Update from Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

February 2009 Since purchasing our beloved boat we have not been absent from her for 2 months nor had we left her unattended for this length of time.  Our anxieties were soon quelled, as we looked her over inside and out to discover that she had remained just as we had left her.  Hence, we set about the task of preparing to put her up on the hard (dry dock/hard stand), in order to have her hull checked out, cleaned and repainted with anti fouling.  During the process of moving her from the marina berth over to the haul-out bay, just as we had cleared the marina's breakwater, our engine overheated and the bow thruster gave out!  I guess she had been sitting too long unattended. We were embarrassingly set adrift in the 5 knot current among the anchored boats. Thank goodness, Andrew who was watching us from shore jumped into Gigi, the marina's Zodiac and towed us to the lift.  I wish we had a picture of that dinghy towing us – must have been a sight.  When Destiny was up out of the water we discovered that families of crabs had nested into the bow thruster and every other through-hull opening, clogging the engine's intake.  They were none too happy to be blasted out of their comfy new homes by the pressure cleaner!  We swore some gave us the finger as they sidled away back into the water. Destiny was on the hardstand longer than we had anticipated due to inclement weather and high winds that had arrived just after we got set.  I had never before lived aboard while on the hard so this proved to be yet another new experience as we climbed on and off via the ladder provided and tried to remember not to utilize running water – or the heads.  We know many folks who successfully achieve a modicum of comfort living this way (i.e., "bucket and chuck it"), but we do not enjoy it much; therefore when our friends Jaime and Christine called us from Auckland to say that they were getting away for a few days, coming our direction to celebrate Jaime's birthday which happened to be on Valentine's Day, we decided to join them and make an escape.  Piling suitcases into their rental we set off for Rotorua the town that is not to be missed when touring the North Island.  To us it is Disney Land, Yellowstone, Glenwood Springs, Tahoe and Livingston, Texas, presented all in one.  You can do and see just about anything there from Maori history and culture to hot springs to geysers to mud baths, gondolas, luging, zorbing, eating and gambling.  And the list goes on.  We rented a beautiful 2-bedroom suite/condo at the best hotel in town and went to town, doing and seeing.    Returning to Destiny we discovered that our friends, Ian and Julia aboard Moasi were back from their tour of the South Island. We were thrilled to be with them again, not having laid eyes on them since Bora Bora.  Julia and I enjoyed long coffees together, shopping and planning while Frank and Ian went up and down our mast repairing the wind meter and installing a new LED anchor light at the top.  We all sought and shopped for boat parts and replacements.  Amazingly nothing lasts long on a cruising yacht.  The wear and tear that we put on our vessels is astonishing compared to one used for recreational sailing.  Even interiors wear out no matter how well maintained.  Restocking these items in another country is more challenging than anyone can imagine.  We as Americans take so much for granted (I've said this many times and will probably repeat myself again and again).  We have been told that we must stop thinking as Americans and think as world travelers.  How does one undo 52 years of programming in a year?  It is a work in progress, and not one that I succumb to easily.  So we spend more time than we would like in search of these elusive "things".  It becomes part of the adventure, which can be enjoyable or exasperating depending on the mood and amount of disposable time at hand.  Luckily I was able to make many of these jaunts with Julia who lives in a near constant state of joviality & positive thinking, and not with Frank who lives in a near constant state of impatience, while shopping.  Our most maddening obstacle was Internet access (lack thereof).  So much can be achieved searching online instead of driving all over the blessed place describing, asking and looking.  Yet Tauranga Bridge Marina's internet made life an expensive struggle.  It was offered for $9/hour, $29/10 hours or $89/100 hours – per month.   Ok, no-brainer there, the problem we ran into was that the service was so BAD and the signal painfully intermittent; twice we purchased the 100 hours only to have the hours expire on us before we had used 30 of them.  Crapola!  But what else can one do?  There was a local Starbucks in Mt. Maunganui with internet for $10/hour!  As I just said, we are not in America anymore with plentiful and free resources at our fingertips.  I'm over it now because it is what it is.  However, I reserve the right to complain about this as it passes through my mind from time to time. Fortunately where serious boat parts are concerned we were in a port that housed an efficient and well-connected boat yard.  Dean from Hutcheson Boat Builders was irreplaceable to us; he hooked us up with stainless steel specialists (for our beautiful new hand rails on the sugar scoop), electricians who rewired the defectively installed bow-thruster, and a fellow to rip out and replace the mildewed shower liner in the guest room.  This is one reason we are so rigid about the showers being properly squeegeed and wiped down after each use. We installed a larger and heavier roll-proof anchor, purchased new dock lines, replaced halyards and so on and so on, all the while realizing we had missed our window of opportunity to get to the South Island and to tour the North Island as hoped.   Taking care of our home had to be priority, less we wake up one day with a P.O.S. on our hands, wishing and lamenting.  It felt good.  Of course, there is still more to be done – always.  But that is what the next port is for! www.frankandbarbgladney.com while at sea: kd0cff@winlink.org (note:the sender must include the character sequence "//WL2K" in the subject line of the message.) Skype ID: frank.barb.gladney

Dec. '08 - Feb. '09 Update

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Yes it has been a while! I have been reprimanded, scolded, and verbally flogged for not updating my blog since November 2008. If I journaled it all here no one would read it because it would take more words than even I have! I'll update through our trip home and back.

