Playing on the Deck
Feeding a Shark
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Monday, November 3, 2014
Tonga Stop Over -
We have a great cyclone hole here, and have arranged for a mooring with 10 tons of concrete on the bottom. Now we are exploring the beautiful islands of the Vavau group. Once again the people are super friendly, and most of them speak some/perfect English. The water is warm and clear, and the coral is beautiful.
We have a wonderful island all to ourselves with no flies, and plenty of firewood. We had our fist bonfire with marshmallows yesterday. Vitality is now swimming some these days, so at least she can swim back to shore when the wave tries to pull her off the beach. Valiant is still a sinker, and is careful to always stay close to someone who can pull him out of the water if the need arises.
Since we are planning on staying here until April timeframe I went ahead and registered the motorcycle here in Tonga. Fairly simple to do and only $70 for a year! We are slowly getting a collection of license plates and driver’s licenses. Cassidy got her first license in Aitutaki and her official (good in New Zealand) license in Niue!!
Exploring the island by motorcycle is wonderful and very pleasant. We even used it to get the boxes for Intrepid's Halloween outfit. Shannon on the back of the motorcycle with a roll of linoleum under her bottom, and sticking out a couple of feet on each side, and both her arms filled with empty cardboard boxes sticking out in every direction. But it was all worth it as Intrepid won the prize for the best costume!
Courage
We have a wonderful island all to ourselves with no flies, and plenty of firewood. We had our fist bonfire with marshmallows yesterday. Vitality is now swimming some these days, so at least she can swim back to shore when the wave tries to pull her off the beach. Valiant is still a sinker, and is careful to always stay close to someone who can pull him out of the water if the need arises.
Since we are planning on staying here until April timeframe I went ahead and registered the motorcycle here in Tonga. Fairly simple to do and only $70 for a year! We are slowly getting a collection of license plates and driver’s licenses. Cassidy got her first license in Aitutaki and her official (good in New Zealand) license in Niue!!
Exploring the island by motorcycle is wonderful and very pleasant. We even used it to get the boxes for Intrepid's Halloween outfit. Shannon on the back of the motorcycle with a roll of linoleum under her bottom, and sticking out a couple of feet on each side, and both her arms filled with empty cardboard boxes sticking out in every direction. But it was all worth it as Intrepid won the prize for the best costume!
Courage
Tonga -
We arrived in Tonga on the 28th. Having crossed the date line and never really knowing the days of the week anyway really confused us for days. We got the dates pretty quick, but it wasn't until the 31st that we learned that it was Friday, not Saturday as we thought. So, we'd heard to hit the fresh fruit market Saturday at 10 am to get the deals as they liquidate the ripe stuff rather than take it home for the weekend. We hit it Friday morning and didn't notice any deals going on?? Friday night we learned that it was still Friday (not Saturday as we thought), so the next morning we hit the market again, and sure enough, the ladies were both making deals and gifting the children the very ripe fruits. We really loaded up since we were going to head out that afternoon to the islands.
We are very happy to have chosen Tonga for cyclone season. The bay is very protected from winds (there were none! Sometimes a breeze through the hatches helps on a warm, humid day). The moorings are serious with thick polypropylene rope and concrete foundations. They are down on tourism this year and willing to make deals on the moorings for long-term rates. The town is nice.
Definitely poor, run down houses, sadly garbage on the side of the roads (which we have not seen in quite a long time, the last significant time was in Panama). But the people are typically nicely dressed in long traditional skirts and men wear long straight "skirts" type things. They are very friendly and helpful, although sometimes seem a bit shy. The women love the children, so the kids are blending in everywhere and making friends.
The shopping has been a relief! Finally! There's a big market where farmers sell their fruits and veggies every day (except Saturday afternoon and Sundays). Bananas, papayas ($.60 US), small watermelon ($2.50), 3 pineapples ($2.50), cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, apples, bell peppers . . . We haven't had this variety and this low of prices in such a long time!! And finally, fresh eggs!! Not imported from New Zealand, so weeks old at best. There's a family with stacks and stacks of eggs, I asked if they were local, they said yes, all from their family! I said you must have a LOT of chickens, and she laughed and said yes they do. I can only imagine! Every day they have huge stacks of eggs, every day I see lots of people buying those eggs. And they are $8. US for 30, finally down from $.50 to $1 per egg from French Polynesia through the Cooks and Niue. Besides this exciting market, another cruiser showed us a farm up the hill where they say you can get anything fresh picked that you want and they claimed that it was a quarter the prices of the fresh market. We went by, but it was closed. Beautifully laid out greenhouses and it benefits a "Youth Congress". Definitely going to hit it up next week!!!! The grocery stores have more than I expected, a few canned veggies, spaghetti sauce, flour, sugar, butter, rice, a few noodles, some random meat cuts, chips, cookies, etc. Not everything I could hope for, but definitely workable!! Not going to find oats, brown rice, quinoa, corn flour, and other specialty items.
