Boat Name: Pickles
Home Port: United States of America
Date of Acceptance: October 2010
Place of Acceptance: Vava'u Group (Kingdom of Tonga)
We were given the Pea Green Book by our good friends SY Bamboozle while cruising the Vava'u Group of Tonga. What an incredible magical place it was. With four children on board, there is always lots to distract the children from their school work. In Vava'u, even more so.
One day while completing our work, the older children spotted a huge humpback whale breaching not too far from the boat. Books were thrown aside and masks and snorkels grabbed and we were off to try and swim with the whales. We weren't able to see it in the water, but were very close and in complete awe of its size and grace.
Sailing between the islands, we were constantly on whale watch and were often rewarded with spottings just a few boat lengths away.
Another day school was in recess to allow us to visit Mariner's Cove, The only way in is to swim through a tunnel approximately 10 feet long, about 6 feet below the surface (depending on the tide). Once inside, you are treated to an amazing show of the changes in air pressure as the tide surges in and retreats. You can see the moisture in the air condensing, then with a sudden pop, all is clear again.
One of the anchorages there (#16 according to the Moorings Guide) was a favourite of ours as there was a HUGE tree that seemed to be designed by children, for children. Our own crew spent days there climbing and exploring and making up games with children from other boats. It was there that we celebrated our son's 7th birthday, complete with cake and ice cream and candles. We couldn't have picked a better location!
A stay in Vava'u would not be complete without attending one of the local churches. We made the fortunate mistake of sitting in the middle of the choir section, though the entire church joined in on most of the songs. The entire building seemed to vibrate from the music and energy. It was incredibly moving.
And speaking of moving, it was time for us to leave the Vava'u Group to move south towards the capital of Tonga (Tongatapu) and eventually to New Zealand.
One often images that living on a sailboat you are in complete control of your life - you get to determine where you go and when you go. It doesn't always work out that way. There is this little thing called weather that is really in control. We had just sailed into an idyllic anchorage and spotted some of our friends already there. We were looking forward to happy hours and BBQs on the beach, but then we looked at the weather and saw a great opportunity to sail to New Zealand.
The trip from Tonga to New Zealand can be quite rough and we wanted to do what we could to make it a smooth trip. So 2 hours after dropping anchor in Hafeva, we made the decision to pull anchor, do an overnight to Tongatapu, clear out, fuel, scrub the bottom, and leave for New Zealand all in 24 hours - and that's exactly what we did. We were exhausted when we left, but the weather was supposed to be fine and that was our consolation.
It turned out to be a great decision. We had a fast run down to Opua and got cleared in without incident. We had a small radio net running with a few other boats on the same trip.
As New Zealand takes all fresh food away as you enter, everyone was frantically eating down all their stores. Lots of bacon or steak and eggs were consumed on that trip.
We spent a few weeks sailing around the Bay of Islands and taking in the natural beauty that New Zealand is famous for. We went on amazing hikes and met our first New Zealand sheep on the way!
As we were headed back to the United States for the holidays, we knew we had to get down to Whangarei to get things organized for our haul and get some boat projects started. We got the boat settled at Dockland 5 and flew back to the States to see family and friends for the first time in over a year.
After a wonderful time back in the States, we were all ready to get back to cruising, though the boat projects had other ideas and we were held up for a few more weeks - but at least we were "home".
It was getting late in the season and we knew it would be a rush to get down to Nelson and the South Island, so we took the advice of many of the locals and spent a month exploring Great Barrier Island and her surrounding islands. At Great Barrier, there is an anchorage called "Smokehouse Bay" where New Zealand cruisers had set up some public smokers and a bathhouse for all to enjoy.
You collect the wood, build a fire in a little stove, and it heats the water which is plumbed so you can have a hot bath or shower. We were given smoked fish from some local fishermen and also a lesson on how to use the smokers. It was an incredible time in a beautiful setting.
We are now back in Whangarei preparing to leave New Zealand and head back to the tropical islands. Winter is setting in and our blood is too thin to stay in this climate.
Where was the Pea Green Book all this time, you might wonder. It is a strange phenomenon of time and space that one is able to lose things for months on end in an area no larger than 400 square feet. If you live on a boat, you are quite accustomed to the "black holes" that sometimes suck things out of our present dimension and if you are lucky, spit them back out at some later time when you have completely given up any hope of finding it.
