Our sailing home takes us, Scott and Kathy Erwin to travel the world one island at a time. Come along on this adventure to learn, or join Kathy’s Yoga, and explore and see the world.
Cruisers gathered around in the small town of Neiafu, Tonga and planned on how we could all help local Cafe business owners’ Barry and Char Millen. The fishing boat that was going to tow and move this big cafe barge 2 miles from the boat yard to the bay was out of town. They desperately needed to be open for business prior to the World Arc racers coming to town.
Launching The Hideaway Cafe
The cafe business had really suffered during the Pandemic and the year or two afterwards. Very similar to all small business of Vava’u. They were so grateful and we were all happy to participate in a project using our skills.
The cruiser gals of Tonga
From left to right; Kathy, Danika, Chrissy, Ingrid, Candace, Peae, and Angie
The cruiser guys of Tonga
From left to right; Denton, Scott, Marc, Adam, and Jason
Warning! The below video is not for the squeamish at heart. This was a very spooky dive experience with the sea snakes of Niue. Not only cool snakes here, but our dive included some of the healthiest coral we’ve seen in the South Pacific, and the clearest water.
We had up to 300 foot visibility in places. After drifting over a coral garden we swam through an underwater narrow (dark) tunnel about 100 feet long, then up into a pitch black limestone cavern. This tunnel and cavern had a mix of salt and fresh salt water which changed the visibility and temperature. When the sea water yields to fresh water, it blurs your vision and makes you think you have Vaseline on your mask. (I’ve never been diving in the dark, never in a tunnel nor a cave, with poor visibility and NEVER with snakes!) Luckily the snakes were not aggressive.
You’ll see the snakes as we ascend at the end of the tunnel. What you don’t see is that when it was time to leave, Scott’s ears wouldn’t equalize. While everyone else was descending back in the tunnel to return to the open ocean, Scott was stuck in the cavern by himself (I was waiting below), yes with the snakes, unable to continue back with the group. (Could be some people’s worst nightmare). Fortunately with time and patience, Scott was able to clear the equalization issues and exit the cavern. It might have only been 5 minutes, but Scott felt like it was an hour!!
We can’t express enough the beauty of the coral in Niue. So healthy, so extensive and so fortunate for us to see it. Truely blessed. Scott will be doing a second post about the island and the people, soon.
What’s in a Polynesian Island? THIS is what we envisioned from the beginning and sums up the amazing beauty of French Polynesia.
This Society island is definitely on the fringe of this “French” nation but represents the epitome of the bedroom culture in this Society archipelago. The locals share the French language and a bit of French culture but definitely have much more of a welcoming spirit than what we’ve seen in the other Society Islands. We could be here for weeks longer. When you watch the video, you will see happy local people and beautiful scenery. All the locals have boats, bikes and big smiles. If you need a ride on land they will happily loan you their bike. If you need bananas, they will take you all over the village until they find what you need. One of our friends boats “Captain Musick” has been recruited to take supplies to Maupiti’s sister island Maupihaa, which is 100 miles away and hasn’t seen a supply ship in six months. 🫨 It has 20 people on the island and have very little! OMG this boat is packed with stuff. lol
So onward we go. Sea Bella is jumping Tuesday to Beveridge Reef (a sunk island) 900 miles westward to a reef that doesn’t even break the water. Google it! This should be interesting and the sharks are supposed to be super interested in all comers. Ha We have a reservation in Niue (smallest Island Country in the World, also a raised coral island) on the 13th, weather dependent, but that seems so far away. Sheesh. Lots of sailing to do…. We’ll check in next week.
Thanks to all the Friends that are sailing with us. Deguello, Captain Musick, Hooligan, Scout and Side Two.
While we waited out the summer storm season (Nov- Mar) in our safe haven, beautiful home of the Marquesan Islands, we researched, planned, discussed, read, yes played and put a plan loosely together for the next sailing season. Weather is the primary factor while we research. Our cruising buddies’ plans are also a factor. It’s important for Scott and I to have a friend group to sail nearby. If this doesn’t happen, we meet new cruisers within a day or two, as like minded people are easy to meet. We also experience these remote islands and the unique flora and fauna of land, sea and air. We also participate and explore the local culture, traditions and cuisine.
As you may recall, we are on a slow westward path, enjoying as much LIFE as possible. A Sailing Adventure continues to be our theme, so we headed to the Southern islands of Marquesas. April we visited the Society Islands (Huahine, Bora Bora and Maupiti) and then left French Polynesia by our visa expiration date. We may stop at Niue Island, adventure around the islands of Tonga, sail toward Fiji, first stopping at the amazing dive spot called Beveridge, and end up in September in Fiji.
“Then what??” The Pacific Ocean is too large for Sea Bella to cross in one season (unless we don’t stop much) So she needs to stay in and around Fiji for the next cyclone season Nov-Mar. Fiji has safe harbor marinas, if needed, and 500ish, pristine islands to cruise around. Looking forward to it all! Stay tuned…
You might wonder what sailors do all day on their long ocean passages? It depends on the comfort factor of the sea state and your boat. We just completed a 900 mile passage, which took us 7 days. 💨 We had wind mostly behind us, at the stern, so Sea Bella was thankfully rather flat the first few days.
However, Mariners call this section of the Pacific the “dangerous middle” as the seas get confused. Stay with me on this. We saw swell of 10 feet for 2 days, which is the primary South swell. But, this area also has a small swell coming from both the North and the West. It’s also called the convergence zone. Primarily the swell was our port flank, slapping us along and lifting us up and down. Sea Bella does great, gliding, cutting and surfing down the big wave fronts. Making 11 knots of boat speed on some rides. 🌊
But, this makes for a lot of movement on the boat, which means no cooking, and not much walking about. Imagine brushing your teeth or using the restroom! Hold on! The last day King Neptune must have been grumpy. A huge 5 mile squall presented in front of us, on my watch! Reduce sail, put another reef in, furl the Genoa, take out the staysail, grab two rain jackets, Stow everything! It was a long night. As for watch schedules; Scott and I typically split up (1 in the comfy cockpit on watch and 1 in the salon with table made into a king bed). Over a premade meal and watching sunrise or sunset we discuss weather, sail configuration, and other happenings. ☀️ Either watch, we read, write, watch a movie, listen to audible, play online puzzles, stargaze, fish… or when weather gets crazy, it’s sail management.
As for watch schedules, it’s pretty loose for us. Scott does roughly sunset to midnight, I do midnight to dawn (ish) (this doesn’t guarantee the other is sleeping like a baby in the choppy conditions) 😴 Daylight hours its mostly Scott’s watch, with a few naps breaks. If you recall, Sea Bella has a partially enclosed, center cockpit. I made comfy cushions and pillows, but, you may know that the South Pacific has random but short bursts of rain, cause for an urgent rain drill and stowing 😂 We have noticed that passages always take a few days to get into this rhythm, but overall they are not too bad.
Our World Adventure 