I heard from another boat that they ran out of butter in town and were out for weeks, so you have to plan ahead a little bit or do without. Also prices go up as the town runs out of things, so don't count on steady pricing. Also heard that some prices change as you hit the register if you aren't local. I've been watching at the stores I go to and it seems to be holding with advertised prices.
We got the motorcycle registered, so it's legal and everything. We've been out exploring. Found a hardware store where we can get some lumber for the cockpit and got some cheap linoleum for the torn up stuff in the cockpit, which I've wanted since well before French Polynesia and couldn't find. So we're finding little things we haven't in months, prices are much better, we are official with our transportation, people are friendly, anchorage is very flat and protected, and we are eating fresh. It's all looking good.
We went to a Halloween party at a Cafe that overlooks the anchorage and met some local kids, most of whom are expatriates and great contacts! The kids had a great time; Intrepid won best kid's costume and a free pizza for the family. We found a locals restaurant where I had chicken curry and rice for $2.50 US!! How can you beat that??? Then Courage ordered a jug of juice. When they brought it out it was bright orange, he asked what juice it was, and she answered, "Juice of Tang." Ohhhh. But it was great as we were quite thirsty.
We are now out at the islands, currently Ovalau, where I imagine we'll spend a lot of time. Lovely soft white sand beach, no one here, protected from the normal trade winds, and covered in shells and coconuts. We had a nice campfire last night with marshmallows. We haven't been able to do that for months!
Finally getting a little isolated again! We stopped at Swallow's Cave on the way here, which you can take your dinghy in it's so big! Gorgeous deep waters below it and just amazing walls (other than the unfortunate graffiti) with lots of birds (not bats) flying around in it. There's another cave, Mariner's Cave, that you have to dive down and swim through a tunnel to get into it. Sounds a little concerning, but we've met other boats that have done it and indicate while intimidating, it's not terrible. Sounds also like a really cool experience!!! So we have to find it also!
There are many little islands, and lots of snorkeling and white sandy beaches within eyesight and within 2 hours of our "hurricane hole" making it possible to explore and live life and enjoy, while retreating and hunkering down quickly with any indication of incoming weather. So, with affordable pricing, gorgeous outlying islands, fresh foods, caves to explore and things to do, we are settling in here for the next 4-5 months, making friends, and getting oriented.
There's our little update. We do have some Internet options, but mostly using our SailMail and ham radio to send messages with occasional "real internet" check-in when possible.
Goodnight,
Shannon
We are very happy to have chosen Tonga for cyclone season. The bay is very protected from winds (there were none! Sometimes a breeze through the hatches helps on a warm, humid day). The moorings are serious with thick polypropylene rope and concrete foundations. They are down on tourism this year and willing to make deals on the moorings for long-term rates. The town is nice.
Definitely poor, run down houses, sadly garbage on the side of the roads (which we have not seen in quite a long time, the last significant time was in Panama). But the people are typically nicely dressed in long traditional skirts and men wear long straight "skirts" type things. They are very friendly and helpful, although sometimes seem a bit shy. The women love the children, so the kids are blending in everywhere and making friends.
