![\"Ben](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2026\/2222569758_78b0066556.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt has been a week since we updated the blog. We blame it
\non Ben, whose presence has distracted us a great deal. He
\narrived on time last Thursday morning. More on that later.<\/p>\n
The weather turned rainy and overcast the day before Ben
\narrived and has stayed that way every day since, except for
\nyesterday. The evening before Ben arrived we had a table at the
\nWednesday night buffet BBQ at the Dancing Rooster, a
\nSwiss-Tongan restaurant on the waterfront. We sat with all the
\nAustrians – Risho Maru, Nautilus (belonging to Ronnie, a
\nsingle-hander, who had a friend, Wolfgang, from Vienna
\nvisiting), and Tahaa. Other tables had lots of our boat friends
\nfrom all over. The food and drink were good and plentiful. A
\nvery strong squall blew through and it rained hard during the
\nmeal but we were lucky to have one of the more sheltered tables
\nunder the thatched roof of the outdoor dining area. After
\ndinner, Laura went to the attached karaoke bar to sing Nancy
\nSinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walking” to the delight of
\nme and Ronnie, who were the only ones in the karaoke area.<\/p>\n
Getting home from dinner was difficult because the squall
\nplayed havoc with the dinghy dock. Our dinghy was far from
\nwhere we left it. We discovered that it had either been untied
\nor had come loose. It did not head out to sea only because it
\nhad become entangled with the line of another dinghy. It was
\nalso full of water. The squall had much more severe effects on
\nboats in the anchorages outside of Neiafu. At least one boat
\nwent aground, and our South African friends on Robyn’s Nest told
\nus that they dragged into deep water with two anchors deployed
\nand had a very difficult time recovering the anchors and getting
\nthe boat under control in 40-50 knots of wind and driving rain.
\nI worried a bit about Sabbatical III since we were tied to a
\nmooring of unknown provenance. We were not sure if the mooring
\nwas a rental from a reputable owner, such as Aquarium, or a
\nderelict private mooring. We took it because it was the only
\none that we could find in the harbor. The other moorings in the
\nharbor belong to the Moorings boat charter company and are not
\nfor rent. But these have bright orange pick-ups, while ours did
\nnot, so we did not think that likely. Boats that did take a
\nMooring mooring were soon kicked off by a Mooring Company
\nlaunch. We joked to ourselves that someone would tell us to
\nimmediately leave the mooring just as we were going to pick up
\nBen from the airport.<\/p>\n
Just as we were leaving to pick up Ben at the airport,
\nsomeone in a launch knocked on the hull and said that we were on
\na mooring that belonged to the Moorings Company. I couldn’t
\nbelieve it. We had a taxi waiting on shore to take us to the
\nairport. I called the boss at Moorings Charter on the VHF
\nradio and he said it was not a problem if we stayed as they did
\nnot need the mooring right away but asked me to stop by his
\noffice and pay for it.<\/p>\n
We booked Roadrunner Taxi to take us to the airport, wait for
\nthe flight arrival, and then take us back to the dinghy dock at
\nthe Aquarium Cafe. While waiting outside the very small airport
\nbuilding, we struck up a conversation with an older couple who
\nwere waiting to depart Vava’u, Tonga. They said that they had
\nbeen visiting their son who was on a sail boat in Fiji, and that
\nthey were Mexican. We told them that we were friends with the
\nMexican boat “Iataia” and that is indeed the boat of their son
\nMark. We had anchored right next to Iataia first in Hiva Oa,
\nthen in Nuku Hiva, and had last talked with them while doing the
\ncheck-out in Papeete.<\/p>\n
Ben looked great and did not seem at all tired from his long
\nsequence of flights. As we dinghied back to the boat, we
\nstopped at a number of boats along the way to introduce Ben.
\nWe had lunch at the Aquarium with Alex, Peter, and Finn of Risho
\nMaru, and with Regine and Girard from Galdus. The next day we
\nwalked through town and bought fruit at the market. The poor
\nweather forced us to change plans and spend much more time in
\nNeiafu than we had hoped. It was not only rainy but cold with
\nnight time temperatures in the high 60s which seemed frosty to
\nLaura and me. We spent a lot of time socializing inside of
\nboats because of the rain. We had Risho Maru and the American
\nboat Magmum (with Uwe, Anne, and 5 year old Kara) over for
\nsundowners. The next night we had a Seinfeld party with Risho
\nMaru. Another night, we had a great dinner on Risho Maru capped
\nwith a couple of bowls of kava. On one afternoon when the rain
\nwas only light, we joined with Risho Maru, Magnum, and Galdus
\nfor a hike up to the peak overlooking Neiafu harbor. It was a
\nlot of fun and Ben got lots of attention from 5 year old Kara
\nand 7 year old Finn. Gerard and Regine from Galdus said that
\nthey have never met Americans who spoke French as well as Laura
\nand Ben. Gerard and Regine, Bretons with a 39 foot Ovni
\naluminum monohull, are doing their second circumnavigation.
