As you know Mike and I have been in the States the last several weeks.  We’ve enjoyed seeing family and friends.  We’ve attended football games and hockey games.  We even managed a surprise birthday party for Mike in November!!!! We also made it back to Key Largo, FL to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving with Mike’s family.   We are ready to return to the boat next week which is with Gary in New Zealand.

The boat will be hauled out January 7th and lots of work and maintenance to be done.  We will then take turns with Gary leaving the boat and spending time touring the land.  We will get back to regular pictures on the website as well.

We will spend the next four months in New Zealand, which is summer time there.  After that we head to Fiji and don’t know yet how long we will be there.

We wish you all the Happies of Holidays!  Life is Good….Be sure to live it!

New Zealand
Moments In Time

Its hard to describe the beauty of what I am looking at right now. I left Opua and went to a little uninhabited Island about 2 hours away called Motuarohia. Captain Cook dropped anchor here Nov.29 1769. I and another boat are the only ones in the bay. The sun is setting . In the background or were I came from are mountains and open grass lands of mainland NZ, all this spanning a 180’ view. In front of me is the little island with a beautiful beach.

It is the next day at the same Island. Late in the day I went ashore to look around and found a path that went to the top of a hill 500’ up. So I started the climb and made it to the top, and OH MY GOD what a view. On one side is the bay I am anchored in with a beautiful beach. The other side ( the island is only 200yards wide and ½ mile long) is rugged rock outcroppings. So you have in front of you these contrasting views. Then all around you is water and other Islands as this part of NZ is called the Bay Of Islands. Then in addition you have NZ in the background with its rolling hills and grass lands. It is a beautiful blue shy contrasting with the deep blue/green water and the lush green Islands. On the rock side the ocean is breaking so you also have those sounds. Then above me are sea birds riding the thermals over the Island never moving their wings just effortlessly floating. Sorry I do not have a camera or I would have shared a picture.

The next day I left the above Island and went to Urupukapuka Isl.a short distance away and I hiked for about 2 hours around that Island taking in all the beauty. It is now the next day and I am sailing to Poor Knights Island (lat. 35 53” S, Long. 174 43” E) about 30 miles away and 15 miles offshore from mainland NZ. It is a cool day 70 F, but the sun is out with a blue, blue sky. I have the spinnaker up in a 10 knot breeze and I am doing 5 knots.

It was a great 5 hour sail with two hours of optional clothing sun bathing enroute. I felt a little like Cap. Cook exploring the Islands. The only difference was that I have electronic charts and he did not even know that NZ existed. WOW that was an adventure. Anyways it looked like a beautiful place, but I could not find a safe place to anchor so I sailed another 2 hour to mainland NZ and stopped at Tutukaka to take on fuel and water as the water maker went out and I was getting to the point of needing a shower. In addition I needed to get Internet access to send this.

I will be leaving here in a day and sailing to Great Barrier Island (nothing to do with Great Barrier reef in Australia).

I am not going to have regular access to the Internet anymore as the Satellite connection costs way to much. So these updates may be a day or two late or early.

The adventure continues

Love Gary

After 7 days and 1100miles of Ocean, we made landfall in Opua New Zealand (latitude 35 19’ S, Long. 174 07’E). That is 5000 miles south of Charlevoix, MI. Colby will tell you about the passage.

Now that I am here I am a little apprehensive. First off we are coming from were the temperature has been 85 to maybe a low of 75 at night. Here it is 72 for a high and down to 60 at night and this is summer here. Today I woke up and there was fog on the water. The water temperature in Tonga was 78 and here it is 55.(no diving for me in New Zealand). I am going to have to go out and buy a pair of shoes, socks and long underwear.

Then there are the number of boats 100’s, just in this anchorage. There are not going to be to many, if any anchorages were we are 1 of 5 boats. In addition we will be here for 4 months. I think if I had my way I would take my chances with the cyclones in the Islands.

O.K. so you say, what the heck is he complaining about. For many of you winter is just around the corner. Who knows, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised

So anyways the adventure continues

Love Gary

Hello all,

This is Colby. 174 hours of traveling on a boat with 2 other people! Not something many people experience. We started off at about 8am, which was nice because we got to get up, have breakfast, take a last shower with a motionless boat, and tidy up a bit. Nicole took the first “shift” from 0800-1200. During the day we were doing 4 hour shifts 8am-12pm, 12pm-4pm, 4pm-8pm. Then we would do 3 hour shifts at night, 8pm-11pm, 11pm-2am, 2am-5am and 5am-8am. With there only being 3 people, this allowed for the shifts to change for everyone daily, which could get very confusing after the 3rd or 4th day when you start to get tired. It was nice though because it created a since of change instead of monotony.

