TURMOIL AND TRADEWINDS-TONGA TO NEW ZEALAND

November 15 – December 10

None of the palangies (white people) on the six cruising yachts anchored off the beach restaurant at tiny Pangiamotu Island saw it coming. We were too busy swapping weather forecasts and planning the 1069 nautical mile passage from Nuku’alofa, Tonga to New Zealand, to feel the political undercurrent boiling beneath Tonga’s capital city’s otherwise, hospitable surface.

But just one day after we hauled anchor and bid a hearty farewell to our newest Tongan friends, pro-democracy movement supporters torched selected businesses in the compact downtown. The strong tradewinds quickly raked the hungry fires over 80% of the shopping district. Eight people were killed as the main businesses were looted and left smoldering.

Just a few days before the riots, we allowed our daughter, Claire to ride to town via watertaxi with her Pangiamotu friends, Simon (15) and Andrew (11), to catch the latest movie at the cinema.  I had provisioned at the central grocery where I’d shopped enough to know Lilea the store manager and recognize most of the checkers. I chatted it up with twin Tongan brothers, friends of ‘the Royals’, managers of a video store downtown who had lived in Menlo Park, CA.  Our enterprising tour guide, Lata, and wife who cooked a feast for our vanload and introduced us to her family and neighbors… all have lost their jobs, their businesses and their customers! The riots did not make the headline news back home, but the news photos of the charred and looted downtown and the faces of our Tongan friends haunt me, still.

Our seven day passage started with fresh breezes and blue sky with strong trades on the stern quarter the first three days. The seas were lively, but tolerable, peaking and spanking the topsides with a celebratory ‘wham’ on the beam, followed by the major dump of greenwater on the decks. I got my sea legs after three days and so provided the crew with hot, balanced dinners despite the bouncy conditions. We ticked off the miles and earned extra sea miles that were claimed at the end of the trip when the wind gradually abated to less than five knots on the nose. We motored for the last 48 hours.  Along the way, our SSB radio kept us in touch with fellow NZ bound boats and would have been an essential comfort should we have found the really bad weather I’d feared.  Luckily, Sensei never saw a gale force wind. Our only discomfort was hand steering 24-7 the last two days and nights when the wind shut down, because the autopilot chose that time to fail.

I’d not expected the emotional catharsis that reaching the Bay of Islands, our entry port in New Zealand moved in me. At the helm in the brisk, early morning light, the beautiful emerald islands looked so much like the San Francisco Bay; I felt like I was actually coming home! A great sense of accomplishment, and sadness for our South Pacific dream cruise now behind us brought a few tears to my eyes.  We’ll never again have the ‘romantic notions’ of cruising that weekend or armchair sailors do. In the fifteen months away, our family has weathered physical and emotional challenges that I couldn’t have predicted. The El Nino weather conditions made for rougher passages than cruisers had seen in years. As the Kiwi’s say… good on us!

Sensei breezed through the customs clearance by three portly, khaki clad officials with thick Kiwi accents. Their good humor made quick work of the stacks of forms New Zealand requires for entry. Such jocularity was unheard of in every other port we cleared. We felt truly relaxed and welcomed!

A cruiser party was hosted by the local yacht club and we shared our passage stories with friends who’d arrived a few weeks before us. Some got caught in gales, which made our uneventful passage pale in comparison. I was okay with that! We learned of the best place to buy a used car, where Claire could attend school for a while, and where everyone was going to be for Christmas.

The Bay of Islands is a hugely popular major cruising ground, named for the 150 unpopulated islands that dot the bay. Colorful villages line the mainland shores and Opua, where our marina is located, is one of the smallest. There is a very well stocked general store, post office, a few restaurants and a marine chandlery. Claire attended the elementary school for a week break from our home schooling and made some new friends.

We bought a used, 1994 cranberry Honda Accord sedan at an auction house, as many cruisers do, and will sell it when we leave. We hope it’s cheaper than renting a car for four months. Already we’ve explored much of the scenic Northland and checked out the marina in Auckland where we’ll be for the New Year’s fireworks show and where we’ll keep the boat ready for potential buyers until she is sold.

You can drive east to west across the country in about three hours’ time, and we’ve done so several times. The main highway curves through farmlands and forests where the panoramic vistas are spectacular. Stands of ancient kauri trees are tourist attractions and are protected by the NZ forest service, much like our national parks. Tree ferns shade the pristine trails. The unusual and lovely song of the Tui and Bell birds can be heard throughout the countryside. The smells of damp earth are rich to us after so many months at anchor. It feels funny to drive again, not to mention the challenge of driving on the left hand side of the road. What a luxury to have wheels! We plan to travel by car quite a bit in the months we’ll be visiting here. A trip to the South Island in February to the fiordlands and mountains should be very exciting.

Right now we are in Tutukaka Marina, halfway between Opua and Whangarei. We’ll spend Christmas and a few weeks docked at the scenic Whangarei Town Basin, which is a river town of moderate commercial size. A store much like a Target and a clothing mall has Claire dying for some retail therapy. There’s an indoor public swimming pool and several beautiful hiking trails that lead from downtown up to the surrounding hills.

Sensei is dressing for Santa. We’ve wrapped the mast in the cabin with gold garland and white lights. Claire is excited to decorate our little plastic tree. We’ve already made it through half a tin of Christmas Danish butter cookies, and we are going to a Christmas carol concert tomorrow night. The weather is sunny and pleasantly warm in the day, great for hiking, but it chills right down in the evenings, especially if an Antarctic wind is blowing from the south. So it actually feels like Christmas. Our diesel cabin heater keeps us cozy and the cheerful glow of the flames through the glass door an added plus.

We wish you all a very happy holiday season and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Kelley