So to encapsulate… Frank and I left GBI on a lovely blue sky day, enjoying an absolutely perfect sail into Auckland's Westhaven Marina where we spent a few days getting the engine's reverse working again – requiring the gear box to be completely taken out and parts replaced. We rented a car for a few days, exploring the area and decided that Auckland deserved a return visit on our way back up in the Fall (March '09).

We were scheduled to be in Tauranga by the first week of December, so on December 2nd, under near perfect conditions sailed an easy overnighter into Tauranga's Bridge Marina. My captain timed our arrival so perfectly that we arrived at dawn during slack tide, which we soon discovered is ABSOLUTELY necessary due to the surge and up to 5 knot current in the bay during "regular hours". We immediately fell in love with the area, rightly called the Bay of Plenty. Our harbor was halfway between Tauranga proper and Mt. Maunganui ("The Mount"). The coastline from The Mount is so lovely and inviting that we spent as much time as possible there – hiking the Mount, walking the beaches, sitting at sidewalk cafes and pubs of course so Frank could continue his NZ beer tasting, and sampling every ice cream shop we encountered. This area reminded us very much of some of our favorite beach areas of California. The marina and staff were wonderful. The
shopping and provisioning were world-class. We only had about a week to enjoy the onset of New Zealand's summer before our flight back to the States.

On December 10th we flew from New Zealand back to the US. First stop was Los Angeles where we spent a whirlwind 2 days in the Beverly Hills area. Our dear friends, Andy and Melissa from S/V Spectacle who were also back home spent a day with us showing us their favorite haunts and shopping for cruising and touring guides to countries we will be visiting in the upcoming year followed by an incredible gourmet dinner, featuring Chef Andy Heger, at his mom, Asrtid's beautiful home.

Then off to Denver on the 12th, staying with our dear friends, Jeff and Jeri Lyn Martin we filled in our dance cards with lunches, dinners, coffees, shopping, cookie baking (yum!) and annual physical checkups (eyes, ears, innards and outards). I was able to have some girl time with my friends and to see some chick flicks. Frank met with buddies for drinks and lunches and spent time with Karen and Bill. We saw one another on the fly but had a wonderful and all too quick visit there. Of course, we left New Zealand's summer to spend minus zero temps in Denver – what were we thinking!?!?

On the 23rd of December we flew to Virginia in time to spend Christmas with the Johnson/Edwards/Gladney side of the clan at Tom and Mary's "resort". We had a great time visiting the nieces and nephews, although we were accused of bringing the winter chill with us from Denver – there was no escaping the cold! Even brought some snow. Did more shopping, went to lots of movies, out to the farm in Front Royal for some quiet time with Tom and Mary. Visited with Ma as much as possible. I was happy to get to spend some special time with my Godson, Clint, and to see Sarah home from school.

On January 6, 2009, we set off for Houston, TX for time with Jennifer & Trace, our grandson, Mom and Dad, sis and clan and big bro and family. I was stunned at how adult my niece, Sherrie and nephew Little Scotty (not so little anymore, towering over me!), had become. Tom and Bev had both come to town and we spent a lot of the time helping Mom and Dad get things sorted out and then I got a chance to hang out with some of my girlfriends. We did get some couples time with Debra and Sandy. Frank golfed with his school chum, Steve Haltom, who flew in from Tulsa just to see him. We went down to Seabrook to stay with Jen and Trace a few times. Got to meet Jen's sweetie, Jacob. Nice guy – glad to have him in her life. I got "cut, colored and made over" by my expert daughter. Visited my brother's new beautiful home on a lake in Magnolia. We were fortunate to get to be in town for Trace's 5th birthday and to celebrate Dad's and Mom's together.
Then, it was time to leave.

Jan 23rd (Dad's actual b-day) we flew back to Denver for another all too quick visit. Again the Martin's opened their beautiful home to us. A very funny side note here…Jeri Lyn announced that we had tickets for the National Western Stock Show (aka annual big time rodeo), so we got dolled up, went to dinner and then arrived at the rodeo to discover that our really, really fantastic seats were for the Draft Horse and Mule competition! Ha ha – joke was on us! We were way over dressed and over classed for this event. We enjoyed the Draft Horse competitions immensely, but could have lived our entire lives without having seen the mule events. It would not have been nearly as enjoyable with any other couple I must say. Those two can have a good time in the middle of a desert!

February 3rd (my Mom's b-day), we left Denver, landed in Los Angeles and drove down to San Diego – our favorite city in the USA. We were graciously invited to stay with Bob Bergman whom we had met during the process of buying our boat. Bob has become a dear friend to us. Our time in San Diego whizzed by as we shopped for boat parts and personal gear – filling up an entire 4th rolling duffle bag! We had begun the trip with 2! We left San Diego early on the morning of the 7th, intending to get to LAX with time enough to drop our bags off and head to Venice Beach before returning our rental car. Frank dropped me off with all 4 bags and took off to find parking. An Air New Zealand attendant was kind enough to approach me, asking if I was scheduled for the 7:30 PM flight to Auckland. I answered in the affirmative to a very sad-eyed shaking head. He apologized telling me that our flight was cancelled! UGH! He further told me that I could go ahead
and check our bags since they would eventually need to be done – so I did, and while doing so was informed the airline had arranged a replacement flight at 7:00 AM the following morning, and was putting all passengers up in the local Hilton for the night, with group transportation at 4 AM back to the airport. Anyone who knows me also knows that 4 AM and I don't get along very well. Not even Frank does 4 AM well. We got to the hotel realizing that we had laptops and some carry-on toiletries but no change of clothes, overnight bags or whatever we would need to spend another night away. Oh well – not the worst thing in the world. The beds were very comfy.