The shopping has been a relief! Finally! There's a big market where farmers sell their fruits and veggies every day (except Saturday afternoon and Sundays). Bananas, papayas ($.60 US), small watermelon ($2.50), 3 pineapples ($2.50), cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, apples, bell peppers . . . We haven't had this variety and this low of prices in such a long time!! And finally, fresh eggs!! Not imported from New Zealand, so weeks old at best. There's a family with stacks and stacks of eggs, I asked if they were local, they said yes, all from their family! I said you must have a LOT of chickens, and she laughed and said yes they do. I can only imagine! Every day they have huge stacks of eggs, every day I see lots of people buying those eggs. And they are $8. US for 30, finally down from $.50 to $1 per egg from French Polynesia through the Cooks and Niue. Besides this exciting market, another cruiser showed us a farm up the hill where they say you can get anything fresh picked that you want and they claimed that it was a quarter the prices of the fresh market. We went by, but it was closed. Beautifully laid out greenhouses and it benefits a "Youth Congress". Definitely going to hit it up next week!!!! The grocery stores have more than I expected, a few canned veggies, spaghetti sauce, flour, sugar, butter, rice, a few noodles, some random meat cuts, chips, cookies, etc. Not everything I could hope for, but definitely workable!! Not going to find oats, brown rice, quinoa, corn flour, and other specialty items.
I heard from another boat that they ran out of butter in town and were out for weeks, so you have to plan ahead a little bit or do without. Also prices go up as the town runs out of things, so don't count on steady pricing. Also heard that some prices change as you hit the register if you aren't local. I've been watching at the stores I go to and it seems to be holding with advertised prices.
We got the motorcycle registered, so it's legal and everything. We've been out exploring. Found a hardware store where we can get some lumber for the cockpit and got some cheap linoleum for the torn up stuff in the cockpit, which I've wanted since well before French Polynesia and couldn't find. So we're finding little things we haven't in months, prices are much better, we are official with our transportation, people are friendly, anchorage is very flat and protected, and we are eating fresh. It's all looking good.
We went to a Halloween party at a Cafe that overlooks the anchorage and met some local kids, most of whom are expatriates and great contacts! The kids had a great time; Intrepid won best kid's costume and a free pizza for the family. We found a locals restaurant where I had chicken curry and rice for $2.50 US!! How can you beat that??? Then Courage ordered a jug of juice. When they brought it out it was bright orange, he asked what juice it was, and she answered, "Juice of Tang." Ohhhh. But it was great as we were quite thirsty.
We are now out at the islands, currently Ovalau, where I imagine we'll spend a lot of time. Lovely soft white sand beach, no one here, protected from the normal trade winds, and covered in shells and coconuts. We had a nice campfire last night with marshmallows. We haven't been able to do that for months!
Finally getting a little isolated again! We stopped at Swallow's Cave on the way here, which you can take your dinghy in it's so big! Gorgeous deep waters below it and just amazing walls (other than the unfortunate graffiti) with lots of birds (not bats) flying around in it. There's another cave, Mariner's Cave, that you have to dive down and swim through a tunnel to get into it. Sounds a little concerning, but we've met other boats that have done it and indicate while intimidating, it's not terrible. Sounds also like a really cool experience!!! So we have to find it also!
There are many little islands, and lots of snorkeling and white sandy beaches within eyesight and within 2 hours of our "hurricane hole" making it possible to explore and live life and enjoy, while retreating and hunkering down quickly with any indication of incoming weather. So, with affordable pricing, gorgeous outlying islands, fresh foods, caves to explore and things to do, we are settling in here for the next 4-5 months, making friends, and getting oriented.
There's our little update. We do have some Internet options, but mostly using our SailMail and ham radio to send messages with occasional "real internet" check-in when possible.
Goodnight,
Shannon
Halloween in Tonga
Great Halloween party in Tonga at the Aquarium Cafe. Started with kids games, egg toss, bobbing for apples, costume contest, and snacks. Intrepid won best costume!!! He was a robot made from a cardboard box body, pringle can arms, milk jug helmet, and reflective car window visors for legs all spray painted silver, then an electrical panel installed and some LED lights from cousin Wolfie!! He won a large pizza for the family!! Yeah Intrepid! We all had a great time and are enjoying the atmosphere here in Tonga!
Bobbing for apples
The family in town
Intrepid in Costume
Kids in the dinghy
Ready for Halloween
Life on the Ocean
Cassidy Feeding a Shark
Assembly Time
The one that got away - Eaton by a shark
Shannon with Catch of the Day, Snapper
Wolf Reeling in the fish
Wolf Cannonballing off the bow
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Cave Exploring - October 23, 2014
Yesterday morning we took the rental car and explored lots of new sea tracks, a cave where they buried people and had a pile of human bone remains, had a picnic overlooking the lee side of the island with waves crashing against a sheer rock wall, then back down the Anapala Chasm where ancient people use to hike down to get fresh water. We went for a great swim down the chasm and back, it was cold water!! There was a beautiful small spot in the middle of the chasm with sunlight shining in and you could see down the sides and to the bottom. It was awesome!! By the time I swam back across it, the sun had already fallen behind one of the sheer cliff walls and it was dark again.
