Sailing from Niue to Tonga

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Last Updated on October 1, 2022 by Amy

This afternoon we arrived in the Vava’u group of Tonga. On our way, we crossed the international date line – meaning we lost a day. Which got me thinking – if we just kept doing a east to west circumnavigation over and over again, we would just keep losing days….wtf??

The passage was easy – we left Niue around 8 pm Thursday and arrived in Neiafu early afternoon Sunday, although the trip only took us about 40 hours.

We didn’t have any luck fishing out there. Both nights my watch was pretty clear and star filled as the moon wasn’t rising until David’s shift.

One thing that amazes me about the South Pacific is how different these islands really are. The Marquesas and Societies are ruggedly mountainous, while the Tuamotus are flat shallow atolls. Niue is a giant coral rock with step cliffs and a wide plateau. Here in Tonga, once again the land is an elevated plateau, but it’s rock instead of coral.

On our approach in we encountered a whale – the closest we’ve ever been to one. We were sailing into the entrance of the Vava’u group, and I spotted the spout just off our starboard bow. He was headed in the opposite direction of us, and I spotted his spout a few more times coming towards us, until he broke the surface with his fin, arched, and then flipped us his fluke. He was about 50 feet off our bow at this point, but we knew he’d be diving down and out of sight now. It was stunning!

The Vava’u group is a unique island formation – the largest island provides a very protected but deep bay. There are many cruisers here. The island has provided repeaters all over Vava’u for channel 26 on the VHF, and there’s even a morning net. Several friends are here – Kiwi Beans, Red Thread, Margansie, Nauti Nauti, etc. Looks to be a very social stop!!

I”m looking forward to some hiking, snorkeling, and more whale watching!