So we got up at 4 AM, shuffled onto the shuttle bus got on the flight and arrived in Auckland at 5 PM the next day. Fortunately we had been able to contact the private shuttle service we'd arranged to get us from Auckland to the marina in Tauranga to let them know of our flight's delay. We were so happy to see the lady holding up the little sign with our names on it when we got through bio-security! Then she says to us "Hi! Welcome to New Zealand; I have good news and I have bad news". I hate it when someone starts out with that! Come on! We never did figure out what the good news was because all I heard was… "We are awaiting the arrival of another couple with whom you are sharing your ride and their flight is 2 ½ hours delayed – why don't you just find a nice bar somewhere and get comfy?" I can't even go into how unhappy I was with this announcement – so I won't. The short version: we got on board Destiny around 11:30 PM
on Feb 9th. We were so happy to be home we went straight to bed and slept for about 12 hours.

<br><br>www.frankandbarbgladney.com <br>while at sea: kd0cff@winlink.org (note:the sender <strong>must</strong> include the character sequence <strong>&quot;//WL2K</strong>&quot; in the subject line of the message.) <br>Skype ID: frank.barb.gladney

Arrived at GBI on Nov 25th.

The Maori name for GBI is Aotea (White Cloud).  It is home to vast beautiful beaches, diverse vegetation and wildlife, and a fisherman's paradise as well.  It is also (we were told) the only place to find the indigenous Brown Teal.  We arrived at Port Fitzroy in the early afternoon and were stunned at the panorama.  It is so pretty that we just could not take a decent photograph to do it justice, nor could we begin to describe the magnificence that we felt just looking up and around from our boat.  This anchorage is said to be the safest and most protected in all of NZ.  The guidebooks should also say the loveliest, but then again so are many others.   We rented a car the next day to explore the island.  We hiked up to the top to a place called Windy Canyon, which boasts brilliant panoramic vistas – all true! Then we hiked into the middle of the lower bush area to the natural hot springs.  We explored the island from end to end, and walked and oohed and aahed until we were spent.   That afternoon while returning to Destiny in our dinghy, our neighbors on Lady Leah waved us over.  These guys were 4 Kiwi buddies on their annual fishing trip, from Stillwater, just north of Auckland. They handed us a bag of fresh Snapper fillets and invited us over for cocktails.  I happily let Frank drop me off at Destiny with the fish and sent him back to Lady Leah to have some "guy time".  Frank and the boys (Scotty, Rod, Mike and Pete) became fast friends over the next couple of days.  We feasted on their fresh catches and had them over to Destiny for an evening.  Before we weighed anchor tohead into Auckland, they handed Frank a bottle of their homemade rum – called "Sump Oil" then  we all traded personal info and vowed to stay in touch.  The boys insisted that we come to visit their yacht club when we head back north in April.  We shall indeed. www.frankandbarbgladney.com while at sea: kd0cff@winlink.org (note:the sender must include the character sequence "//WL2K" in the subject line of the message.) Skype ID: frank.barb.gladney

Leaving Opua - filling in the gaps since November 2008

We had a wretched journey over to Whangaruru from Opua. It was like riding the mechanical bull at a CW bar in Texas. No rhythm to the waves and wind but it was worth the bucking we got on the way there. The bay was large and picturesque. So calm you could water ski there, with large mountaintop homes and little islands dotted throughout. We were just going to stay overnight and then move on to see some other anchorages but had heard a NZ weather forecast predicting an oncoming gale for the coastline with gusts of up to 50 knots. Although well protected and in excellent holding, we felt the rage of the storm around us for 2 days. Destiny twirled on her anchor and danced around but held tight. We sat right there through Tuesday AM, watching movies and reading books and just thanking God we weren't "out there"! Early Tuesday morning, the 25th, the wind and seas died down to a dead calm. We had a heck of a time getting the anchor unstuck from the mud in Whangaruru. Apparently there was so much rain that the run-off from land buried it quite deeply. Finally it loosened bringing up chunks of muddy bottom and away we went, heading to Great Barrier Island (GBI). www.frankandbarbgladney.com while at sea: kd0cff@winlink.org (note:the sender must include the character sequence "//WL2K" in the subject line of the message.) Skype ID: frank.barb.gladney

Auckland, NZ, November 28, 2008 – (Thursday, 27th in the USA – Happy Thanksgiving, America!)