We went home and returned the rental car and got the kids and Courage loaded into the dinghy for quiet time, then Cassidy and I headed out on the motorcycle!! We've never tried just the two of us on it. We went to the Talava Arch, a gorgeous arch at the end of the island over a large reef that you can walk on at low tide. You come through a cave to get to it. There are also a couple other smaller caves that you can explore along side the reef. I enjoyed seeing the live cowdries on the reef as well as watching the waves crashing around the arches.
Then we headed back to town, had an ice cream, then headed out to a cave (?Vaihaca) which is recommended as guided-only. We met a German tourist who told of the horrors of this cave, narrow entrance, steep walls, etc. We had to see it. I thought we could just walk to it, look inside, see if we wanted to enter, then go. Little did I realize that the trail to the cave was as much or more treacherous than the cave itself!!! We hiked literally for almost an hour over rocks, through forests and jungles, etc. They have little orange triangles pointing the way, if not for those, we would surely have been lost. At one point we were walking over rocks covered in long leaves, but periodically you could see large blackness between the rocks. You have to wonder, how far down those spots go. I made clear to Cassidy that she can't fall, if she gets hurt, any rescue would take a long time. There's no way I can carry anyone out of this place. So, finally we find the cave. Cassidy dropped in first, there were ropes to hold onto. It was narrow, but not claustrophobic. As we slid down the opening into the cave, it opened up into this gorgeous oasis with water, mossy rocks with ferns on it, etc. Some light came in from above. At this point, on the guided tour, you jump into the water (looks like a long drop unless we were missing something), then swim to someplace, dive down and pop up into another dark cave. Then dive again, popping up in a final cave. That would be AWESOME, but I'm not doing that without a local guide. We were happy just to have been there and seen it. At this point, returning down the trail to the motorcycle before dark was going to be adventure enough for us.
It was a great mother-daughter date!! I was totally worn out, but we had a great time!
Shannon
We went home and returned the rental car and got the kids and Courage loaded into the dinghy for quiet time, then Cassidy and I headed out on the motorcycle!! We've never tried just the two of us on it. We went to the Talava Arch, a gorgeous arch at the end of the island over a large reef that you can walk on at low tide. You come through a cave to get to it. There are also a couple other smaller caves that you can explore along side the reef. I enjoyed seeing the live cowdries on the reef as well as watching the waves crashing around the arches.
Then we headed back to town, had an ice cream, then headed out to a cave (?Vaihaca) which is recommended as guided-only. We met a German tourist who told of the horrors of this cave, narrow entrance, steep walls, etc. We had to see it. I thought we could just walk to it, look inside, see if we wanted to enter, then go. Little did I realize that the trail to the cave was as much or more treacherous than the cave itself!!! We hiked literally for almost an hour over rocks, through forests and jungles, etc. They have little orange triangles pointing the way, if not for those, we would surely have been lost. At one point we were walking over rocks covered in long leaves, but periodically you could see large blackness between the rocks. You have to wonder, how far down those spots go. I made clear to Cassidy that she can't fall, if she gets hurt, any rescue would take a long time. There's no way I can carry anyone out of this place. So, finally we find the cave. Cassidy dropped in first, there were ropes to hold onto. It was narrow, but not claustrophobic. As we slid down the opening into the cave, it opened up into this gorgeous oasis with water, mossy rocks with ferns on it, etc. Some light came in from above. At this point, on the guided tour, you jump into the water (looks like a long drop unless we were missing something), then swim to someplace, dive down and pop up into another dark cave. Then dive again, popping up in a final cave. That would be AWESOME, but I'm not doing that without a local guide. We were happy just to have been there and seen it. At this point, returning down the trail to the motorcycle before dark was going to be adventure enough for us.
It was a great mother-daughter date!! I was totally worn out, but we had a great time!
Shannon
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Niue Waltz Contest
I can't believe that I forgot about this. So shortly after we arrived I noticed that there was going to be a dance! So off I went to get tickets. It was at the golf and country club (don't get any fancy ideas, it was just an older low slung building).
