Vava’u- Social and Sailing Week

Arrival

We arrived first thing in the morning everything was quiet and still. We had to wait for another yacht to clear with customs before we could go onto the fisherman’s wharf. The entry procedure was easy and relaxed. The paper work, the rubbish had been taken away, we had treated the officials to some ginger crunch we were ready for a nap.

We anchored further up the bay because there were no moorings. Hew, and I had a rest while the girls got changed and took off to socialise. They also needed to sort out what was happening with the sailing week and register us. They came back with all the info after having had a few drinks at the bar.

Meanwhile James went for a run as an escape from being caged up on the boat with the girls for a week. He is also training for a marathon in November. Being at sea is not great for this!

There were many dinners and cocktail events and also talks but we wanted to do a few other activities as well because both girls had to go at the end of the week. Then we found out that there were no flights for five days at the end of the week due to the aircraft going into maintenance on the Friday and not back until the following Wednesday. Therefore James also had to leave earlier than planned.

The first night in we all went to dinner at Mangos the local yachty bar owned by a local who is a Cathay Pacific pilot.

Caves

The next day we were off to have a look around at a couple of the anchorage’s and the caves. The first cave was Mariners where you had to dive down to get into it . Hew, James and I explored that one while Deb and Pauline looked after the yacht. There is no where to anchor near these caves so the yacht just had to hover around.

The next one was the Swallows cave and Hew looked after the yacht while the rest of us snorkelled into it. This cave was very disappointing compared to the last time I had been here. Graffiti all over the walls and not birds or bats or fish. Though there were plenty of fish outside and slightly further along the coast.

The third cave was just a little up the coast and a smaller but much prettier cave

A video of the caves: https://youtu.be/SWc5F9B9-8I?si=NH4ZD20lHPlcxAmh

Port Maurelle

We anchored for the night at a lovely bay called Port Maurelle and the paddle board came out. Barb went for a paddle, then Debbie and https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBSuo90vPm1/?igsh=MWVyZnY1NnFxZnVmNA== and the next day James took it for a long paddle all the way down the coast.

Sailing Week and socialising

Debbie and Pauline made the most of the bars and restaurants – checking them all out for us. They started with Bears floating Bar – The Hideaway – serving margaritas, beers and fish and chips.

The Wednesday Race

The main event of the week is a social race on the Wednesday. We of course had to enter and invited 4 additional crew, Peter off S/V Yellow, Sunny and Canute from “La Kahina” and Kara from Whangārei Marina. We had a lot of fun but it was not uneventful.

After the briefing At Mango cafe, the race started when the traditional local Tongan yacht passed in front of the bar, and off we went in the dingys to the yachts.

We were third around the first mark in the channel, raised the spinnaker and it all looked good.

Soon the yacht in front of us broached in a gust and we decided to lower our spinnaker before we hit the same patch of water.

All was going well. We were starting to catch the boats in front with the code zero out then we hit a calm patch. The Code 0 back winded on the spreaders and ripped a hole.

Down came the code zero and out went the genoa.

Our mates in Soul were hot on our heels as was another large monohull Hassebas. Some of the crew were down stairs mending the code zero with sticky back tape. We headed for the bottom mark and island. Repairs completed and with slick crew work the sail was re-hoisted before we reached the mark

We were holding our own on the inside for a port rounding of the island, metres from the lay line the starboard sheet was winched on a touch with the electric winch and suddenly bang – the sheet broke. We immediately tacked over to the on to port and there still seemed to be just enough room to clear the island when the port sheet also broke – our electric winches are very powerful! With the genoa flapping in the breeze we started the engines to ensure we cleared the reef off the island while our two competitors pass us wondering what we were up to.

Deploying the now repaired code zero we were back chasing the others but struggling for height. James climbed up the forestay to attach new sheets to the genoa and we were back racing. It’s good to have the young and fit onboard. However by now the other boats were well ahead and we sailed on our own to the finish which required a crew member to go ashore at Mangos and register.

As we approached Mangos restaurant instead of launching the dinghy James did a lovely swan dive off the bow and swam in for us to register a finish.

In the end we were 4th over the line and the 3rd catamaran and somehow managed to pick up a voucher for 2 loads of washing at Bubbles laundromat – perfect for washing bedding etc for departing crew.

There are lots more photographs of all the activities on the Vava’u Sailing week facebook site. https://www.facebook.com/VavauSailingFestival

Quiz night at Kraaken

The Quiz night was run by Whangārei and Opua Marinas , and was a lot of fun. We won a voucher from the Kraken Restaurant which Hew and I duly enjoyed later in the week. By the end of the night Pauline and Deb were so happy they were beside themselves!!

Swimming with the whales

Although there were many activities on the race week we decided that we had to go whale watching while we were in Vava’u. We went out with David Lino from Beluga Dive who also run the moorings near their base. The experience was brilliant here are some stills from our adventure with a mother and calf.

We were in the water 4 at a time with a guide and just cruised on the surface allowing the whales to come to us. The calf would surface for air every 5-7 minutes and the mother would come up every 15-20 minutes. They became used to us and the calf became inquisitive and the mother relaxed and was happy for us to be nearby – a fabulous experience.

Back to Civilisation for the two Trollops

On Thursday all three of the crew had to leave to get back to NZ for the following week. Debbie and Pauline took off early to spend a day in Nukualofa, James waited for the late flight relaxing and enjoying the peace on the yacht.

It was a great three weeks and we really enjoyed the hectic schedule, but when they were gone we could finally relax.The first time on the boat without guests and crew since Martinique in April.