A shift would basically be sitting at the helm for the 3 or 4 hour period, making sure we were still headed the correct direction, weren’t going to run into any other boats, and probably the most important thing, making sure the sails stayed full of wind. That sounds easy enough, but for a power boater like me it took sometime. All the other passages I have made were on a power boat where you set your course, turn on the autopilot and away you go, no matter what the wind direction. Very different on a “blow boat.” You are constantly looking at the top of the mast to check the wind vane, and looking at the “tell tails” on the sail. It got easier as the days went on, and I feel much more comfortable. Now I have made this sound pretty easy so far, but I did not tell you about the night shifts. First of all, you are probably tired, but NO SLEEPING at the helm, right Gary? Now that is a bit difficult because the boats moving right along, the swells are gentle and all you can here is the water passing by with the wind, but you have to keep a look out for other boats and to ensure you moving the right way. I may have fallen asleep a few minutes here and there (don’t tell Nicole). We did not see another boat until we were 30-40 miles from New Zealand so that made the travels a lot easier.

For the first 2.5 days of the trip we experienced 15-20 knot winds out of the SE, which made for great sailing. We were making about 8.5 knots on average and thought the trip was going to be great. We made the first 500 miles in those three days, then the wind switched direction and died quite a bit. We ended up motor sailing at about 5.5 knots, going in directions that were sometime 60 degrees off from the point we were aiming for, which is part of sailing I am told. This was the part that was new to me. Needless to say the last half of the trip took us 4.5 days, which, on the last two days, seemed like it would never end. Gary, Nicole and I started to get a little anxious at that point, but then on the last morning, land was spotted of the Starboard bow, and we all got excited.

As Gary said, the passage from Nuku’alfoa, Tonga to Opua, New Zealand was around 1100 nautical miles. That means when we were in the middle of our route, we were 550 nautical miles from the nearest land. Now that is not completely true, there were a couple of islands out there that the charts said to stay away from because there is so much Volcanic activity that they don’t know how big the islands are and how many may have formed since the last survey. Besides those little volcanoes there was nothing, not another boat, no dolphins or whales, just the 3 of us and a whole lot of water. It is an experience I wish everyone could have. The sea is a beautiful thing and on those watches you have time to look at her with open eyes. You get a real understanding of how small and insignificant we really are. We had great weather for the most part, but one night the wind started blowing and the seas picked up. We were in about 30 knots of wind with 10 foot seas, nothing compared to the night Mike, Marnie and Gary had a while back, but it still showed us how strong she could be at any given time.

It has been a great time here with Gary on board the “Shellette.” We are sad to be leaving but are excited to take some time to see New Zealand, on land! If you are ever afforded the opportunity to spend sometime on board I would suggest it with out any hesitation!

Thank you Gary, and Mike and Marnie, even though we missed you both!!!

Love Colby

I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. We all certainly have a lot to be thankful for. May we all get a chance in life to share our blessings with others.

Nicole, Colby and myself will celebrate at Sea as we are still 300 miles from New Zealand. We are going to have stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes and squash. (not many turkeys in this part of the world).

I am grateful to be sailing around with the two men I love most in my life, and to have the opportunity to see this part of the world. I thank God for all my blessings and wish you all a happy, healthy and “full-filling” holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. This year is very special for Nicole and I, being able to spend it out here in the middle of the South Pacific with Gary. I am very thankful to have been given the opportunity to be on this trip. It has certainly made me aware of how lucky we all are to live where we live, enjoy all the things we have in front of us, and to be surrounded by those that we love. Enjoy your day!!

Love

Gary, Nicole and Colby

Goodbye Lovely
Tonga

Tonga is most certainly the undiscovered paradise of the Pacific. It has to be one of the least known and yet best cruising area that I have come across. We all have heard of Tahiti, Bora Bora and Fiji, but Tonga, is it an Island or what??? This is an amazing place. Hundreds of coral Islands over an area of 150 miles. 90% of them are uninhabited and everyone of them is surround by beautiful sand beaches. The waters are a kaleidoscope of colors. From deep blue to navy to light blue to turquoise than green, all contrasting with sky blue. More blues than a big box of crayolas have.

