SIMMER'S BLUE WATER VOYAGE

8-2-99  Malo e lelei!  That's "Hello" in Tongan.  We arrived in the Kingdom of Tonga after a 12 day - 1,296 mile passage and lost a day in the process.  Tonga is across the international date line, and our arrival on Sunday Aug 1st, quickly became Monday Aug 2nd.  Tonga is geographically east of the dateline (180° Longitude) but the line juts out and around the Tongan archipelago.  Tonga boasts that they are the first country in the world to welcome the dawn of a new day.  What a cool country claim-to-fame.  We are in the northern group of Tongan Islands called the Vava'u Group, position 18°44'S/174°00'W. Tonga consists of three major island groups with over 170 islands, less than 40 inhabited.   Capt.  Cook visited Tonga in 1773, naming them  "The Friendly Islands" and Capt. Bligh had cause to remember Tonga - the BOUNTY mutiny occurred in Tongan waters. The language is a Polynesian variant called Tongan, but many speak English.  Tonga is also the oldest and last remaining Polynesian monarchy.  The King and Queen will visit the Vava'u Group this weekend, maybe we'll get to see some royalty.  Speaking of Queens, we called home today and found out that Pat's Mom is recovering nicely from emergency surgery and working diligently in rehabilitation.  We were so thrilled to hear that good news and send this note forwarding our love and prayers.

8-9-99  Happy Birthday to Pat!  He's mastered the "Happy Birthday" song on the guitar, and played it to himself today.  It's late at night and his birthday is coming to a close, but it was a memorable day.  We are anchored in Vaka'Eitu, a small island in the Vava'u Group of Tonga.  Our South African friends from the boat CHANTECLAIR treated Pat to a Tongan-brewed beer at a tropical cafe on the tiny island.  When we arrived at the cafe we found a pastry chef from Austria, so we had to try the daily special.  His papaya cheesecake was out of this world.  Decadent and delicious!  We chatted with him for awhile, interesting fellow.  What made the cheesecake even more impressive  was that he baked it in a wood burning oven.  Later in the afternoon,  we swam around a coral reef, trying to work off the cheesecake/beer.  We heard humpback whales singing underwater and when we got back to  SIMMER we saw them just on the other side of the reef from the anchorage.  How cool, it was a nice birthday present for Pat.  Tomorrow night we are having a big pot luck birthday party on a 40 ft. catamaran OCEAN SWAN, British friends.  It'll be an international crowd of 11 of us celebrating two birthdays - Pat (8/9) and Bob (8/10).  Bob is an Australian who is nearing completion of his solo-circumnavigation.  Should be fun.   We did see the King last Saturday, but not the Queen.  King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV is over 80 years old and a large man, around 300 lbs.  We couldn't get close enough to get good pictures, but it was an interesting day.  He opened the new town wharf and the fruit/vegetable market, all financed by the European Economic Community (EEC) and the village of Neiafu created a festive day with music, dancing, food and speeches.  The king  wore a black tupenu (knee length skirt that men wear), black sandals and socks, black leather jacket and sunglasses.  Not to be disrespectful to the king, but he did look like a Mafia Don.  Us visitors had to adhere to a very strict Tongan dress code - men had to wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt, no hat allowed.  Women had to wear long dress or skirt with shoulders and ankles covered,  again no hat allowed.  All the cruisers dug out their "Sunday dress" clothes, and we looked pretty spiffy for the king, we hope he was impressed.

8-13-99   Friday the 13th, a rainy, cool day in Tonga.  We're suffering the effects of a cold front blowing off the coast of Australia and the wind has been gusting up to 30 knots.  Not much to do today but collect rainwater, read and bake soft pretzels.  Not quite like "Auntie Anne's", but they'll do.  It's actually sock-wearing weather and we're having soup for dinner.  The weather has been much cooler here in Tonga.  We've resorted to wearing our wetsuits when we snorkel instead of just a tee shirt.  We haven't worn our wetsuits since swimming in the Bahamas.   We've been enjoying cruising here in Tonga and meeting the locals.  The Tongan people are very skilled carvers, using various local woods,  bones and shells.  They are also excellent basket weavers and we plan to bring home a few souvenirs. They are very conservative in dress, wearing long skirts and woven mats wrapped around their waists.  The woven mat skirt is a sign of respect for elders and the royal family.  There is a strict "Sunday law" in Tonga - no activities, except church.  Tongan's cannot even swim on Sunday! 