Kia Ora! (Hello), from Aotearoa (New Zealand), which is Maori for "the land of the long white cloud".
We arrived at Opua in the Bay of Islands 17 days ago and the time has absolutely evaporated. Our checking-in process was less sacrificial and traumatic than we had been anticipating. Arriving at the Quarantine Dock, our engine's "reverse" gear went out of service. We could only go forward but thanks to the bow thruster were able to get tied up. We hadn't been at the Q-dock long before the Customs official arrived along with, Immigration, Bio-security and the drug-sniffing pup. All in all the staff were very friendly and hospitable toward us. They checked a few of our lockers and asked lots of questions and then in the end we lost some black-eyed peas and my lovely red coral. We were even given a welcome gift and an adorable woven tote. We know other boats who reported to us that their experience was not as smooth as ours. Some had their boats nearly taken apart – entirely searched and one having seat cushions ripped apart and so on, but not
the case for us. After clearing in we managed to get into an end berth with the aid of our friends from Charisma and BeBe, and then quickly got ourselves cleaned up in time to attend dinner at the Opua Cruising Club. The Club was hosting a week-long rally to welcome the many cruisers arriving this season. We missed the first day of the rally (free pizza!), but this night was all-you-can-stuff-yourself seafood. Oh my! We feasted on New Zealand Green Lip Mussels, plump oysters on the Barbie and so on and on. Every day and night through to the following Saturday was packed with dinners, shows and cultural events. One of our favorite evenings was an historical event at Waitangi, the site where the Maori people signed the treaty with England. The show was presented entirely by Maori descendents and depicted their history and the history of New Zealand's beginning, performed in both English and Maori. Saturday evening was the rally's finale dinner,
awards program and door prize drawing. We won second place for the largest fish caught during the passage. First place went to Steve on Orca III for a 7ft 9 inch Black Marlin. Unbelievable! Who says sailors can't fish!?!?

We rented a car and did some touring of the northern part of the North Island. Throughout all of our drives around we have found New Zealand so far to be magnificently and stunningly beautiful. The landscapes and vistas are intensely green with rolling hills, large ranches of cattle and sheep, abundant flowering trees and plants. We never tired of driving and looking. On Sunday we drove south to Whangarei (pronounced Fawn-gah-ray), to visit Jaime and Christine from Morning Light. They will stay in the Town Basin Marina there for the NZ summer season. Although Whangarei is on a river inland quite a way from the ocean, it reminded us of Annapolis along the waterfront. Nice town with great shopping, restaurants and ambience. Another day we took a drive northward through the wine country up to the town of Keri Keri, and did some grocery shopping at the big stores there. Another day we took the ferry to Russell with our friends Ken and Wendy from Cop
Out. Russell is home to quite a variety of artists so we browsed shops and strolled and ate and ate, then on the way back to the ferry stopped at the local oyster farm to buy fresh oysters. We went back to Ken and Wendy's boat and snarfed up the oysters wishing we'd bought more than 2 dozen.

While in Opua we frequented a local restaurant called the Blue Water Bar and Bistro. Rather than a bar and bistro this place is a gastronomic delight. Its Owner-Chef Mathew Lee and his wife Shana have done an incredible job of bringing top-rated gourmet fare to a little seaside village. The first time we dined there, Matthew came out of the kitchen to visit with us. We discovered that he is a finely trained chef who is willing to prepare special tasting menus on request. We told him that our friends Andy and Melissa would soon be arriving on their yacht Spectacle, and we wanted to plan a special dinner with them because they are our "food snob friends". Matthew was delighted and so we made the plan. Andy and Melissa were only in town for 2 nights before they were scheduled to catch their flight back to L.A., thus we spent both of those evenings with them eating our hearts out at Blue Water, closing the place down both nights. Matthew and Shana
treated us like VIP's and we showed our appreciation by spending like VIP's! On Saturday, Blue Water hosted a Texas BBQ and Blues night with NZ Blues Artist, Bullfrog Rata and his band The Undergators. Lots of our yachtie friends were there with us including Steve (Orca III) and Glen (TDM), who were encouraged to jam with the band. Steve on harmonica – he owns 33 of them – and Glen on his Sax. What a great night! We knew that this would be the finale for many of us as we began to depart for various other ports along and throughout NZ in the upcoming days and weeks. Frank and I left Opua on Tuesday to begin our journey down to Tauranga. Our first stop will be Whangaruru (Fawn-gah-roo-roo), then over to Great Barrier Island.

www.frankandbarbgladney.com
while at sea: kd0cff@winlink.org (note:the sender must include the character sequence "//WL2K" in the subject line of the message.)
Skype ID: frank.barb.gladney

We made it!

