French Polynesia to Tonga Passage
Bora Bora to VaVa'U Group
Our 90 day visa in paradise came to an end. We left Bora Bora and sailed 1,300 nautical miles to Tonga, it took us 11 days. We had a nice passage, good winds and great fishing. We caught a mahi-mahi and a yellow fin tuna. The tuna was so big we had to maneuver him to the stern swim platform where Gary crawled under our dinghy and gaffed the enormous tuna below. This was a tricky maneuver in a tight confined space full of oncoming waves. I was there holding on to support bringing the tuna and Gary into our cockpit. I was so jubilant when all three of us were on the boat. I can afford to lose the tuna but not Gary.
On our last night sailing, I was at the helm under a full moon as we sailed in closely to the Va’vau group of islands. It was pretty intense sailing near land in the night, these heaps of mangroves, trees and rocks only a quarter mile from our hull. We successfully maneuvered through the channels and then anchored in a bay at night, safely thanks to satellite imagery.
Our timed arrival to Tonga would of been July 4th on French Polynesian time, but we crossed the international dateline at Tonga. Our arrival date was July 5th, we missed July 4th in more ways than one.
