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Our first stop after leaving New Zealand was the Kingdom of Tonga, where we spent several months sailing around the islands of Tongatapu and Vava'u. The latter has some truely supurb cruising and diving. We were even sung to sleep by humpback whales one night! |
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The anchorages within the lagoon at Vava'u were supurb! |
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It was so nice to sail with the trade winds inside a calm lagoon. |
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After spending some months exploring Vava'u, we had to make a move to leave the tropics before cyclone season commenced. The first leg was to Fiji, where we rested for a couple of weeks before getting another weather window. The passage between Neiafu in Tonga and Lautoka in Fiji was surprisingly calm! |
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After Fiji, we had a quick stop in New Caledonia to refresh and wait for more good weather before heading to Queensland in Australia to wait out Cyclone season. |
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While in Australia, we fitted a Hydrovane windvane steering system. Then in 2013 we returned to New Caledonia for 3 months, to more fully explore Grande Terre and Noumea. We gave our new windvane a good work-out for most of the passage (breezes in the 30-45 knot range). In mostly reaching conditions, we hardly had to use the autopilot, and the windvane was a reliable, magical solution for our passage (the depth reading in this photo is of course not accurate!). |
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Demonstration of the Hydrovane in operation. As our mizzen overhangs the transom, we have difficulty running the windvane when we are on the wind, but in reaching and running conditions it does a sterling job. We highly recommend these units! |
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It was really nice to be back in New Caledonia. It's a beautiful area, with lots of good breezes AND baguette along with French wines! |
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And with three months passing way too quickly, it was off back to New Zealand (and cold windy weather!). The passage was on the wind the whole way, and soooo much work! |