Tuesday, 11/11/08, after feeling as though we had been chewed up in a blender and spit right out of the mouth of Hell, we safely arrived in Opua, Bay of Islands, NZ. The Passage: After three days of motor sailing and having calm enough seas to even bake cookies, the winds began to freshen. We emailed some of our cruiser friends who were behind us telling them that we at last were getting some good winds and had a great day of sailing. On Saturday, by evening time the winds had built such that we were beginning to reef in the sails, and had in fact taken in the genoa and put out the stay sail (storm jib). Destiny doesn't usually get tossed around much especially when we (at 28 tons) are full of fuel and water, however, we felt the front squalls coming at around 10:00 Saturday night, and then by midnight I was sitting on the floor in the galley while things from shelves flew over my head. Our wind instruments were not functioning yet we knew for a fact that these were the worst winds we have ever encountered, and had to be well over the 40 knots forecasted in the weather routing update. We've been in 40 kts before and this felt far beyond that. Conditions worsened such that we were being literally thrown around as though in a blender. We dropped all the sails but could not hove-to because the seas would have put us under. We were getting waves all the way over the top of our bimini across the port beam and from behind flooding into the cockpit. We turned on the engine and ran with it praying for ourselves and for all of the others out there. We got the front, the middle and the back-end of the storm and felt like we were in a boiling cauldron for about 9 hours. We kept hoping the others were all either ahead of it or behind it. The dinghy took flight and started slamming all over the back of the boat. Next morning by the time the Net came on we were getting what we thought were the last of the squalls and felt as though we had been spit right out of the jaws of Hell! I am telling you there is power in prayer because miraculously all that we lost were the oars, our US Flag and some sleep. We had heard ungodly sounds in the night - like monsters banging the hull with battering rams, and Destiny groaned like nothing we have ever heard. She was telling us she did not like this one little bit but she took good care of us nonetheless. Our SSB went out right after the morning Net when I checked in saying that we had just gone through a big squall. We continued to experience a lot of them, marching all around us, seas constantly washing over the top. We kept calling for radio checks on the VHF and SSB but no one could hear us. We knew that the others in the group and folks back home would be getting concerned yet we also knew there wasn't a thing to be done about that until we made landfall. We both felt a surreal sense of calm within, knowing that we and our beloved Destiny would survive this. But we were truly bordering on sleep deprivation and physical exhaustion. There was hardly a place to sit or lay without getting pitched about, and after several days it takes quite a toll on a body. Amazingly neither of us became nauseated or sea sick. We just stepped around all of the "stuff" that had spewed all over the place realizing that making an effort to tidy up would be an extreme exercise in futility. On Monday the winds began to settle down to around 25 knots (we think). The seas continued to chop and slam us, however gave us enough reprieve that we began taking 3 hour shifts at sleeping on the settee in the saloon. Tuesday arrived and we knew we would be in Opua, NZ by the afternoon. We began hailing the port on the VHF and were able to get enough static communication going to announce our imminent arrival. They actually responded with joy telling us that a lot of folks were worried about Destiny and had been inquiring about our whereabouts and safety. What a feeling of relief…for us all. http://www.frankandbarbgladney.com/ while at sea: kd0cff@winlink.org (note:the sender must include the character sequence "//WL2K" in the subject line of the message.) Skype ID: frank.barb.gladney

Anchors Aweigh!

November 4th, Tuesday morning, we left Tonga with an armada of friends; Morning Light (ML), The Dorothy Marie (TDM), Orca III, Baraka, Warm Rain, Tokete and Elusive. Charimsa, Syren, Malachi, O'Vive, Mamacocha, Upps, Bebe, Don Pedro and Morning Star had left within 48 hours prior to our departure. Many of us had subscribed to a fee based personalized routing service which, depending on your boat size, hull configuration and average speed, spits out a recommended departure date and a customized
route with waypoints and arrival times for each. The report is very detailed and can also give projected sea states including wave heights and intervals, wind direction and speed and forecasted weather patterns. Many of us got together to share and compare reports, to set up SSB Nets (on air check-ins) and times for communications so that everyone is accountable and will be accounted for along the way. We are armed for battle at sea! And we pray that we are over prepared.

Tuesday's journey was very smooth with little wind but we had plenty of fuel for motor-sailing. Early in the day (our Tuesday, USA's Monday), we phoned Mary, Frank's sis to wish her Happy Birthday. We also called our parents to let them know we were headed out. I phoned my daughter and sis, but all we got were voicemail machines so we quit calling and got down to business. We threw out a hand line for some fishing and in the early afternoon, hooked a 53.5" Mahi Mahi. Frank actually strained under
its weight as he hefted it for me to snap a photo of our fine catch. These fish are truly magnificent, and as they die their skin transforms into a myriad of colors, which is sadly beautiful to watch. We thought of the pre-prepared meals in the freezer and happily opted to forego my prior efforts in favor of a fresh fish feast this night. We managed to freeze a large portion of the remainder which may be disposed of by NZ officials. We'll see what happens when we get there.

Wednesday was a perfect sailing day. We had giant, gentle rollers and fair winds with crystal clear blue skies, occasionally dusted with clouds. The temperature is cooling down as we head further south giving us a nice crisp Colorado Springtime kind of day. During mid-day we had a flyover from the NZ Air Force. We had heard them hailing one of the other boats over the VHF earlier. Now it was our turn. They have camera equipment on board that I wish I had because the jet approached us from behind
and after swiftly passing over head, called us by name on channel "16", asking us to go to channel "06". Frank answered various questions, such as last port of departure, intended destination, name of the Captain, # of persons on board, boat registration, do we have any weapons on board?, do we have any pets on board? When do we plan to arrive? Have we filed arrival notice paperwork with NZ authorities, etc…? Then they wished us safe passage and disappeared as in a flash (just as they had arrived).
Some 5 minutes later we heard them hailing Morning Light, and so on until they had contacted probably each boat out here. We felt comforted knowing that they were watching out for us. In the afternoon we got news via the Yachtie Grapevine that Obama had won the Presidential election.
Wednesday evening thunderheads began building as we reefed in sails and braced ourselves for a rocky, squally night. The discomfort of the rolling and pitching wasn't as bad as the fear of a lightning strike. During my watches I had difficulty enjoying the light show, thinking of the others we know who had gone before us, sustaining either direct hits or strikes into the ocean nearby, causing no small amount of damage to electronics on board. My mind raced to the laptop, the Sat Phone, the I-Pod
and all of our radio equipment as I prayed for safe passage. We made it through safely.