Best of all the people are beautiful. Can you imagine what the French have done to the French Polynesians’ disposition over time? Well Tonga is totally independent with a king and all. The other night I was sitting on the boat at a new Island called Oua. It is about sunset and I look to shore and see a lot of people at the very small village dock. Well to find out it was the men of the village getting into their fishing boats to go fishing for the night, maybe 6 boats with 3 men per boat. The boats are wood and the flotation/ life jackets are inter tubes. They go out and get Octopus (they are out at night) and they smoke it and sell on Nuku’alofa, the big Island where the King resides. So anyways we decide to go in and we bring an 18 pack of Budweiser which we give to one of the fisherman, and a pack of chocolate in case we find any kids. This village was even more third world than any other one we have visited so far. No cars, mopeds no roads, just dirt paths. Maybe 200 people live in the village. As we start walking around the village we get our first four kids. By the time we finish we have 20 kids following us. That’s when I start passing out the chocolate to all the kids (ages 3-12). The whole experience was hard to describe as it was very spiritual for me. We took some pictures of the kids and the next morning brought some 8 x 10s to the school(one is attached). What a world is out there!!!!!!!!

So as implied by the title, we are on our way to Opua, New Zealand a 1000 mile 7 day trip. The adventure continues.

Love Gary

Colby is busy on his watch so I will write a little today. As dad says, Tonga was a great experience! And as usual when visiting a foreign land, Colby and I collected quite a few souvenirs along the way.
The locals here are very much into carving. It seems to be the major form of art here – and they really can carve anything. We saw whale bones, ox bones, shells and corals carved into a multitude of designs – all which have their own meaning. Some carvings were small necklaces while others were gigantic 15 foot long, life-like images of whales and their calves.
While we traveled the islands, we searched the markets for a souvenir to take home to Alaska to remind us of this beautiful place and its friendly people. We found a few wooden carvings that we liked of whales and an octopus, but Colby knew he wanted something even more special…
You see Colby has been following the humpback whales around for years. First in Hawaii, then Alaska and now Tonga. The whales here though are a different kind than the ones we get in Alaska. These ones come to Tonga in the summer to mate and have their calves, and then around this time of year, they start swimming down to Antarctica.
We didn’t expect to see any here because it is so late in the season. We thought they would be well on their way south. But one day, while we were sailing to the island that dad was talking about, we saw one. A South Pacific humpback whale breaching out of the ocean a few hundred yards ahead of us. It kept leaping and head slapping, and waving its huge flippers in the air at us – its bright white stomach shining in the sun.
And that is when Colby decided what his souvenir should be. He wanted a tattoo of a humpback whale- a Tongan design.
So when we got back to the main island of Nuku’alofa, dad had his regular taxi driver, John, try and find us a tattoo artist since we could not seem to locate any in town. John came through for us and found us a young artist who has been teaching himself to tattoo since he was 16 years old. He did not have a portfolio or any pictures to show us of his work. We weren’t sure what to think, but Colby went along with it gamely. He stood in the dusty driveway of someone’s house while this guy sketched the shape of a whale on his arm with a ball point pen.
We then followed him into his “shop for the day”. It was a concrete shack on the property. Inside was dust and cobwebs. They laid a mat on the hard floor with an old dirty pillow and had Colby take off his shirt and lie down there. And that is where Chris, the tattoo artist, did his work – on the floor of this little shack and operating the machine with his feet. His friends stood around the whole day and talked and laughed with us. We got an inside scoop of the Tongan culture, family and their own personal dreams. It was a great experience.
Well to make a long story short – Colby now has an awesome, and quite large, tattoo of a Tongan humpback whale design on his left shoulder. I myself was so inspired by Chris’s free-handed artwork that I too laid on the dusty ground and got a lovely, unique design on my shoulder.
And so we left Tonga with the ultimate souvenirs – ones we can look at forever.

Love Nic

We have had a great time sailing around Tonga again. From Nuku’alofa to the Vava’u group in the north. We will stop at few new Islands in the middle Ha’apai group on the way back. It has been fun sailing with Nicole and Colby. Nicole is the navigator and takes it pretty seriously as one should.

