Hunga Lagoon

Hunga Vicinity

A few days back in Neafu to re-provision and get some things done. We had been told that Philip at Vava'U Canvas Repair did good work so we brought in the sail cover and the dodger for fixing. He did an excellent job and we had our covers back on the boat within a day. Ian at Trouble in Paradise also had a good reputation when it came to fixing outboards. The Suzuki that we bought in Bora Bora has been running well but the repairs on the Yamaha did not fix our problem. Ian was able to get it running for a very small fee so we had to go and pick that up. 

I had some hanging baskets made by one of the local artisans and they were also ready for pick up. So no more rusty copper hanging baskets! Bearta did a wonderful job!  A souvenir from Tonga.

Then it was over to the market for more fruit and vegetables. Tropicana for whole wheat bread. And the the Chinese grocery store for beer, wine and the rest of the groceries.

David made several trips over to the dock at Aquarium to get water to fill up our holding tanks. 

Patricia, from Nauti Nauti had returned from Wisconsin so a couple of days were spent welcoming her back. I made dinner on Confidence one night - Thai Green Chicken Curry and Phad Thai. The next night we went over to their boat, along with a Canadian couple from Toronto for happy hour and the sharing of many more stories!

But after four days in town I was starting to get antsy. Time to get back out to the quiet anchorages where I could go swimming!

We only made it as far as Port Maurelle which is only  an hour away but one of our favorite anchorages. We spent a couple of days doing boat chores - you will never hear me complain about doing chores in a setting like this. I cleaned the decks while David cleaned the cockpit. David stripped two of the dorade boxes and refinished them. They look beautiful. 

And then there is my endless job of keeping the salt off the stainless and making it all shiny. With lots of breaks in between to go swimming and snorkeling. Boat maintenance in exotic places! The definition of cruising - and I love it! We finished the last evening with a big bonfire on the beach with fellow boaters - some we knew - some we just met. Lovely evening with the sun setting in the bay!

On Wednesday we pulled up anchor with some careful maneuvering around the coral heads. We are headed to Hunga Haven and the location of a very protected lagoon formed by a volcanic crater. 

We had to time our entrance for higher tide but decided to leave early and do some whale watching. I sat at the bow with my GoPro all powered and ready to go. Nothing seen after 1 hour so I decided to go down below and make preparations for lunch - Gazpacho with crackers and cheese and Danish salami. I was in the idle of the preparations when David yells out - whales breaching just north of us. Of course by the time I get the camera and am back at the bow the whales are no where to be seen. Maybe I will get lucky on the return trip.

Hunga lagoon lies on the western border of Vava'U. 

There are three small outlets from the lagoon out to the open ocean. One can be traversed by dinghy, one is impassable and one has been dynamited to provide access to the lagoon.

This outlet is very narrow with a pinnacle rock just off center. 

The channel is only 35 meters wide and 2 meters or 6 feet at low tide.  Remember that our boat requires 2 meters plus so we had to wait for a medium to high tide. We traversed with 4 feet under the keel - not a lot of room to spare. 

There is a reef just inside but one can maneuver around that by steering 115*M.  There are three mooring balls at Hunga Haven on the opposite side of the lagoon. We had reserved one for the next couple of nights at $15 US.

Barry and Cindy (the proprietors) were quite excited when they saw our boat name and Canadian flag from their deck as they are also from Victoria. She actually grew up in New Liskard - we figured I was probably one of the few people that she had met who actually knew where that was - having lived in Timmins and Cochrane in Northern Ontario!

The snorkeling right around the boat was like a bunch of mini aquariums. We took the dinghy through the other pass the following day into Blue lagoon. This is a beautiful anchorage. I will let the pictures tell the story. We might just hang out here after checking out of Neafu to wait for our weather window on our way to the southern islands in Tonga which are on our way to New Zealand.

This was a very lovely couple of days with perfect weather, white sandy beaches, warm crystal clear water and good company - as Nauti Nauti were beside us.

Tomorrow it is back to Neafu to fill up the freezer and cupboards again!

 

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