Sailing from Tonga to Fiji in 1994

August 18, 1994

Bula Bula (hello in Fijian)

It’s hard to believe but we are currently tied up at the custom’s dock in Fiji waiting for permission to enter the country.

We made a 500 mile ocean passage from Tonga to Fiji.  During the 3 day and 3 night passage Robbie learned to plot our progress on our charts.  Randy fine tuned all his navigational and sailing skills.  Tom was in his glory and I lost weight.  Actually I wasn’t seasick the last night and day.  That was great progress for me.

Our crew Steve and Marja are wonderful.  I’m coming home with loads of new recipes that Marja is generous enough to share with me.  I never get meals this fine in the best of restaurants.

We didn’t get to spend much time on our boat in Tonga but the time we did spend was delightful.  We found the most gorgeous island with a long sandy white beach and then a dense jungle of coconut trees and undergrowth.  There was a beautiful reef snorkeling distance from where we were anchored, with incredible colorful tropical fish.  At some points the reef couldn’t have been more than 6 feet deep.  It had hard and soft corals, clown fish, parrot fish, etc.  We kayaked to the beach for walks and swam to the reef.  A little heaven on earth.  We wish we could have spent more time exploring different islands in Tonga but Fiji was calling to us.  We pulled up anchor and off we went.

The boat is beautiful and very comfortable.  Since this is a shake down cruise, anything that can break will, and more than once.  Things (such as the outboard motor for the dinghy) was repaired in New Zealand and has since died completely.  It makes getting around interesting.  Fortunately we had a spare dinghy and motor which we finally dragged out.  The jetski and kayak’s were also pressed into service for getting around.  We were disappointed that the boat fax has not been receiving faxes.  Those of you who wanted to get in touch with us – I hope you tried mailing letters to Tom or my parents.  All news, gossip, scandal, etc. is always welcome.  We haven’t seen a newspaper in a long time, but family and friend news is much more interesting. 

I finally got my sewing machine out.  Even though it was stored in a damp, cold jet ski locker for a long time I oiled it and it works beautifully.  It felt so good to be able to sew again.  Unfortunately, the iron pulls a lot of power, so I’m limited to the ironing part of my sewing when we’re running the generator.  Since we run the generator morning and evening I’ll get some sewing done yet.

While waiting for our yacht we stayed at the Royal Sunset Hotel in Tonga for a week.  That was an experience we could have mostly done without.  Going to a Tongan church for Sunday services to hear the singing (very loud and enthusiastic) and seeing how they dress (men in wrap around skirts with hairy legs and big feet sticking out), and women in big woven mat skirts covering western style dresses. What a sight.  We weren’t able to take pictures afterwards because of a huge rainstorm, which came through just before services ended.  Since the church was in a village on the island where we stayed, we were soaked by the time we walked back to the hotel.  All in all a great adventure.  One of the local village pigs decided that our fale (hut) was going to be his new home.  I convinced him that he was NOT invited into our room.  Actually our fale was so dirty and buggy that we probably wouldn’t have noticed the difference anyway.

The Royal Sunset could have been a better experience than it was, but it is a very tiny island with only the village and hotel.  No one seems to realize that it would be to everyone’s benefit to clean the place up.  The beaches were gorgeous but had too much trash on them.  The village seemed clean when we walked through, but then you realize they have no facilities for trash.  Burn, bury or throw out the window and onto the beach.  By the way, no plumbing or electricity in the village.  I guess that explains why the native girl who “cleaned” our fale never gave us toilet paper.  I’m sure she didn’t understand its use.  They get rid of their beer bottles by lining their paths with the bottles turned up side down.  Interesting concept. They also used an occasional shell for added decoration.

The boat had many delays before leaving New Zealand and finally left without being completed.  There had to be a cut-off eventually and there we were waiting so very impatiently in Tonga for their arrival.  Their voyage to Tonga was extremely rough.  Of the eight people on board three managed not to throw up. From no winds and rough seas to heavy winds and rough seas, but the boat did make it through.  The two crew members from the boat yard didn’t show their heads until the end of the voyage.

We’ve been very fortunate to have our boat designer and his wife on board for 2 weeks.  They have been a tremendous help.  It was interesting when Robb decided he didn’t like the location of one of our phones.  He pulled up the floorboards, removed wall panels, and basically tore the boat apart.  But the phone did get moved and the phones eventually worked again.

As some of you know, Tom was home for a month working while I wandered around with the kids.  We did some sightseeing in New Zealand.  A beautiful country, which I would recommend to everyone (just go in their summer).  It was so much colder than we are used to at home.  When the boat had more delays we almost went home, but I wasn’t looking forward to that much flying.  Instead I decided to take the boys to Club Med in New Caledonia.  One week stretched into two weeks as we waited for the completion date.  We had a good time in New Caledonia sailing, snorkeling, archery, power walks every morning and eating ourselves silly.  It was a nice break after being in the extremely cold New Zealand for a month.  I also met some lovely people from Australia whom I hope to see again some day.  I never dreamed I would go to New Caledonia, but it was another adventure to add to our list.

Tom goes home shortly for a week while we try to take care of some of the more important repairs that need attention.  Suva is the largest city our boat will see until Hawaii.  So, this is our big chance.  We are very lucky that this week is the big yearly Fijian Hibiscus Festival.  We are looking forward to it.  I’m looking forward to doing a little sight seeing in Suva, but we are particularly anxious to get away from civilization again and back to deserted islands with beautiful beaches.  As far as I’m concerned that’s what this is all about.  I think that for Tom, the cruising from location to location is his heaven.  Sometimes I think that the cruising part was designed to test my personal endurance.  As Tom says, we have to take the good with the bad.  When I’m over my seasickness the cruising isn’t as tortuous.  It’s just that not being able to read or move around for days on end isn’t my idea of fun.  But swimming, snorkeling and gorgeous uninhabited islands are, so there has to be a compromise.

This summer has been difficult for Robbie.  I’m not sure whether it’s not having any privacy, the uncertainty day to day of where we are going to be, not having his daddy for a month, having his brother around too much, or what, but it hasn’t been his happiest time.  He came to life when the cruising started, so I hope things will improve now.  He is standing watch with Tom and me and plotting our course during the night cruising.  (Actually, I’ve been such a help, I generally sleep through our watches.)  

Randy is very happy.  New Caledonia was good for him and being on the boat has been incredible.  He is one of the men and part of the crew.  He stands watches and helps with everything.  By now he has probably read every manual for every piece of equipment on this boat.  Going back to school will be a real shock for him.

August 31, 1994 Dear Sandy,

Fiji is beautiful.  Lovely, friendly Fijians, warm water, great diving, and magnificent scenery.  We went to church again which is very different from Tonga.  Beautiful singing with harmonizing.  We sit on the floor (uncomfortable), women wear ankle length skirts under dresses.  Men wear jackets and ties with wrap around skirts.  No one wears shoes.  This was at a village we visited which had 30 families, and 100 people.  They had very gentle, sweet faces.  Everyone is friendly.  We drank kava with them, toured their village etc.  David Miller visited us for a week.  He and the boys went fishing, scuba diving, water skiing, jet skiing, kayaking, etc.  Lots to do.  I wasn’t so sea sick from Gamea back to Suva. Maybe I’m getting used to the boat a little bit.