Last Tango in Tonga...

Boo! October 31, 2008 - Happy Halloween! Friday, Frank went into town to check us out of Tonga and I got busy scrubbing lockers and arranging the boat for the passage, which required inventorying goods and listing those which must be declared and setting aside those items that we know will be confiscated in NZ (which I gave to Big Mama). We spent the day getting a jump on the preparations for leaving Tonga the following Monday or Tuesday, whichever day would prove to be the best departure date for
us. Friday afternoon at Big Mama's the festivities began at around 3 PM with games, then Happy Hour from 6-7 PM, followed by dinner. During our girls' shopping day we ladies of the Flying Foxes group had opted to wear large gregarious hats, flowered lei's, glittery masks and colorful pareas. We picked up costumes for our guys as well; I had gotten Frank some toy guns that shoot suction darts, a glow-in-the-dark head band thing and a lei to match one of his flowery shirts ("Book'em, Danno!").
We had chores to do so we opted out of the games but got decked out, dressed up and ready to head in for the evening activities and dinner. Unfortunately a thunderstorm blew in kicking up high winds, driving rain, some lightening and churning waters. We did not feel comfortable leaving the boat, nor did we want to make the drenching dinghy ride into shore. We kept waiting thinking that the storm would blow over as quickly as it had appeared. We witnessed a few other boats dragging and re-anchoring.
Many families sent one parent in with the kids, leaving an adult on board to watch their boats. We never made it in, but we did open up our water tank inlets and managed to top off our fresh water tanks from the downpour that lasted for a few hours. Instead of games & dinner on shore, we settled for junk food and a game of Scrabble for our Halloween activity.

Saturday was a beautiful day. We resumed our cleaning and preparatory activities, which for Frank was cleaning the boat bottom and changing zincs and for me it meant baking and preparing passage meals and securing items inside for the trip. That night at Big Mama's was a birthday party for both her husband, Earl and for her son, Andrew. She was providing a Tongan feast and entertainment, and had invited every one of the yachts in the anchorage. What a party it was! Music was provided by a local
band, comprised of Tongan policemen and two of our very own cruisers, Steve from Orca III played harmonica and Glen form The Dorothy Marie brought his saxophone. The music was unbelievably good! Earl and his son were dressed in the most beautiful traditional and festive Tongan attire, and sat in a very special place of honor. Tables were set up throughout for dining, family-style. The buffet feast was simply incredible. There was a whole roasted pig, seafood, local dishes, which included seaweed
with coconut, taro root, tapioca, clams, and many dishes we could not identify but ate anyway. We all danced the night away and left very late and very happy. Sunday was our day of R & R.

On Monday, 8 of us from our little group of cruisers went into Nuku'alofa to meet Malaia and Sio for a tour of the island. Sio is Big Mama's Uncle and Malaia her best friend, who is engaged to Sio. Out of the goodness of their hearts they took an entire day off work to chauffer us around their island showing us everything they could in one day. We traveled the entire big island from the Palace to the Blow Holes, the "Arch" and the Caves. We got a history lesson not only of the Tongan people but
also of their culture, the wars and struggles that have made Tonga what she is today. Sio is a widower with 11 children and proudly told us that all of his daughters have been Miss Tonga. One of them is currently a model and is The Face of Tonga on Coca Cola and Digicel ads here and in Fiji, in fact we saw her on billboards throughout the island. Malaia actually just moved back to Tonga in 2002 from Portland, OR, where she went to college, married, had children and lived for many years. Tonga
and the friendships we have forged here have left indelible imprints on our hearts. We left Malaia and Sio with a promise to see them again, and with a personal invitation to their wedding next year in Nuku'alofa.

Monday night we spent a subdued final evening at Big Mama's, feasting on her outrageously delectable hamburgers, signed a coconut which is hanging on a post there and bid a very fond farewell to her and her precious family, staff and friends. "Graduation Night", as Frank calls it; time to move on to another place and chapter in our lives. And as he also says: "Tomorrow we ride, Muchachos!" Onward to New Zealand we go. We have our weather window and our personal routing from Bob McDavitt at Met
Service in NZ. If the journey of 1000 miles begins with one step, what does the journey of 1100 miles over the ocean begin with? A prayer. We'll take 'em, if you got 'em!

Standing by...

The yachts are gathering here for the jump to NZ. At least those who did not decide to leave from Fiji or Vava'u. Because Tongatapu is the southernmost island group of Tonga many yachts have chosen to depart from here. It is once again a mini reunion. We are being joined by many old and new friends. Big Mama's is the perfect gathering place. It is so cozy many of us wish we didn't have to leave. She has everything to keep us here. Great food, a grand deck covered with picnic tables, a homey
lounge area, a sand floor restaurant, pool table, dart boards, gift shop, nice large dinghy dock and a lovely beach area. Yet we are ready for a little more civilization after 8 months of learning to go without our favorite creature comforts, we feel no guilt whatsoever about wishing to indulge ourselves once again.

