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Sailing: tonga to new Zealand

Vacation had become less satisfying the past couple of years and seemed to consist of eating, drinking and coming home with a muffin top. 

 We started talking about using our vacation time for yoga retreats and more fulfilling adventures. 

While brainstorming Chris mentioned looking for a boat to crew on.

We had recently began watching YouTube sailing videos, and we had both found ourselves with a growing desire to know more about the sailing world. 

We talked a lot about one day buying our own boat and circumnavigating the globe. 

Crewing for some experience sounded amazing, so we started looking at forums that were dedicated to finding crew for passages. 

Shortly after we came across Tom and Deb and their boat Foxy Kitty.

They were looking for a couple to help them transport their boat from Tonga to New Zealand for the winter season. 

 It sounded really exciting, and we were due for a visit to my family in New Zealand anyway, so we could incorporate that into the trip as well. 

After practicing our sailing knots for months, October finely rolled around and it was time to try out our sea legs. 

We made a stop in Singapore where we met up with my little sister for a few days, had some amazing food and finally got to stay in the Marina Bay Sands hotel with the famous infinity pool, which had been on our bucket list for years. 

Our flight from Singapore to New Zealand was long and we were sleep deprived and ready for bed by the time we arrived in Auckland.

Tom and Deb picked us up from our hotel early the next morning.

It was really nice to finely meet them, and our first impression was good. They seemed like a pretty typical Kiwi couple and thankfully the conversations flowed, without too much awkwardness. 

They took us out for a delicious lunch, a few beverages and a nice walk on the beach before taking us back to our hotel. 

Chris and I flew from Auckland to Fiji the following day, and after a day in Fiji we were finely on our way to the kingdom of Tonga, where we would be meeting back up with Tom and Deb and setting sail. 

 

ALL ABOARD FOXY KITTY

When we met back up with Tom and Deb, Tom seemed a bit stressed and apparently there were some boat issues that would need to be fixed before we could set sail. 

The generator was broken, and I soon found out this would mean we would have to be ultra conservative with water and electricity for the next three weeks. 

 Because the water maker ran off of the generator we would only have what the tanks held, which would be more than plenty, but still would require some conservation. 

This would  mean quick rinses off but no showers as well as having to be extra careful when washing dishes etc. 

I didn’t know then, but would soon find out, that our every move would be watched whenever it came to things that had anything to do with power or water on the boat. 

On top of all this, the day we had met them in Auckland, they had given us a blender for smoothies to bring with us to lighten up their load a bit. 

When we met them in Tonga, we realized that we had left the boxed up blender at the airport. 

We felt really stupid, but immediately called a cab to drive us back to the airport. 

It would take us close to an hour round trip, and the chances that our lost blender was even still there were slim. 

Thankfully we had a friendly cab driver and I was glad since I had to wait with him while Chris went into the airport. 

It took about 45 min for him to track the blender down, but it was there thank goodness! 

We had escaped Tom’s wrath so far…

It took us a full day to get the boat in ship shape, but that evening as we drank margaritas and ate fresh fish and chips everyone seemed a little more relaxed.  

The first week we island hopped throughout Tonga and it was lovely to wake up to the cool fresh sea air every morning. 

We explored islands, snorkled through caves, read a lot of books, and mostly just relaxed for that first week. 

One afternoon we saw water spouts in the distance from what we knew instantly were from hump back whales. 

It was a mama whale and her baby!

 

 

We stopped in a couple of small towns along the way to stock up on fresh fruit and vegies

 

 

It was on one of these stops that Tom lost his passport.  He didn’t realize that it was gone until a couple of days later when we had already sailed quite a ways away from the island. 

We backtracked the next morning and once again set out on a search for something lost. I was so thankful, that it wasn’t Chris or I who had lost our passport!

It was a Holiday in Tonga, so unfortunately the immigration office was closed. At least there was no one there. However the door was unlocked and Tom went inside to search for his missing passport. 

I was sure that the Tongan police would show up at any minute and Tom would be arrested for trespassing on official property. 

After a while he came out empty handed. 

There was nothing left for us to do but retrace our steps we had taken when the passport was lost and go see if the police station was open. 

Chris and I waited out side as Tom and Deb went into the police station, and came out a while later with huge smiles on their faces. 

Someone had turned it in! The Tongan Police man said that we were extremely lucky to have found it!

Crisis averted once again, we got back on Foxy Kitty and headed out to do some more island hopping. 

 MINERVA REEF

After an adventure filled week exploring Tonga it was time to set out for the open sea. 

If the weather held up and all went according to plan we would be stopping at the Minerva Reefs for a couple of days before the long passage to New Zealand.

The Minerva Reefs are a group of two submerged atolls in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji and Tonga. 

North Minerva is much more popular with sailors and so of course Tom chose to go to south Minerva. 

We had learn’t by this time that Tom was a bit reclusive, and avoided crowds at all costs. 

This was fine by us, and it was a pleasant surprise when we showed up at the reef and were the only boat there. 

I thought about skipping the snorkling trip that afternoon, so I could get a break from the lovely Tom and Deb, but at the last minute I got FOMO and decided to go. 