We have done a few dives enroute and the coral has been beautiful with 100ft of visibility. In the Virgin Islands visibility was normally 30ft. On one dive I came upon two Lion fish together in a little cave. One was a foot long and the other 8 inches. At first I thought they were plants but upon closer inspection I realized they were rarely spotted Lion fish, at least they were the first I have ever seen.

The whales have left Tonga for Antarctica and soon we must leave for New Zealand ( a 7day 1000mile trip). We will probably leave latter in the week but never on a Friday.

Love Gary

So now for Captain Nicole

As dad said, we have been sailing all around the Tongan Islands for the past week and a half. We have had great weather for sailing, and when we finally reach our destination, we spend a lot of time exploring, diving and relaxing. All the lush green islands, huge reefs and sandy beaches really excite the adventurous side of the soul!
Now as some of you may know – I am not the most adventurous person on earth. I am actually an admitted worry wort – a fact my family has been aware of for numerous years. So I was not surprised by my dad’s gift when we arrived in Tonga. Since he knew we would have plenty of time for reading on the trip, he thoughtfully bought me a book for the journey…its title is “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.” Yes, laugh it up…but it really is a good book.
And it is a good thing he got it for me too! Because being out here and doing all these dives out in the middle of the ocean, at random little reefs and islands, really means I have to confront my fears in order to get my head under the water and begin my dive. Of course, dad and Colby are avid divers, and though I have been certified since I was 16, I have always had what one would refer to as a “healthy respect” for the ocean and all its large, man-eating creatures.
Therefore, it is pretty notable that on two of the last dives I have seen white tip reef sharks – one of those creatures of which I would prefer never to have to be sharing a reef with. Colby, being the observant dive instructor, notices them before I do. The first one he saw was when we had just gotten 50 ft below the water at the entrance to a cave dive. I was blissfully unaware of its presence until he tapped me in the shoulder and then made the sign for a shark (flat hand against the forehead). I instantly gripped his shoulders in a death lock, frantically shook my head, and refused to turn around to look at it. I assume that at the time I was deludedly thinking that if I did not see it, it would not see me.
Well, after a minute of worrying, I literally turned around and faced my fear. Ahhhh it was just a little guy! Four feet maybe? Certainly not large enough to bite me in half! And so I confronted my fear and felt quite proud of myself. And as the predator disappeared into the deep blue water, I was able to enjoy the rest of my dive shark-free. J
Of course dad and Colby don’t consider it a big deal to be diving with sharks. It’s old news to them. As most of you read in previous emails, dad has been diving with hundreds of sharks all the way across the Pacific and he is still in one piece. But of course, my dad is the type of person who will never need to read a book about how to stop worrying; he is brave, and rarely scared of anything. He faces problems as they come to him and doesn’t waste time worrying. I am not sure where all my worrying comes from, but I try to learn from my adventurous dad every day we’re down here…and of course I still have to finish that book!

Nicole

Dates 
 
If you remember, the date was rescheduled for Monday night. So, Monday night I went back to where she worked/lived at 6 pm. She was there and I asked her if she still wanted to go out. She said yes, but a girl friend was going also and I figured what the heck the more the merrier. She also said I had to ask Big Mama again ( her Aunt/employer). Well that did not come off to well last time, but I stepped forward and did it again. Now here is this restaurant/bar owner that caters to the sailing crowd and she sees this long haired grubby looking sailor who has been at sea for 6 months and wants to take her nice out. What do you think she says??? Fria has to work tonight. So no more Tongan women!!! 
 
Speaking of dates, have you ever passed the International dateline? One day it is Tuesday Oct 15 and the next minute it is Wednesday Oct. 16. So at this minute it is Sunday Nov. 8, 9:30am and on the east coast it is Sat. Nov.7, 5:30pm. OK enough for dates. 
 
Nicole and Colby(my daughter and son in law) arrived on Wednesday. For the next two weeks we will be sailing Tonga and I am going to have them share with you their experiences on the trip. So here is Colby 
 
Love Gary 
 
Hello all, this Colby, Gary’s son-in-law. As you know we joined Gary in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. Let me tell you, getting to this part of the world takes some time. We flew from Anchorage, Alaska to LA to Brisbane Australia to Auckland New Zealand and finally we landed in Nuku’alofa. Over 22 hours of flying and a lot more in layovers, but we are here, and man was it worth it. We’ve been with Gary for 5 days and it has already been worth the traveling. We experienced the pleasure of cabby John who took us looking for groceries, that was quite the experience. We went to six or seven different markets looking for various things that we would normally find in one store back in the States, but this is the way it is down here in the South Pacific. Nicole and I also went looking for this “date” that Gary has been writing about, but oddly we had no luck locating her. The island she lives on was small enough that Nic and I walked around it in about 30 minutes. We had a cute little dog follow us. 
 
