

Tafahi Island immediately N of Nuiatoputapu

Nuiatoputapu ahead

Reef E of pass

Approaching the pass

In Apia we had emailed our Advance Notice form to both Ana the local clearance coordinator and the general Tongan Customs address, both of whom acknowledged receipt.  Immediately we had the anchor down we were deluged by emails, texts and dinghied messages to contact Ana.  We advised her it would take an hour or more to launch and get our dink going, and that it would hold only one of the four officials needing to visit at a time.  Ana gave us permission to 'phone a friend' and the sv Traveller IVs kindly brought the officials to us at 1030.

The clearing-in process was simple but the search thorough.  We had to show the contents of all compartments and any large containers in them.  Apparently that's a consequence of yachts being found with a large quantity of drugs aboard in both Tonga and the Marquesas recently.  The Quarantine charge was 20 Paanga.

The Health official hadn't been available in the morning.  He appeared mid-afternoon courtesy of Australian sv Kingara.  The Health charge was 200 Paanga.

By 1530 we were fully cleared-in.  Looking forward to a good night's sleep and to exploring Niuatoputapu.  We're in Tonga!

Trust all's well where you are.

Samoa

Hi everyone,

We've spent a week in Samoa.  What a friendly and beautiful place!  We spent the first few days exploring Apia and replenishing supplies - particularly propane, diesel and water.  Then we hired a car with the sv Southern Wings for a day tour of the island.  And yesterday (Sunday) we visited the early morning pre-church markets.

Lava coast

Replenishing supplies was simple.  We filled our water jerries at the marina, our diesel jerries at a local service station (via taxi) and our empty gas bottle at the local depot (also via taxi).  The supermarkets here aren't large but they had everything we needed except - strangely - cartons of fruit juice.  It's always good to have full stocks aboard.

Apia is a pretty town and kept very tidy.  The main churches are very impressive.

Apia catholic cathedral

Apia roundabout

Our hire car tour around the island was great fun.  The entire island is neat and tidy.  CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) was held here in October last year and the whole island is still painted in the colours of Commonwealth nations.  We spent most time in the national park on the south side of the island.  The coastal walk is very nice with a spectacular lava coastline and many arches and small islands.  The latter reminded us of the Apostles in Victoria but these are all volcanic lava.  Driving over the hills was spectacular too.

Coastal driving

Colourful villages

Many churches

Walking the national park's Coastal Path

At the coast

Jungle!

One of many lava arches

Lava islands, also with arches

Blowholes

Lava coast

The Ma Tree in the national park

Park with waterfall

In the hills

Every Sunday the fish market and fruit'n'veg market run from 0500 to 0700.  It allows everyone to stock up for their after-church Sunday feast.

Fish Market

Colourful fish

Farmer's market

Breadfruit

While in Apia we had sundowners on SVs Southern Wing, Freeranger and Traveller IV.  Twas a very social time.

OCC get-together on sv Freeranger

This morning we cleared-out and will depart late this evening towards Niuatoputapu, aka "new potatoes".  That's the northernmost port of entry in Tonga.  It'll be a 185nm passage and we'll take it slow to arrive after dawn on Wednesday.

Trust all's well where you are.

French Polynesia to Samoa Passage Summary

Hi everyone,

Here is the summary of our passage from Bora Bora in French Polynesia to Apia in Samoa.  It was a 1200nm passage by our route which took us NW into the trades before turning W for Samoa.  We had light to moderate winds throughout, except for rain squalls which gusted to 28 knots max so were quite benign.  No thunderstorms whatsoever.  We had rain squalls on three consecutive days only.  Otherwise it was sunny and pleasant apart from swell.  Overall it was nice passage in a very good weather window.

Amazing sunsets

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds

        • Route Distance = 1200 nm

        • Logged Distance = 1452 nm

        • GPS Distance = 1413 nm

        • Duration = 12 days 1 hour

        • Average speed = 4.9 kt

        • Average day's run = ~126nm

        • Best day's run = 128 nm

        • Minimum boat speed = 3.5 kt

        • Maximum boat speed = 7.0 kt

    • Weather

        • Minimum wind speed = 3 kt

        • Average wind speed = 12 knots

        • Maximum wind speed = 20 with gusts to 28

        • Apparent wind angle range = 90 to 150

        • Seas 1m to 2m with very sloppy sea state near rain squalls

        • Swell 4m initially reducing to 2m for most of the passage 

        • Clear with 1/8 cloud mostly except overcast when rain squalls around

        • Full moon waning to 1/4 moon

    • Engine

        • Total = 36 hours

        • Driving = 36 hours (motoring clear of rain squalls and their surrounding calms/chop)

        • Charging = 0 hours

    • Failures

        • Compass light

    • Stars

        • The boat - as always

        • WindPilot vane gear - steered except when motoring, down to 6 knots apparent

Zen Again in Bora Bora

Outside Bora Bora pass

Our departure from Bora Bora was quite exciting.  There was a 4m swell running.  The swells were much reduced in the pass itself but were breaking spectacularly on each side.  We had at least 3 knots of current with us.  Once in a which a swell in the pass got near to breaking.  Zen Again went through one of those with green water back to the mast and along each side deck.  Then we were out.

Once out we motored for 3 hours to get out of the lee of the island and into the gradient wind.  The big swells really messed with the apparent wind in the light breeze.  For the rest of the passage we only motored to get out from under rain squalls or to escape the calms they left behind.

The first 5 days saw us broad reaching NW to the latitude of Samoa from where we broad reached to and fro W.  The larger excursions from this route were to avoid areas of very light winds, initially in the S then in the N.  We had only the first reef in the main for much of this time which shows the winds were quite light (10-15 knots).

First reef in the mainsail

Days 6 to 8 produced rain squalls.  None developed into thunderstorms.  They seemed to start from small cumulus clouds, get big enough to produce heavy rain, then exhausted themselves and evaporated away entirely.  While growing they expanded in all directions, sometimes at a rate exceeding the gradient wind.  So they 'grew' to windward.  So an all-round lookout or approaching rain and wind was necessary.

Evaporating rain squall

Dodging a rain squall

The last three days were mostly sunny.  We had a few minor rain squalls which didn't produce much wind, perhaps gusts to 20 knots only.  Happily we arrived off Samoa at dawn so could admire the island as we approached Apia.

Samoa Ho!

On arrival we contacted Port Control via VHF and we allowed to enter the harbour.  See the preceding post for info on clearing in.  Yesterday we went into town for a look around and to get local cash.  We plan to tour the island and will post on that in future.

In Apia anchoraga

Marina dinghy dock

Marina

The Edge restaurant adjacent to the marina

The anchorage

Visitor Info

Government Office building
Immigration on 1st floor

Trust all's well where you are!