Monday 9th June
Having just crossed the International Date Line we will now be ahead of you all back in Blighty . It’s suiting us just fine here at the moment as the customs don’t open in Tonga on a Sunday, so we would have been stuck on the boat for Brian’s last night!
We carry on motor-sailing throughout the day, it’s sunny and bright so not too much of a chore. The wind has swung round to the SW now, and we could just about sail if not in so much of a rush. We arrive at our waypoint at the top of the island at 3.30pm and start to make our way round the coast. It’s an interesting coastline; very steep-sided with henna red eroding cliffs and caves. There’s a few isolated little bays and dramatic rock islets rising straight up from the sea that we pass on our way. It soon becomes apparent that our C-maps on the chart-plotter are completely incorrect, as they show the little boat making it’s way overland to get to the anchorage. Glad we didn’t attempt this at night! As we approach, we radio ARC control who advise that if we get there within half an hour with our forms completed, we can be cleared tonight. There’s also a bus just about to leave for a “Tongan Feast”. This sounds very attractive so we push on, pick up a mooring as directed and get the dinghy in the water pronto! Ian runs Annie ashore to customs then goes back to shut up the boat and we’re all done and dusted - not quite with our party clothes on – and on our way to we’re not quite sure what! This turns out, for us, to be a bit of a bad move; after a short bus ride we arrive at an awning on a beach under which are 2 long trestle tables laid out with our Tongan feast – it’s dreadful. Big platters of under cooked very fatty pork, little polystyrene dishes of local delicacies ;taro leaves stuffed with corned beef!, sweet and sour fish etc. It’s all cold and awful – we all eat a lot of fruit and not much else. To top it all there’s only coconuts (which are good) and coke to drink – it was BYOB but we didn’t know….very kindly Into the Blue and Andante help us out. There’s some entertainment but as we’re at the very far end of the trestle we can’t really see, or hear it. We can’t wait to leave but as we’re on a dark beach somewhere we’ve no option but to wait for the return bus. Thankfully it’s not too long and we’re soon back in town and dropped at the door of the Bounty Bar. We like it immediately; we meet Lawrence the land lord ,(who went to the same junior school as Ian in Loughton, Essex – Staples Road) there’s a great atmosphere , people playing guitars and singing, brilliant! We get involved in a cosy wee session with some arc crew and we’re the last to leave, surprise, surprise……