16-10-2000:
Written at Tonga by the crew on S/Y Dream: Dennis, Susan, Emil, Stine,
Morten and Rasmus.
Last
you heard from us we had just arrived at Tongatapu, the mainisland in the
Tonga group. We forgot to tell you that humpbacks at the approach to
Tongatapu met us. They escorted us and even jumped out of the water- we
filmed it.
In
the last volume of Dream Times we also forgot to tell you that we
naturally managed to pee in the Tonga-Kermadec Trench- all seamen have
pissed in deep waters- that is when it is deeper than 10 km. There are not
many charts concerning Tonga. The charts have measurements back to 1890
and not updated since so you have to be on the ball when you navigate in
the waters of Tonga. We arrived at Nukualofa, the capital. 3 other boats
were in the harbour with a bower anchor in the basin
and 2 lines ashore from the back of the boat! The harbour manoeuvre
was all right but when you are moored like that it is a good thing to have
a dinghy to use when you have to bring the 2 lines ashore. We had no air
in our dinghy and it would take 10 minutes-
quite a long period of time to dash around in the basin. A New
Zealand sailor, we have met him on Galapagos, came to help us. His name is
John and he sails a dashing traditional sailing boat- Nakoni. He was
waiting for his sister who was to help him on his way to New Zealand. He
had spent 24 years abroad and was now on his way home to New Zealand.
Among other things he had worked as a photographer in Hollywood. He had
some good shots of well known actors hanging in his boat. He had spent a
long time in USA so of course he had video on board- all Americans have!
So we were invited to watch a video film- nice with some passive
entertainment.
6
hours after our arrival Marco was put on a plane to Denmark and now we
were only 5 on board. We met a nice couple on a New Zealand boat- Kiwel
Malaya. They had built the boat themselves in America and was now on their
way home to New Zealand in it. Tim was originally American but Adrienne
came from New Zealand. We decided to have a barbecue together with the
other sailors. The party was held in Britta´s back garden. Britta is
Danish she had lived 15 years in Tonga. We had a very fine party.
One
of the big traditions on Tonga is wood carving. The wood carvers are very
skilled and we met one in Nukualofa. He showed us how he worked. We had
imagined that he would use only a hammer and a wood chisel, but
developments have also come to Tonga. He started his power chain saw and
cut the figure roughly. He was very clever and we were asked what we
wanted him to do. We suggested a humpback, with a little baby whale
underneath, jumping out of the water. After 1.5 hours we had the nicest
sculpture- he only used chisel and gouge for the last 10 minutes-the rest
was machines. Unfortunately it is very difficult to have such a sculpture
on the boat so we did not buy it. We invited him to the boat, he had shown
us how he worked now we wanted to show him how we lived. He was very
interested and asked a lot about navigation but still he could not
understand how we could sail in this boat all the way from Denmark.
After
some relaxing days in
Nukualofa we hit for the Haápai islands. They consist of about 69 small
islands of which 17 are inhabited. We decided to go to the Haáfeva island
because it had an accessible berth and because there were good snorkelling
possibilities (high priority). We arrived tired in the morning and went to
sleep. When we woke in the afternoon and found ourselves reasonable to
meet with people we took the dinghy. We were greeted warmly by the people
who were working in the small fields. They were cutting the straw which
were to be used for the mat-looking blankets/skirts that every
self-respecting Tonga inhabitant wore. They are used by women as well as
men and they indicate affluence as they are very expensive. Even younger
modern women use them over their fashionable clothes.
Everybody
were very hospitable and we were invited for dinner by a woman who spoke
English fluently. We were
seated on 2 blankets and in front of us she placed 2 trays: one with white
potato looking root crops and one with green parcels made of banana
leaves. Everything was prepared in a traditional underground stove (a big
iron pot buried in the sand) The heat comes from stones heated in a fire.
They leave it in the ground almost a whole day . Inside the banana leaves
we found a delicious mixture of pork, coconut milk and the leaves from the
root crops. Everything was boiled till tender and tasted fantastic
together with the root crops. We all had too much to eat and in addition
we had bananas and coconuts which the children just had fetched for us. We
managed to drag ourselves to the ship just before the total darkness
caught the little island.
The
next day we snorkelled at an old wreck where we saw lots of table chorales and the next morning we sat out for Haano- one
of the northern islands. From here we made a night navigation to Vava’u.
When
we were close to Nieafu, the main town of the Vavau´islands we sent out
this short message: Evening Star, Evening Star, Dream. It was very early,
the sun was rising and Sabine’s astonished voice answered in the other
end of the radio and it did not last long, after the Danish ship had
anchored, before the “the crazy Swiss” and “the big German woman”
greeted us on the quay. After we had checked in at Vavaú, Dream sailed
out amongst 10000 other boats and came alongside Evening Star. In spite of
the warnings of many boats, nobody on Dream could, in their wildest
dreams, imagine this amount of boats. The next day Evening Star left for
Fiji and then they are to go to Australia. We departed with tears in our
eyes.
We
came across Rasmus, a 20 year old Dane with lots of humour, like the rest
of the crew. We had met him before and decided to give him our empty berth
so now we are again 6 persons on board.
It
was time to leave Neiafu and cast anchor in a nice blue bay at the island
Vakaetu. A dinghy race started….
After
clearance we left for Langito, an uninhabited island and then further on
to Ofolonga. It is said that there are wild boars on this uninhibited
island, so Emil wanted to give it a try. (We are very hungry for meat
because it is very expensive out here, which means we do not buy any. The
wind was too heavy so Emil could not go ashore and after 2 days we left
for Nukuálofa. The wind was still 20-25 knots but the sea was not too
heavy. We had a good sail with lots of speed.
We
arrived at Nukuálofa Oct 10 and on entering we met the New Zealand boat
Nakoni. Later we met Tim and Adrienne, they were ready to help.
A
little later we met with Nic and Sanne but unfortunately they had to leave
the next day. We did make arrangements for a Christmas lunch when we all
have arrived at New Zealand.
Now
René will join us in a couple of days-we are looking forward to seeing
him again.