2007 Nov - Halfway round the World - New Zealand

Hello all,

We have finally reached halfway round the world, we arrived on 12th November
in New Zealand!

We have spent the last eight months crossing the Pacific Ocean, visiting
many of the stunning islands en route, and adding an extra crew member to
our complement.

We left Panama City in March, sailing and motoring through the doldrums to
the Galapagos Islands, which lie on the equator. Although expensive to visit
from home, when arriving by sailing boat these islands are not expensive in
the least, and despite being so famous are not very busy and tourism is kept
very low-key. We spent ten days or so based in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz,
surrounded by sea lions, rays, and blue-footed boobies diving like missiles.
This was really a paradise after so long in Panama.

The long leg of the Pacific was next, 3000 nautical miles to the Marquesas
in French Polynesia.
This was one month at sea, in mainly light ESE winds, and was comparable to
our Atlantic crossing 18 months previously.
Our first stop was Hiva Oa, a lush mountainous island which on our approach,
smelled of greenery after a month away from land.
We enjoyed four of the Marquesan islands which are all high islands with no
reefs, and some of the volcanic scenery is amazing.
The islands are part of France and most of the Polynesians speak French
along with their Marquesan language, related to Tahitian. As part of the EU
but being a long way from anywhere, pretty much everything is expensive.

In June we spent three weeks among the next set of islands, the Tuamotu
atolls, visiting Ahe and Rangiroa in the north. Atolls were volcanoes long
ago, which sunk slowly as the sea bottom shifted, leaving rings of
slow-growing, low-lying coral islands outlining the original perimeter of
the volcano. Each atoll resembles a string of long thin islands making up a
circle or other shape, with a large shallow lagoon in the centre. Many
atolls have passes, often with strong currents flowing in and out, which
yachts can use to enter the lagoons.
As part of France the island populations are well supported now with cargo
boats and specialised small launches to bring supplies. Some atolls have
tiny villages and do not see many foreigners, and some are more touristy,
making money running dive courses, shark-watching, and selling black pearls
from oysters which are farmed extensively in the lagoons.
We enjoyed Ahe for its quietness and small size, you could see right across
to the far side and the villagers were very friendly, especially the kids.
There was a huge variety of fish visible by snorkelling around the coral
heads.
Rangiroa is a tourist centre and so large you cannot see much of the atoll,
but here we enjoyed some great snorkelling towards the pass among coral,
masses of fish and sharks, we visited a black pearl farm and shop, and we
enjoyed the odd drink at the five-star hotel with over-water bungalows near
the anchorage.

In July we visited the Society Islands, again French, namely Tahiti, Moorea
and Bora Bora. These islands all have fringing coral reefs, so safe
anchorage is possible in many areas within the reefs.
Tahiti is the main tourist centre as all flights to French Polynesia arrive
here. We stayed near Papeete, the capital, stocking up on a much wider
variety of food than we had seen for months, and enjoying the Papeete market
which sells fruit, veg, cheap black pearl jewellery and woven goods. Of
course there are also many expensive shops, especially for the good quality
pearl jewellery, but we avoided these! The anchorage near the airport was
interesting as it is long and narrow, with wind, current and tidal flow over
the reef which all vary, coupled with a wide variety of yachts anchored
closely together which all have different characteristics in these different
conditions. Every day yachts lay in all directions and debated whether they
were going to have to move to avoid hitting their neighbours!

Moorea was quiet and beautiful in comparison, we spent a few restful days
swimming and snorkelling here, in the two northern bays.

Bora Bora was really stunning. Not only is the island surrounded by reefs,
but the lagoon within is substantial, and there are plenty of minor islets
providing a huge variety of anchoring, swimming and snorkelling
possibilities. The main town is small and touristy, and there is a wonderful
cheap market just by the port selling black pearl jewellery and woven goods.

At this point we had to make a decision, as Elaine was expecting another (!)
baby in September - where to have it??
We had hoped to stop at Rarotonga in the Cooks, but were dissuaded by
friends who said the harbour is just too small and unsafe in certain winds.
Finally we decided to make the rather longer trip to Fiji, of 1700 nautical
miles. This would give the shortest journey with three kids to New Zealand
in November.

So with about seven weeks before due date, we left for Fiji. We had some great winds for this leg, and reached Tonga in 10 days, allowing us a breather. We stayed in Vava’u, Tonga for a week enjoying the slower and cheaper life here among the Tongans, islets and anchorages and - Moorings charter yachts! This is an area with many tourists and there are consequently many businesses which have started up based on this tourism.
Many New Zealanders have started businesses here which open at least for the April to November season.
Many islands of Tonga are uplifted coral islands, flat but high and full of caves along the coasts, famous for the “flying foxes” bats. Also famous in this area are humpback whales, and here we finally saw some!

Then as time ticked on we left for Fiji, again we had good winds but there
were many islands to negotiate during this 3-day leg. We arrived at our home
for the next 11 weeks, Suva harbour. An extension to our home was Suva Yacht Club, a rather run down version of a once thriving club, but nevertheless we mostly enjoyed it. Lisa learned to walk on these premises, and we bought an Optimist dinghy for not a lot from the defunct dinghy side of the club.
Finally time to teach Daniel to sail - and he is getting on well.
The second extension to our home was Suva Private Hospital. As the cheapest private medical care around we took full advantage of it for this that and the other minor ailments, and of course for antenatal visits and having the
baby. We would highly recommend this hospital for the care and prompt treatment available at very reasonable cost for visitors.
We made arrangements with friends on another boat for emergency babysitting, and had a standby local lady on shore too.
When the day arrived our new baby was born within a few hours, we had another boy! The staff were very good. The next morning when Nigel brought Daniel and Lisa to see the new baby they were thrilled, and we decided on the name George.

Suva city was a good place to be as people are friendly and many things are very cheap, such as eating out, and the massive fruit and vegetable market.
The population is half and half Polynesian / Indian. Nigel built a solid top for our spray hood to mount our three large solar panels, as their position outside the rails was too exposed. He came across many local businesses, and found that local labour and materials are cheap, however if you rely on others to work on your boat then Fiji is not the place, as the quality of work is generally poor.

As our time in Fiji went on we organised a passport for George, and Elaine sewed up lee cloths and a modified carrycot so that George and Lisa would be safe at sea. We knew the journey of 1050 nautical miles to New Zealand could include gales and we needed to prepare for that, which was hard while also coping with a new baby!

Finally at the beginning of November we were in a position to leave. Friends of ours who left earlier kept in touch via our satellite phones, so we had some knowledge of weather conditions to expect.
We ended up with 9 days’ sail and mostly SE winds, so we were beating most of the time with some squalls gusting up to 30 or 40 kts towards the end.
Not too bad! In the middle of our final night a large flying fish arrived INSIDE the boat, having bust through our spray hood window, and bounced off the inside of the washboards. A lot of flapping later and a 14 inch flying fish lay beneath the cooker! Scary for me who was nearby at the navigation table at the time!

We are looking forward to a few months in New Zealand where we will visit several friends, this time we will travel by road for a change.

If you would like more information or to see photos of our trip, please visit our website www.spinalonga.co.uk

We would love to hear your news too,
all for now,
Elaine, Nigel, Daniel, Lisa and George.