Thursday, October 16, 2008

On the move!

The turkey was great! We had five good nights in the lagoon of Hunga Island, got to know one of the locals, and met the schoolteacher and many primary school children who knocked fresh mangoes out of the trees for us to eat!
But we have checked out of the Vava'u Group of Tonga and plan to jump the 165 miles directly down to Nukualofa, the capital of Tonga. We are preparing to go to sea again after almost two and a half months in Vava'u. Nukualofa will be the last stop before NZ. So I am busy studying the weather patterns down south and they can be very interesting! As the stormy season comes to a close in NZ, the typhoon season begins in Tonga and we will try to time it to avoid the worst of both! There is lots
of weather information available fortunately and many other boats planning the crossing. The only concern is that once you set out on the ten day (for us anyway) passage, the situation can change in NZ when you are half way there. So the strategy is to pick the most favourable conditions and then pray!
Meanwhile the weather up here has been stable and the forecast is good for our passage down to Nukualofa. If I get a chance, I will submit a position report!

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