Vava'u

We departed the Ha’apai group of islands in a hurried way, not to run from the customs officials who I think were only to happy to see the back of us but because as always, the weather changed from that predicted earlier in the day. We had planned to spend the day anchored out from a resort but with the wind moving more to the south this was untenable as an anchorage. Two choices return to Pengai the major village on Lifuka the administrative centre of Ha’apai and wait until later in the day or to leave earlier than planned and arrive in Vava’u in the middle of the night, We set off aware that we would either have to go very slowly, an impossibility on Dreamweaver with the wind on our stern quarter or hope to find an easy anchorage that we could safely anchor in the middle of the night.

 The passage north is about 65nm in deep water with the occasional shoal and reef to avoid. The wind reached 25 knots and we made brisk progress arriving in the Vava’u group at 2am.We decided to anchor in Port Mourelle a cove tucked into a bight on Kapa Island, this anchorage is well protected from most wind directions. The radar clearly defined the shoreline of the deep fiord like water ways on our approach which gave us confidence in our electronic charts. On entering into the cove 2 other yachts could be seen at the far end which at least defined the area for us. We could not believe our good fortune to discover 2 vacant mooring buoys!! No anchoring in the dark questioning the proximity of coral or shelving beaches. Thank you Tonga tourist board a welcome site late at night.

We awoke the next morning to the sounds of crows ushering in the next day, the sky blue and anchored in a deep cove surrounded by high cliffs, hanging with verdant greenery and topped by coconut palms. The beach lay in front of us the sand white and the sea a multitude of blues as it extended forwards to lap on the shore changing colour as it traveled across coral and sand. A welcome sight after a long day and night.

We chose to spend the day here unwinding and enjoying such a beautiful setting. The thought of facing customs officials put of for another day!