\nTheir first was 25 years ago.<\/p>\n
Yesterday (Tuesday), we finally saw some sun. Ben and I
\ntook the dinghy in to pay Moorings and look for eggs (there were
\nnone since the farmer failed to deliver). By 10 am we were on
\nour way out of the harbor and picked up good winds of 20+ knots
\nout of the ESE. We sailed to Kapa Island and anchored near the
\nstrait that separates Kapa from Nuku Island, otherwise known as
\nanchorage number 8. We found three boats here already – Chica
\nBonita, Southern Cross, and Rasa Manis – all friends of ours.
\nWith the emergence of the sun there was a mass exodus from the
\nsheltered confines of Neiafu harbor. Within a couple of hours
\nthere were 14 boats at anchor off Kapa\/Nuku Island, most of the
\nnewcomers to the anchorage were also friends, including
\nPriscilla, Special Blend, Irie, Guava Jelly, Robyn’s Nest,
\nAsylum, Magnum, and Sisu. Our first snorkel in Tonga was along
\nthe southern edge of Nuku Island where there were lots of fish
\nand fairly clear water (although nothing beats Suvarov for
\nclear). The water is significantly cooler than anything we have
\nexperienced since the Galapagos, another sign that we were
\ngetting into the high latitudes.<\/p>\n
In the evening there was an ad hoc barbeque and potluck on
\nthe beach of Kapa Island. Jim of Special Blend reprised his
\nstarring role of cook established at Suvarov. Tom of Rasa Manis
\nsang the his old sailing song with the “G-d damn them all”
\nrefrain that he sang in Suvarov, but this time in honor of Tom
\nand Susie of Priscilla, who were leaving for New Caledonia
\ntoday. They will spend the hurricane season in Australia,
\nrather than New Zealand like the rest of us, so none of us will
\nsee them for awhile. After dinner, there was improvised music
\nfrom Christian (Irie) on mandolin, Tom (Rasa Manis) on harmonica
\nand vocals, Scott (Robyn’s Nest) and Jim (Asylum) on guitar, and
\nEllen (Rasa Manis) on percussion.<\/p>\n
The good weather lasted less than one day. Late last night
\nrain and squalls returned and the entire day today was overcast
\nwith a mixture of drizzle and squalls. Robyn’s Nest decided to
\ndelay their departure for Fiji, and instead invited Ben to join
\nthem for a visit to Mariner’s Cave on Nuapapu Island. Ben
\njumped into Robyn’s Nest as John expertly maneuvered her up to
\nour dinghy tied up behind Sabbatical III. Besides John (South
\nAfrica), the Robyn’s Nest crew includes Chris (US), Scott (South
\nAfrica), Lucy (France), and Dave (South Africa), John’s nephew.
\nThe age range is 17 to 30 years. Ben wore Laura’s foul weather
\ncoat over my full-body swim skin to keep warm. They had trouble
\nfinding the entrance to the cave, which is underwater and has no
\nexternal markings. To get in, one has to dive about 2 meters
\ndown and then go through a 4 meter tunnel that opens into a
\nchamber. Ben reports that the most interesting thing was
\nobserving the effect of air pressure on the moisture holding
\ncapacity of air. As a swell came up, the air in the chamber
\nwould pressurize so much that he felt it in his ears, and the
\nair was clear. As the swell fell, the air pressure would fall
\nand there would immediately be thick fog that dramatically
\nlimited vision. After Ben returned in the afternoon, we watched
\na movie and then took advantage of a lull in the rain to walk on
\nthe beach. The weather forecast is pretty bleak as a low
\npressure weather system is just parked over Tonga and Fiji, but
\nwe are hoping for the best.<\/p>\n
M.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wednesday, 3 October 2007 It has been a week since we updated the blog. We blame it on Ben, whose presence has distracted us a great deal. He arrived on time last Thursday morning. More on that later. The weather turned rainy and overcast the day before Ben arrived and has stayed that way every … <\/p>\n