in deep waters!
today will lead us over 8800m deep water...wonder what's down there.
the last 24h were nice sailing - we are extremely lucky with the weather as it looks like there's just going to be enough wind to get us into tongan waters.
so - no suwarrow - no niue! unfortunately - but fortunately we did not get trapped by any systems and we'll be hopefully able to finish those 1300nm from bora bora to tonga by tomorrow morning. with a bit worse weather this trip could have easily taken 3 times as lomg which would have cut our time in tonga down to a few days.
so we get to enjoy the place that was named the "friendliest" in the whole of the south pacific by captain james cook himself. little did he now that the tongans had actually planned to eat him and hence were behaving at their best to not make him suspicious. to his luck the chiefs could not make up their mind when to kill him, so he left before they could cook cook.
we are going to head for the vava'u group - the northern most of the three island groups, having the reputation of a great cruising area with lots of protected anchorages and being known for the whale-breeding grounds.
cook apparently made good friends with the chief of the vava'u group - cook himself landed in the ha'apai group. the vava'u chief told him not to bother to go to his homeland as there are no anchorages and no protection there - and being a great mate, cook was thankful for the advice...the geography must have changed a lot in the last few 100 years!....i wonder why tonga never got conquered by any of the big seafaring nations ;)
appart from arriving we will also loose a day. it will be cut out of our lives without replacement! as we cross the dateline the 31.07.2013 will cease to exist for us (sorry Basi!!!) and jump straight from the 30th of july to the 1st of august.
the paradox being though i think because of it's non existence we will remember this day for quite a while.
we are happy to see that you are fine and enjoying your sail trip and wish you all the best for the remaining months (off-we-go is still in a good condition, by the way)
ReplyDeleteGerlinde and Manfred / Attersee-Austria
Nice to look at the photos,especially the one, where you look so happy, Mrs. Shipard!
ReplyDeleteLady of Shalott has quite a few blossoms, though it is very warm outside. the rose fells well in the garden, I guess.
I wish you furthermore a good trip!
Best regards
Fraunberg 2
Love hearing all about your tropical island hopping. Really wish we could hop on a plane & drop in for a visit, as its beginning to feel like your so close to home (our home murwillumbah, the most easterly point of Australia)!
ReplyDelete