I’m so glad that I did, because it was the best snorkling i’ve experienced to date. 

I think I saw every color in the rainbow and everything was so vibrant and healthy. 

 

Later that afternoon we took the dinghy over to the reef and took a stroll on the reef.

 walking on the beautiful reef, knowing that we were squishing and mostly likely killing hundreds of little creatures beneath our feet was far from ideal. Chris and I walked as gingerly as possible always looking down. 

It was surreal to be out in the middle of the ocean walking on a reef. The experience was nothing short of spectacular.

We thought we would have more time at the reef, but mother nature decided differently, and we had to get moving much sooner than expected. 

We set sail for the endless expanse of open water in the evening and I felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness as we caught our last glimpse of the reefs, the last land we would see for the next 9 to 12 days.

We had a couple of calm days before the wind started, and I spent a lot of time sitting on the bow of the boat just looking out at the open sea. 

I discovered quickly that night watches were my least favorite part of sailing. 

The shifts started at 6 pm nightly and lasted for 3 hours. 

We were to wake up the next person after our shift ended. 

Tom’s shift always followed mine so for nine days I had to go down to their cabin and as gently as possible wake him up to take over for me. 

He was a sound sleeper and most of the time I had to violently shake his foot and loudly whisper, being conscious to not to wake up Deb, to get him up.

This awkward routine became annoying quickly and my incessant headache didn’t help out the matter. 

When my night shifts came to a blissful end I got to go back to our tiny bed where I would toss and turn for the duration of the night as Foxy Kitty smashed through one wave after the next. 

The gale force winds started in the middle of the night the third night of the passage. 

The sound the boat made as it climbed to the top of a wave and soon after came crashing down is something I will never forget. 

However, the sound was pleasant compared to the bodily sensation that these crashing of boat off waves caused. I felt like a puppet as my whole body would shake violently after each one. 

One night I was startled out of my restless sleep by what I can only describe as a gunshot or perhaps the boat breaking in two. 

Chris was out of bed in a flash and when he came back, I learnt that one of the back stays had snapped. 

Apparently, the naked Tom, which was nothing unusual, was on watch at the time and managed to get everything under control pretty quickly. 

After two or three miserable days like this, the seas finely calmed down.

THE GLOWING DOLPHIN

One night while Tom was on watch he came rushing in and telling everyone to wake up and come out on the bow. 

He said he was sorry, but that It would be completely worth it. 

I pulled my delirious self out of bed and made my way up to the bow where the naked Tom was sitting. 

The first thing I noticed was the eerie glow of the plentiful phosphorescence in the breaking waves underneath us. 

Than to my delight I saw a dolphin swimming just ahead of the boat in perfect unison with us. 

Gracefully Jumping in and out of the waves covered in the phosphorescence he appeared to be glowing. 

This is perhaps one of the most magical pictures that will ever be captured in my mind. 

LAND-HO

As miserable as the passage was at times, the glowing dolphin, humpback whales, Minerva Reef and stunning sun rises, and sun sets every day made my seasickness and lack of sleep totally worth it. 

A few grueling night watches later I woke up early one morning to an unfamiliar smell and as I looked out our little cabin window, I saw the most beautiful thing only one at sea for the last 9 days can truly appreciate. LAND!

Chris and I literally could not get off of Foxy Kitty fast enough and an appreciation for unmoving land was something we would never again take for granted. 

We were really excited about our next 12 days in New Zealand where we could eat, drink, sleep and shower whenever and as much as we wanted. 

It took me a while to get my land legs back and for a good 3 or 4 night I would wake up in the middle of the night and the room would literally be bouncing all around me. 

WHATS NEXT

We have been asked many times since if we still want to buy a boat and circumnavigate after our experience from Tonga to New Zealand. 

The answer is always yes!

It was challenging being on somebody else’s boat and thrown together with strangers that we couldn’t escape from for 3 whole weeks. 

I’ll be honest the passage was pretty miserable at times. I think It would have been a completely different experience, If I hadn’t been in someone else’s space feeling hovered over and watched all the time. 

A hot shower and a few other small comforts would have made the experience so much more pleasant. 

Still, I was able to look past the less than perfect parts of the adventure, and in the end I would do it all over again.

We watch weekly and follow closely about 4 or 5 sailing couples/families that live on their boats and are currently circumnavigating. 

We are very drawn to their lifestyles as well as the way they are raising their children. 

No doubt a life at sea has many complications. Constant boat maintenance, making a living remotely and living in a small space are just a few of the realities you have to face when choosing this life. 

What we really love about this alternative lifestyle is mostly the ability to travel and explore the world from our home. Being able to  move from place to place while cooking in my own kitchen, and sleeping in my own bed sounds like the best of both worlds!

We also really like the idea of our children growing up surrounded by nature and learning from a young age to appreciate the beautiful world we live in. 

The children of the sailing families we watch are very educated, well rounded, happy little people. 

There is a very large sailing community/family out there, and there are constant opportunities for social interaction for both adults and children.  

 Chris and I are very motivated to give our children the opportunity for this kind of lifestyle.

So, one day we will make our transition from land to sea, but until then we will continue to learn, study, prepare and dream about a life on the water. 

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