A brief stay in Vava'u

Last year we spent quite a bit of time in Vava'u so this year was just a brief visit to mainly organise duty free fuel and clear out of Tonga.

The day after we arrived was Cran's birthday so it was dinner ashore that night but not before Ann shared a special bottle of champagne.

Pre dinner birthday drinks

What more could a man want, pizza and red wine

We had several days before we planned to clear out of Tonga for Fiji and the weather was building to strong winds. We knew the perfect anchorage to sit out the front. Our criteria for a perfect anchorage is one that is protected from the weather, calm flat seas, good for swimming & snorkeling and the all important internet access. Aiesa Beach met all the criteria plus we had the chance to catch up with a couple of the rally boats from last year, Varekai and Seaforth and new boats we met, Citation and Blithe Spirit.

A perfect anchorage

The winds dropped a couple of days before we wanted to depart Tonga so it was a quick trip back into Neiafu for more socialising, provisioning of fresh fruit & vegs for the passage and organise duty free fuel.

Sunset drinks on Lettin'Go

Glenda & Mike (Manuhaea) and Amanda (Varekai)

Cat & Brodie (Citation)

The Customs wharf in Neiafu is built to take ships and is not a yacht friendly berth in all but the calmest of conditions. Unfortunately when we came alongside it wasn't calm and it was a constant battle keeping our fenders from popping out as Lettin'Go bounced up an down against the wharf in the side swell. Thankfully Brodie and Trevis from Citation came down to the wharf to help us tie up. We were lucky another yacht left from the other side of the wharf and we could move around to the more protected side to take on fuel.