8-21-99   We've been exploring the beautiful Vava'u islands and spent the last couple days in a sheltered lagoon on Hunga island.   We saw a pod of 5 or 6 humpback whales while sailing there, 2 came as close as 100 feet from our port side, blowing and displaying their tales.  Then we spotted another pod lobtailing, breaching, jumping almost completely out of the water.  What a great sight., they are massive creatures!  Last night we celebrated with some British cruising friends and had dinner at a wonderful open-air restaurant - Club Hunga.  We had yellowfin tuna baked in coconut cream and many local Tongan vegetables - breadfruit, taro, sweet potato, kassava (tapioca), and a green leaf vegetable like spinach, but we can't pronounce or spell the name.  We had a warm papaya cobbler for desert, yum.  Hapi, the owner and cook, invited us to watch the meal preparation and explained the Tongan recipes.  She even made us French fries, or "chips" out of three different root vegetables as an appetizer - breadfruit, taro and tapioca.  The meal was excellent.  Hapi's niece, Kulaya, accompanied a small  group of us into the village of Hunga (20 minute trek through the woods) on Sunday.  We listened to singing from the 5 different churches in the village - Church of Tonga, Mormon, Wesleyan, Constitutional, and First Church of Tonga.  The village is very primitive, no electricity or plumbing, with lots of pigs, goats and dogs running about, and about 200 people.   It was an interesting experience and each church invited us in to be a part of the service, but we really weren't properly dressed so we just sat outside and listened to their hymns.  The Tongans have beautiful voices, unaccompanied by any type of instrument.   Sadly enough, our time in Tonga is winding down.  We've enjoyed these magical islands and would like to spend more time exploring, but the Pacific cyclone season is quickly approaching and we have to be on our way.

8-26-99 Bula!  Pronounced "boo-lah", hello in Fijian.  We arrived in Savusavu, Fiji after a boisterous sail from Tonga with winds 20-30 kts on our stern accompanied by big waves to surf and push us along.  Our average boat speed was 6.2 kts for the 425 miles passage - pretty fast for SIMMER.  We crossed into the Eastern Hemisphere just before arriving in Fiji at the 180th meridian - 180° longitude and we are now out of Polynesia and into the area of Oceania known as Melanesia.  Our position is 16°46'S/179°20'E (notice the E for East, instead of W for West).  Fiji is a group of 332 islands and atolls. Most of the larger islands are ancient volcanic peaks, some are limestone, and others are atolls with low lying coral formations.  The windward sides of the larger islands are very lush and tropical and the leeward sides are mostly dry .  Sugar cane is Fiji's main product   Savusavu is located on the second largest island - Vanua Levu.  It is a sleepy little town, well sheltered on Na Kama Creek.  Fiji is a fully sovereign and independent nation with dominion status in the British Commonwealth since 1970, and   Fijian, English and Indian are spoken.  The population of Fiji is about half Fijian and half Indian, the Indian population a result of British importation of indentured labor during 1879-1916 to work in the sugar cane fields. There is a history of friction between the Fijian and Indian population.  In 1987, for the first time in history the native Fijian government was controlled by the Indians as a result of national elections.   Shortly after the election, 2 military coups occurred which put Fijians back in control.  Today there is still political unrest in Fiji, although we haven't seen any evidence of it yet.  (We heard there were several bombings recently near the capital of Suva - we plan to stay away from that big city).  The village here in Savusavu is an interesting mix of Fijian and Indian business.  Food and services are very inexpensive - last night the Savusavu Yacht Club had a steak barbecue - what a great deal - steak, baked potato, and salad for $6.00 Fijian, which translates to $3.00 US.   Colleen got a haircut yesterday for $4.00 Fijian ($2.00 US).   We hope to spend about 3 weeks in Fiji, visiting some of the smaller, out of the way islands and meeting the natives.

 8-31-99  Well, it's one year now since we left Toms River, NJ to head out for our blue water voyage.  Time for us to reminisce about where we've been, what we've seen, people we've met, what we've learned about the world and ourselves.  We've sailed almost 10,000 miles since leaving Toms River and we're not even a third of the way around the world.  And what an interesting and colorful world it is!  We've had a blast so far, looking forward to the next 10,000 miles!  Yesterday we hopped on a local bus and rode 2 hours across the island to the old capital of Fiji - Labasa.  Great scenery on the way - sugar cane fields, waterfalls, mongooses, goats, oxen, and lush pastures.  Until we got to the other side, then it was much drier and not quite as lush.  The city of Labasa is an Indian-dominant city and was bustling with Indian shops, selling everything under the sun - flour, tires, shoes, eggs, clothes, electronics, incense, souvenirs - all in the same shop.  What a variety.  We ate lunch at an Indian restaurant - we had a couple beers, vegetable curry, and fish and chips, all for less than $5.00 US, and it was good food.  Today we are finalizing our flights back to the US from Australia.   Looks like we'll be home for Christmas and the new Millenium, YEAH!  We haven't finalized the bookings yet, but we should be home from the 1st week in Dec '99 through the 2nd week in Feb '00.  We'll give an update once we have tickets in hand. Sorry no pictures yet from Fiji, hopefully with the next web update.