https://share.garmin.com/denovo . This might include some shore adventures as our InReach is also our only form of emergency contact we bring on hikes!
"Never have we felt as welcome as we did in the islands of Tonga" -Lin and Larry Pardey, Taleisin's Tales: Sailing Towards the Southern Cross Malo e lelei , dear friends and family, I'm happy to be back. I missed writing you all, and I have so many wonderful things to share about our next destination on our journey: Tonga. Given the length of this post, maybe too many wonderful things? If you're heading west, don't skip out on this gem of a country. Please note that I geeked out about Tonga, and I may have provided more information than anybody wanted or needed. I'm also combining multiple months into one post, which I don't normally do. While reading, set an alarm to get up and move your body once in a while. I added photo breaks after each section to help. Stay hydrated. You're in it for the long haul now. Sorry. Tonga Overview Tonga is remote. It consists of 171 islands, totaling 750 square km of land scattered across 700,000 square km of ocea...
"Prevention is, as in other aspects of seamanship, better than cure." --Sir Robin Knox Johnston Kia Orana , dear friends and family, We’re sorry for the long wait between blog posts. We’ve been distracted by the responsibilities of land life and the horrors unfolding here in the United States. But since we’ll return to lovely Tonga soon, we realized we needed to catch up. We still have so much to share. And even during political dumpster fires, people need stories! The Best Laid Plans… At 1400 on July 20th, we pulled anchor in Tapu’amu, Taha’a, and headed south for the pass. It would be 8-10 days to Independent Samoa. We heard about customs issues there, so we ensured all our paperwork was in order. Our lavalavas (Samoan sarongs) were clean and ready to wear for our clearance formalities. I even downloaded basic phrases and numbers in Samoan to study during the passage. With a low-pressure system forecast to form south of our route a week later, it wasn’t ideal w...
"Fofola e fala kae talanoa e kāinga" --a Tongan proverb literally meaning "Lay out the mat so the family can chat," an expression of communal wellbeing, cooperation, and understanding. Malo e lei lei family and friends, We finished the last post at The Boatyard Vava'u in November 2024, after our rudder forced us to turn around from Ha'apai. Once we completed the lengthy to-do list to prepare the boat for an extended stay in the tropics, we returned to the States the long way. Vava'u to Nadi (Fiji) to Los Angeles to Seattle took about 32 hours(!) with layovers. I suppose it's all relative though. After all, sailing to Vava'u from Seattle took over three years! Being a passenger on an airplane is easy: no night watches to keep, no weather forecasts to check, no reefs to navigate. The plane just goes! Getting Back to De Novo Our return flights were more complicated. We came back in March, before flights from Nadi to Vava'u commenced for t...
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