A week in Vava’u

We left Neiafu last Monday, after a very disappointing rugby game, to explore the islands in the Vava’u group. What a beautiful trip it has been: small islands dotted all over the place in easy reach so one can hop from one scenic anchorage to the next in a few hours. The weather has been …

Vava’u, Tonga

Named the “friendly islands” by James Cook in 1773, the Kingdom of Tonga consists of 176 islands of which 40 are inhabited. The islands in the Vava’u group are raised and mountainous coral islands where some of the other islands are more low-lying and many are of volcanic origin. After 5 days of seeing nothing …

Welcome to tomorrow!

We're in Tonga! To use the words of our kiwi friend Mark: welcome to tomorrow! We crossed the dateline on the way here and had to turn our clocks forward 24 hours. The 250 NM crossing was windier than the GRIBS had predicted by a factor of 2. Instead of 15 we had 30 knots! …

Niue

Niue: the smallest state in the world, but the largest block of coral! It’s very different from every other island we stopped at in the Pacific. This flat plateau rises up from the sea and its highest point is 69 metres only. The main attractions are the amazing limestone caves, hewn by thousands of years …

Passage from Palmerston to Niue

Magellan has a lot to answer for! So far this vast ocean has not been true to its name apart from a few days where we enjoyed a flat sea. Our passage from Palmerston took 62 hours and was a real mix of weather: wind coming from various directions, changing wave patterns and even some …

Bye Bye Palmerston

Thank you people of Palmerston for an amazing week! We have never felt so welcome anywhere. There is a good weather window for Niue so we are about to take off and should get there by Monday morning. The other boat that was here for a few days (Florestan) left this morning. We were keen …