At Anchor Nuiatoputapu, Tonga 15 56.335S 173 46.045

For this update we are departing Apia Samoa and sailing to Tonga. Before departure there is a fair bit of work we do, in preparation to sail in the open ocean.

Blue and Pink Jobs

We both have our own areas, Tami calls them “blue jobs” and “pink jobs.” In short, the blue jobs check and test every system on the boat and their redundant pieces. For example, we have two autopilot drive units, and both are checked for functionality. Particular attention is paid to known problems we have not yet been able to update. Tartaruga has two leaky seals on her sail drives (these are the same as outdrives on an inboard/outboard system.) This is letting salt water into the drive, but no lubricant is being emitted into the sea, more updates on this later. Everything was either good or fixed, so we are ready to go. Next comes check out.

Checking Out

Every time we leave a country we must check out. This typically means we stop by immigration for passport stamps, customs for our country clearance forms and the local port authority for any fees they might want to collect for, such as anchoring. It usually doesn’t take long to be honest, just part of traveling this way. Samoa is no exception and we powered through quickly just before departure.

Time to go

We left the harbor at around 1200hrs on August 28, 2024 for a planned 36-hour sail to Tonga. The first part of the journey had us in the lee of Samoa, so we really had no wind to speak of and had to use our motors. While the flat seas are always welcome, quite frankly we can sail much faster than we can motor. The motor boat adventure didn’t last long.

Once we passed in between the islands of Upolu and Savai’i, we found ourselves in the wind and we could cut the motors and set sail south to Tonga. The winds forecast was for 18kn from the east and for the most part it is what we sailed in. The swell was another matter. Although it was only 6ft-7ft, the peaks (we call the period) were only 6 seconds apart and smashing against the side of Tartaruga. We get regular updates on the weather and sea state both online and from our weather router. She handled it like a champ, delivering an average speed of 6kn for the 180nm trip. At one point the wind picked up suddenly to 24kn and she showed us 12kn of boat speed. We are getting better at tuning the sails on her. At this point our typical sailing speeds are at the very top of what Animal Cracker was delivering, under similar conditions – this is a good update. Just as the sun setting was setting on the 29th – land ho.

We made eye sight of a dormant volcano, Tafahi, about 25 miles away. We knew Tafahi was only about 4nm north of our destination, Nuiatoputapu Tonga. This also meant we would be arriving after dark. While entering a reef pass in the dark is not normally something we would ever attempt, we were prepared for this – at least on paper. We had tracks from our friends Warren and Erica, the YouTube super duo of WE Sail. Additionally, we knew from their entry that the lights were operational so in theory this made the night entry possible.

Night Entry

While most people might think this is a no brainer because they come from a country that has many channel marks and lights, that is not always the case. The idea is at the very far end of the pass is a set of range lights. On your chart there is typically a center line to the pass marked. So you approach the center line of the chart, via gps, and then align the two lights at the far end and voila you are pointed straight down the center of the pass. Well not so fast, as we approached, in the pitch black night, I was expecting the range lights to be white lights, we finally figured out they were red and not only red they are flashing red lights just like the lights that mark the port side of the reef! So we need to update our thinking.

After a couple circles at the entry I was able to see the difference in the red lights. The range lights were flashing much faster and the two appeared very close together. So we began, inching very slowly towards to pass. I’m at the helm using the lights and the tracks we have while Tami is inside watching the gps position of the boat on a premarked path. Slowly and carefully we approach a point we can no longer turn around, no room. We feel the seas calm, we know we are inside the reef pass. Meter by meter we move forward, Tami calling out our alignment via GPS and I watching the lights. Finally we make it to the last channel mark – we made it.

At this point we make a quick turn and head for the anchoring location, again under the cloak of darkness. We find an open space, at a good depth, and set the anchor. Perfect, it sets the first try. We set our anchor alarms that will alert us if the boat drags. We made it, not something we want to make a habit of but it is good to know we can work together and get the job done. At least it wasn’t raining.

We are in Tonga, country number 7.