Well anyway there was a contest (with prizes) for the best Waltz. During the evening Shannon and I practiced our moves (at least the ones I could remember). Then came the moment. The dance floor was loaded, and I typically like a little room to move, but anyway it turned out great, and we came in second out of the group.
Now Niue is a pretty small island, and for a couple of days after the dance people who I did not know would comment on our dancing skills. Then of course there is the follow-up, "so you are the ones on the catamaran with all the children!"
This is the first place that I am ready to stay for a while at. It is so nice!!! If we could haul the boat here for hurricane season, we would.
Until next time,
Courage
Well anyway there was a contest (with prizes) for the best Waltz. During the evening Shannon and I practiced our moves (at least the ones I could remember). Then came the moment. The dance floor was loaded, and I typically like a little room to move, but anyway it turned out great, and we came in second out of the group.
Now Niue is a pretty small island, and for a couple of days after the dance people who I did not know would comment on our dancing skills. Then of course there is the follow-up, "so you are the ones on the catamaran with all the children!"
This is the first place that I am ready to stay for a while at. It is so nice!!! If we could haul the boat here for hurricane season, we would.
Until next time,
Courage
Exploring more Niue
We spent this morning catching up on school stuff then taking warm showers on shore. Rain is coming in a day or two, so we decided to do our second rental car day again today. So this afternoon we headed out. First to Avaiki Cave, our favorite! Where at low tide you can swim in a pool under the cave, and jump from the sides into the pool. To top it off, we picked up ice cream for snack to eat when we got there. It was great!!
Then we headed to Limu Pools. A beautiful, giant tide pool that you can swim in. There are areas with cold fresh water mixing in with warmer sea water causing temperature inversions that you can see in the water as you are snorkeling. Lots of reefs and fish and even a gorgeous blue star fish! Then we went to the second pool where Cassidy and Wolfie were jumping from cliffs. I swam through an arch and on my return trip a sea snake was coming almost right up at me. We've heard they are venomous, but rarely or never bite. I reached out and pet him. I felt a bit bad, they have to come up about every 2 hours for air. When I pet him, he went diving straight down again. Guess air wasn't that critical to him.
Then we headed to Palaha Cave, which was excellent. We hit it as the sun was going down. It's a great cave facing out at the ocean. We were facing west and the sunset and nice light was coming in through the cave. We did some great exploring and took lots of pictures. This cave has tons of staligmites and stalactites in it which we could see huge ones and little new ones forming. The boys of course loved climbing everything also.
We came home for a quick dinner since we were an hour and a half after our normal dinner time. Then bananas with hershey syrup for dessert since we have a huge stalk of bananas that have all ripened at the same time (and are perfect right now!) The end of a great day, but have to get some rest because tomorrow's another day and we have the car until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon, so have to do all we can in the morning for exploring.
This has been one of our more favorite islands for exploring and we're loving getting out and doing it!!
Probably heading to Tonga sometime this weekend, depending on weather.
Shannon
Then we headed to Limu Pools. A beautiful, giant tide pool that you can swim in. There are areas with cold fresh water mixing in with warmer sea water causing temperature inversions that you can see in the water as you are snorkeling. Lots of reefs and fish and even a gorgeous blue star fish! Then we went to the second pool where Cassidy and Wolfie were jumping from cliffs. I swam through an arch and on my return trip a sea snake was coming almost right up at me. We've heard they are venomous, but rarely or never bite. I reached out and pet him. I felt a bit bad, they have to come up about every 2 hours for air. When I pet him, he went diving straight down again. Guess air wasn't that critical to him.
Then we headed to Palaha Cave, which was excellent. We hit it as the sun was going down. It's a great cave facing out at the ocean. We were facing west and the sunset and nice light was coming in through the cave. We did some great exploring and took lots of pictures. This cave has tons of staligmites and stalactites in it which we could see huge ones and little new ones forming. The boys of course loved climbing everything also.
We came home for a quick dinner since we were an hour and a half after our normal dinner time. Then bananas with hershey syrup for dessert since we have a huge stalk of bananas that have all ripened at the same time (and are perfect right now!) The end of a great day, but have to get some rest because tomorrow's another day and we have the car until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon, so have to do all we can in the morning for exploring.
This has been one of our more favorite islands for exploring and we're loving getting out and doing it!!
Probably heading to Tonga sometime this weekend, depending on weather.
Shannon
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
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