We left Nuku’alofa on Friday morning, and had amazing weather for sailing. The wind was blowing about 20 knots and we were cruising. We headed to an island to the North called Nomuka. It was about 50 miles, and we made it in 6 hours, so if you can do some math that is about 9 knots, screaming by sailing standards. I myself am a power boater, so this has all been a new experience for me – Slowing everything down and just enjoying the time. It has been great. We went to shore in Nomuka and walked around town. We saw pigs everywhere as well as dogs. The Tongans are very friendly and curious. They all like to talk to us and find out where we are coming from. Later that day Nicole and I went to a deserted beach and found a bunch of dead trees, which we needed for the bonfire we were having later that night. It was pretty windy, but we managed to find a protected place and made our little fire pit. We went back to the boat and had dinner. We have been eating like kings out here, which if you have been reading the emails from Gary you probably already know, but I just wanted to let you know, the food is great. After dinner we took the tender in to the beach and had an awesome bonfire with music via Gary and some great white wine under the beautiful starry sky. 
 
Next morning off to Haa’fave. Another small island, and another day of great sailing weather. Today we put the fishing line in while we sailed. Right away we had a strike, it was a nice Mahi Mahi, but it got off. We continued on our way and about an hour later, we caught a nice Wahoo, which we will be eating in an hour. It was a good fight and very exciting to catch. If you don’t know, these guys are like little torpedos that do not want to lose the battle. They sure are tasty!! We also went on a nice dive today. We got down to about 90’ and we saw some beautiful coral reef, lots of fish and the famous Tongan Clams. The clam we saw was the size of a huge watermelon. Today is Sunday, so when we went to the village we found that everyone, and I mean everyone, was at church, so we explored a little and made our way back to the boat. 
Well it is time to make our sundowner drinks and watch the sunset. Hope you all are well! 
 
Captain Colby 
: 

We departed the Vava’u Islands in Tonga last Sunday on our way to Nukualofa in Tonga, about 170 miles South West. Our first stop enroute was the Island of Ofolanga. It was a completely deserted Island with a beautiful beach miles long. Upon arriving we made BBQ chicken with my moms potato salad receipt and had a great old time. The next day I went ashore and spent 3 hours walking the beach and sunbathing all by myself. 
 
On Tuesday we departed again and stopped at another Island about 50 miles SW of Ofolanga (8 hours). We anchored off of another beautiful beach. The next day Amanda and I went into the village. It was the coolest village I have been into yet. The people were so friendly and there were no tourists. The Tonga Islands are independent so they are not subsidized by a foreign government. As a result they are a very poor people with regards to money but very rich with respect to happiness. The streets in the town are dirt and not cement like French Polynesia. There was a population of maybe 300 and they had two big churches. Most Islands we have visited have chickens running around. This Island had Pigs and many piglets all over. 
 
Mike went ashore the next day and was able to trade a dive belt and dive top for 3 lobsters, which we cooked for dinner that night. We of course went ashore and laid on the beach for an afternoon with a perfect all blue sky. 
 
That night we also had a bonfire on shore and invited two other boats in the harbor. One of the other boats had a father and son on board. They told us their story of being in Samoa during the earth quake and following tziumi. When the Tziumi hit, their boat ended up on land going down main street and when the water started going back out so did their boat and nothing happened to them or the boat. It all happened in a matter of 30 minutes. 
 
The last leg of our trip to Nukualofa (Latitude 21 08S Longitude 175 11’W) was 50 miles with no wind so we motored all the way. The first night there was a big party for Big Mama (in the picture) and the boat people in the area came dressed as mostly pirates as can be seen in the picture. We meet up with a lot of the people we have encountered during our trip over the last 6 months. Amanda and I are on the left side I am wearing a Panamanian hat. There was free food, chicken, fish and roasted pig. They also had a live band that played rock and roll. It was an awesome party. I met this local waitress that wanted to keep dancing with me and I was a willing participant (well you do not want to insult the locals). So anyways by the end of the night I asked her out for dinner the next night. Now she does speak English, but not that well. She said something about big mama but I was not sure what it was. Well the next night at 6pm I show up for my date and what I found out is that I had to ask big mama if she could go out as she is the niece of big mama (I am not sure how old she is). So anyways it is now set up for Monday night. Although I am not sure if big mama is coming also. Well we will see, what the heck life is an adventure. 
 