So,Tuesday (Oct 28th ) arrived - fill-up day! Here in Nuku'alofa, the fueling process is onerous if one needs less than 1,000 gallons because there is no fuel dock at the wharf. BP will either bring a fuel truck for large yachts or 200 litre barrels for those of us with smaller tanks. Destiny carries 300 US gallons of diesel and our tanks were nearly empty, therefore, we had paid for and ordered 5 barrels. Each of the other boats filling up with us ordered 2 barrels. We have learned from helping
others to fill up that the process for refueling runs something like this: a) Your yacht MUST be on time or you do not get your fuel (remember it is already paid for), b) you should have someone on shore to catch your lines because of the strong current at the wharf, c) you must bring your own fuel hose (which we do not have), d) the attendant may or may not stick around to assist you in the fueling process, and e) the attendant may or may not leave you the tools to open the barrels and a pump with
which to pump out the fuel from the barrel. If one needed less than an entire barrel, well good luck! Some of the boats in our little group did not need an entire barrel so they made arrangements to send the rest of us with their jerry cans to fill from our "leftovers". The arrangements we made: Dawn and Tom from Warm Rain gave us their jerry cans and then took the ferry over to the wharf to be in position to grab our lines. Jan and Dave from Baraka brought their jerry cans and rode over with
us to the wharf. We weighed anchor at 8:00 AM, heading toward the wharf. Dawn and Tom arrived to find that a large commercial fishing boat was in our designated spot and intended to begin offloading their catch at 9:00, finishing up around 11-ish. They kindly offered for us to raft up to them. No way, no how! First of all their craft looked like a rusting, hulking rat/roach infested creature from a horror movie and secondly even if we were desperate enough to accept their offer the fuel hose
we had borrowed only reached 25ft. which was far too short to accomplish a raft-up. We sat anchored outside the breakwater, praying that the flatbed carrying our barrels would not leave us in the lurch. While waiting there, other boats began arriving and circling for entry to the wharf. Malachi and O'Vive arrived telling us that BP had given them a fueling time of 10:00. OK, so now we had at least 5 boats assigned the same time slot for fueling and there is no way any of us will be able to do
a thing until the fishing boat moves. "God grant me the serenity…" We radioed Tom and asked him to Pleeease ask the fishing boat to move. We do not know what he and Dawn said to the guys, but they agreed to move to another spot on the wharf. It was now 9:15, and we saw our truck coming. We hurriedly raised anchor again and motored over to the wharf to find that the truck with our barrels went to the other side of the jetty! We secured Destiny's lines and began waving furiously at the fuel guy.
He eventually came over, unloaded our group's 9 barrels and then immediately left. He left us with no pump, no tools. We again waved furiously at him to bring these things back to us. He seemed to acknowledge us but never came back. Frank, Tom and Dave began tinkering with the barrels and digging out tools and scratching their heads. After about 20 minutes (it is now 10:00), a very kind man from a large vessel came over with his hand pump and offered to assist us. After watching and chuckling
for a while as the guys alternately manned the crank, he said "Here, Let me do that!" What a saint! We filled Destiny's tanks by 11:30 AM with plenty left for Baraka and Warm Rain to top off their jerry cans, then moved out of the way for the next group. It would be a long day indeed for some of them.

Thursday was girls day out. A group of us comprised of seven boats (Charisma, Morning Light, Baraka, Warm Rain, Bold Spirit, the Dorothy Marie and Destiny) have all linked up here in Tonga becoming quite a cohesive group and have thus given ourselves the name "Flying Foxes", commemorating the indigenous bats that are a bit of an icon here. We love to shop but the guys do not thus we decided to have some time away from the men so that we could lunch, browse and shop in peace. We did all of the above,
hitting Friends café, the open air market, the grocery store, and of course the ice cream parlor. We all picked up bits and pieces of Halloween costumes for big Mama's party on Friday night, returned to Pangaimotu to find many more yachts in the anchorage with several still arriving. Some limping back in after having already left for New Zealand only to get ravaged by a sudden gale that one cruiser told us came out of nowhere, not even showing up on the radar. He said that he had been motoring
and had just put up the sails when the winds gathered to 15 kts., then they raged up to 40 kts like the flip of a light switch. Several of them sustained damage ranging from moderate to severe.

Anxiety, therefore, leads the parade of emotions marching around in our hearts and minds. This is not the longest voyage we have made, yet it is known to be the most frightening and quite possibly the most dangerous to date. It is approximately 1100 nautical miles from Tongatapu to Opua in NZ, where they are just coming out of their winter and Tonga is just coming into Cyclone season (Nov 1). We have heard of many yachts getting caught in gales, ripping sails, breaking vangs, cracking booms and
sustaining knockdowns. The problem is that no matter how you plan ahead, the weather gurus in New Zealand warn us that we will most assuredly encounter inclement weather somewhere along the passage because of the high and low pressure zones converging in the area between here and there on an average of once per week. The passage will last us anywhere from 8-10 days. We have met several women who have decided to fly to NZ from here, leaving their husbands to take on crew to make this particular
journey without them. Not one person we have met is eager to make this leg by boat but many of us are remaining hopeful and positive that we will arrive safely.

Nearing the end of our time in Tonga

October 23rd we arrived at Malinoa Island in the Tongatapu group. We had read in the cruising guide that this was an island not to miss because of its natural beauty. It was lovely and the water surrounding it was awash in alternating brilliant and pale shades of blue, dotted with coral. Frank, Christine, Sally, Glen and I dinghyed to shore for a little excursion. We walked the beach chatting and picking up shells, and before we knew it the guys had gone on ahead so we girls continued leisurely
strolling along, scanning the water's edge for precious gems. We eventually looked up to discover that we had walked the entire periphery of the island and had arrived back at the dingy. It was not a very large island after all. We spent just one night at Malinoa and in the early morning made our way over to Big Mama's at Pangaimotu Island. It is but a ferry ride from here to the Capital city of Nuku'alofa. There are a few places to "Med Moor" along the wharf in town but it is filthy, rat & bug
infested and not a good place to make water. Several boats opt for the wharf because it is certainly easier to get to town but it is not for us.

