We’re back! (After a long silence - my apologies.) We’ve crossed the International Date Line and feel like Australia is just around the corner. We are currently anchored along with about 75 other boats in little, bustling Nieafu in Tonga’s Vava’u group. After spending the past month basically off the grid, being among all these other boats and being able to use the internet and spend money on things like french fries and beer makes life feel both easier and more complicated. We’ll spend a few days in town before heading off the explore as much of Tonga’s hundreds of beautiful inlets, bays and islands as possible.
Because it’s been so difficult to update the blog and catch up as time goes by, I have decided to change the format so that I can share what we’re doing more frequently. In the future, I’ll save the longer posts for the Log Book and update the blog with more current photos and stories. Hopefully that will allow everyone to follow along as it happens.
For now, here’s a photo our friend Joe took of me, our dinghy, and a humpback whale. No big deal… We spent a truly unforgettable two days anchored at a fully submerged reef in the middle of the ocean and swimming with whales. I can't describe how how it felt to be that close to such huge, graceful animals. They were as curious about us as we were about them and looking them in their massive eyes was powerful, to say the least.
Beveridge Reef provides safe anchorage in its enclosed lagoon, and if you time it right with the weather it can be totally serene and entirely surreal. The whales spout and splash on the outside of the lagoon as breakers crash on the reef, and once the sun goes down, a thick wash of stars is illuminated overhead. We almost passed by Beveridge, feeling like we were in a hurry to get to Tonga. But we are so glad we didn’t. We feel lucky to have experienced a place like this, especially with the dead calm, flat as a lake conditions we got.
More photos to come soon. Stay tuned!