So Amanda has left us. Last night she flew to Fiji to be a paid crew member on another boat. She traded the aging dos Dawson’s for the 55 catamaran with a 37 year old millionaire owner with a captain (30) and female chef (22). They will be sailing to New Zealand. 
 
Mike will fly back to Denver for business on Tuesday and Mike and Marnie will return on Dec. 20th and meet me in New Zealand. My Daughter Nicole and her husband Colby will join me in Tonga on Nov. 4th. We will sail Tonga for 3 more weeks and then bring the boat to New Zealand. 
 
So the Adventure continues 
 
Love Gary 
 

By now most readers have read about our great extraordinary swim with the whales in Huahene seeing the baby with the mother with in just meters of touching them. The quest continues as we travel these great waters of the Pacific. When arriving in Neiafu Tonga a small Island, we decided to check out the potential dive site called Mariners Cave just off a remote Island. As Gary prepared to enter the water to find the entrance that we only had a idea from a note in a book to look for a colored rock of red and white and a prominent coconut tree and 600 meters from the north end on the Island. Gary jumps in and I motor the boat in the same area since we can not anchor. Gary searches up and down the rock formation with no luck of finding the opening.

As Gary removes his gear I look out between to Islands about 300 meters and see a blow of water. Well that only can come from a WHALE. We get situated and motor around the Island into the large bay. As we approach we spot the where and Gary and Amanda quietly slide overboard to not disturb the whale. They snorkel and see this huge beast 40 plus feet ,again only meters away. The whale dives down and they return to the boat. In lieu of trying to track down the whale I choose to sit the boat still without any engines running. As we search around the bay within ten minutes the whale unannounced pops up within 8 feet of the boat just off the starboard aft side and blows and the whole whale is next to the boat on the surface. Needless to say it freaked me out with the noise and excitement of being so close with the boat. You could see the eyes right their looking back at you. Priceless!!!!

This story does not end here, the encounters keep coming only this one happened on our early morning passage when leaving a small Island on Tuesday morning. We pulled up anchor about 6am and set sail for another enchanted Island. With the boat at full sail under power at 9.2 kts and winds blowing at 15 to 25 kts we are just kicking butt. Amanda went back to bed and Gary was baking banana bread when I looked over the bow of the boat streaming across the seas when 10 feet in front of me, mind you at 9.2 kts full sail a 50 ft whale lies broadside to the boat. I have no time to react. I just said a quick DIVE PLEASE DIVE and the whale sinks away and we survive to tell the story. Hitting a whale of that size straight on would have or could have done some serious damage to Shellette and us. Speeding through the water at that speed with an instant stop use your imagination of what could have occurred.

I do not know what the sign of a whale is in Marquise but it must mean goodness of some kind. If a Mantras means freedom and a turtle means long life I can only imagine!!!!!!

Last time I wrote we were on our way to Tonga. Our trip was great, sunny days and starry nights. I also mentioned that we caught a 30lb Wahoo. Shortly there after Amanda landed a 4 ft Mahi Mahi.

We are now in Tonga and out first stop[p was the VaVau group of Islands. They are the Disney Land sailing of the Pacific as The British Virgin Islands are for the Caribbean.
There are 30 Islands with around 40 anchorages to choose from. The sails between Islands is at the most 1 hr with small waves and good wind.

I don’t remember if I mentioned this last time but while we were in Niue we meet a group of people on another boat. The owner (37) and crew Captain (30) and first mate/chef (22). Now the reason I mention their ages is that Mike and I had to try to keep up with the party level that they initiated, because they followed us to Tonga. and did they party. But I will let Amanda tell you more about that.

We stayed in four different anchorages while there and all of them were really pretty. But we have to keep moving as Amanda will fly out on Oct 31 to join that other boat in New Zealand as a crew member.

So we are now on out way to the Hapai group of Islands in Tonga ( 70 miles south of the Vavau group). We will stay there for a few days before heading to Nukualofa were the airport is.

Love
Gary