Big Mama's is a small resort with a very good restaurant and lots of amenities. There isn't internet; well, there kind of is for those who want to use Big Mama's only computer but it is very expensive and you are vying for time against some 30 other yachts. Big Mama's husband, Earl provides the shuttle service to town, arranges laundry services (prices still too outrageous to ponder), trash removal, and activities for us. We arrived on Friday, October 24th. Big Mama's was abuzz with activity.
She made an announcement that Friday was game day (competition), ending with Happy Hour at 6, followed by a buffet feast for the very affordable sum of 20 Pa'anga per person. The exchange rate is very good for us right now giving us about a 50% discount. We would have loved to participate in the games but we had to first take care of business. We took the shuttle to the town wharf along with several others, and then walked first to customs to get checked in. The line was long so we decided to
forego that process until Monday and instead headed off to DHL to pick up our long awaited deliveries. Thank goodness our bearings for the main sail had arrived as had the "loaner" Sat phone. (We had sent our NEW Iridium Satellite phone back with the Martins in July for repairs.) The Sat Phone Store, who is allegedly repairing ours, seems to have misplaced it. Now logic would dictate that they just send us a new one, right? No. They sent a rental to my brother, and in his name, which we may
borrow until ours is located and repaired. As my daughter would say: "Whatever!". We now have a working Sat Phone! Of course, we paid duty on our deliveries and had to sign lots of papers, present lots of documents, ID's and wait for Customs to clear the items so we killed time for a couple of hours in a local Pub while waiting for clearance. After a couple of hours we picked up our stuff from DHL,then returned to Big Mama's to join the festivities on shore. The buffet dinner was very good and
quite varied. Prizes were awarded to those who had participated in the afternoon games and a good time was had by all.

On Saturday there was another hoopla at Big Mama's...a bring your own meat for us to cook and we provide the accompaniments for only $10 (Tongan). We scrambled to shore to buy some chicken to take, visited the downtown area and browsed through the open air market. My daughter and her sisters would have loved that market! The bargains are to be had here in Nuku'alofa. Frank and I then went in search of internet. We didn't carry our laptop because that would have been quite a long haul. The walk
to town from the wharf is a couple of miles. We found there is internet here, ranging from $8/hr to $3/hr. The first stop we made was the pricey one and the slowest. I managed to log onto Yahoo!, read 5 emails and before I could reply to any my time was done. We desperately needed to do banking and bill paying so we traversed the town seeking decent internet, finally stumbling upon Friends Coffee Shop and Café that offered not only an excellent lunch but internet access for only $5.50/hr. We took
care of online business and then left emails alone. We can do that from the SSB on Destiny. In fact that is how we update the website, via an email sent over HAM radio frequencies to our blogs.

Sunday I spent the entire day baking bread and other goodies to freeze for our passage. I am learning to do things I never intended to make a habit of or into a hobby for that matter. I now bake bread, muffins, cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls and buns from scratch. Half the time the yeast is good and half the time I must toss it. I have been fortunate so far in that none of my flour has been infested with weevils or worms. We did have some garlic pepper develop living things inside but that
is the extent of our creepy crawlies in the galley. We still get random visits from ants but nothing has hatched onboard as far as we know. Frank worked on "guy boat stuff" and we stayed on board to watch probably one of the worst movies we have ever seen - Cloverfield. It is a good thing we bought it in Tonga for only $3 pa'anga! By the way, this movie thing is a hoot! The Chinese stores sell them. We thought at first we had hit the jackpot! But soon discovered that these are bootlegged DVD's.
Some of them are still relatively new, such as Dark Knight. In fact we purchased that one and cracked up watching it while on the movie itself we could hear gasps and laughter and people eating, and then bodies would get up and walk in front of the "camera". The quality was so very poor that we eventually realized someone had gone to the movie with a video camera and videoed it from his seat! In fact he was rude enough to "pause" it when he got up to go for snacks and to use the men's room.
Hence we really have no idea what happened in the movie because it was stopped and started so many times. We ended up throwing away about half of the ones we bought. The ones that weren't videoed in the movie theater were obvious illegal copies having words written all across the top and bottom, such as "premier only not legal for sale or rental", or blurred spaces across the bottom of each frame that was someone's bad attempt at dubbing over the words of warning. Bad, bad, bad! Cheap entertainment,
nonetheless.

Monday we did the check-in dance. The Tongans enjoy sending us back and forth to the same offices telling us that we are in the wrong place. If we drew a diagram of where we went to get our fuel permits and papers stamped it would look like a bowl of spaghetti! 3½ hours after we began we finally had gotten checked in and had ordered and paid for 200 gallons of diesel, which we were told would be delivered in 55 gallon drums to the fuel dock at 9:00 AM the following morning. In fact, Morning Light
and The Dorothy Marie were also slotted for the same time frame, from 9-noon. This would be interesting and another new adventure for Destiny.