Sailing in Vava'u

This archipelago of Tonga’s is composed of 60 islands and they say that for every nautical mile you sail there are 4.8 tropical islands to see. This really seems to be the case. When ever you anchor at one island others form the picturesque view, often with areas of reef changing the blue hues of the sea. Most islands are reasonably high with hillsides covered with trees, a mix of coconut and other species such as mango, figs and many I don’t recognize. The beaches are white coral sand usually having a fair collection of shells to see, with remnant reef structures with sea cucumbers, crabs, and blue star fish and a few coloured fish in the shallows. This scene creates some really beautiful locations to drop an anchor and while away the days!

Neiafu is the major village in this island group and has a huge number of churches and these are the most significant buildings. The affiliated schools of which there are many are also imposing particularly those supported by the Mormon Church! When moored in the deep harbor you are woken by the sounds of cockerels crowing, bells ringing and hymns emanating from all the churches. The village offers cafes, the internet at a reasonable speed and the chance to re provision  the boat by shopping at the market and hoping that some of the very small stores have what you need. Forget the Coles or Woolies version of a supermarket!

There is a hospital which has been built by Australia and a new wing donated by the Chinese. This houses a very impressive dental clinic! Whilst Nick was with us Roger unfortunately lost a part of a filling which subsequently developed into an abscess! Not only did he fear the customs officials the thought of locating and using a Tongan dentist was almost sending him back to Aus’! Any how the dental department was only opened in February 2012 and proved to be up to the job. We have visited twice the first confirmed the problem and gave us some more antibiotics although Roger had already commenced these and we returned again this week and a temporary filling was put in by a Tongan trained female dentist. Initially she seemed a little severe not much small talk and lots of equipment but a local anesthetic worked and despite Roger thinking he was going to have a heart attack with a rapid pulse and trepidation all worked out well!!  It cost $50 much cheaper than Aus that’s for sure!

We have met many other cruising people all with a story to tell and many sailing around the World on the World ARC rally. There yachts on the whole are larger and have all the gizmos etc on board, it costs them 18000 pounds just to enter the 2 year rally!  We have had a very sociable time here in Vava’u eating out in the village or sharing meals with other boats. It has been a lovely destination which we have enjoyed visiting. Any how it’s time to move on to Fiji and we plan to leave on the 8^th June so that we can meet up with Jonathan. There seems to be a good weather window over the next few days so its back to passaging and a few nights of disturbed sleep.