We left Nuie 1900hrs in steady winds with all sails flying for downwind running.  Gradually the wind increased. It was fast sailing through the night and all Sunday with 30kts of wind. We were going too fast and needed to slow down so as to arrive at dawn the next day. So with very little sail we came to the entrance on the island of Vava'u where we hove to until daybreak. The route to Refuge Bay and the town of Neiafu was long and complex and no one was prepared to risk it in the dark.
The other yachts had arrived at the entrance during darkness and so all entered together, causing a problem for the people organising the moorings, and putting the customs and immigration authorities under pressure. These officials were the friendliest we had ever met.
We had arrived on Tuesday 18 June having crossed the date line. Monday the 17 June was lost to us.  After clearing in we went ashore to the Mermaid bar and restaurant which also acts as a base to the Vava'u Yacht Club. They made us very welcome and it developed into quite a party with the locals and other yachties from around the world and ex pats from NZ.
Our stay in Tonga was the best yet, everyone is so friendly and relaxed. The waterfront bars full of yachties were very lively. We had a welcoming ceremony Thursday evening at the hotel, with a buffet meal followed by Traditional dancing.
Friday was a holiday and there was a yacht race in the bay. The crew of Kalypso joined Kastaway an American owned and registered Bowman 48 ketch. We spent the morning training and by the start had a good working crew. We came third and in light airs felt that we could not have done better.
Saturday we sailed round to a different area for a Tongan feast and Karva ceremony with the local chief and dancing by school children. The food cooked in a hole in the ground and covered by Banana leaves.
We all went to church on Sunday, the singing was very beautiful. Following church we sailed to another beach for a BBQ then sailed back to Neiafu.
We cleared out of Tonga next day bound for Fiji was to be a vigorous sail lady Pacific showing her teeth at last, with large confused seas maybe a result of the bad storms in NZ at this time.
Wednesday and 20 hours from Vanua Levu Fiji, the yacht Franz Too came on the SSB to say that they were taking in water through the stern gland. They eventually reduced the flow and pumped most of the water out. They were about twenty miles behind us so we hove to for a few hours until they came in sight. We sailed close to them through the night and next morning until we got into Savusavu at 10.30 Thursday 27 June, picking up a mooring opposite the Yacht Club.
Customs Health and Immigration was the most bureaucratic so far. We were not cleared until 15.00hrs each squad of officials wanted everything in quadruple.
The Yacht Club is very active and made us very welcome, a BBQ run by the restaurant next door had been arranged in our honour and another headache the next morning was guaranteed.
We visited a local village, the chief welcomed us with another Karva ceremony. We met a lovely lady who invited us into her home to meet her family. The house was made of wood with a corrugated tin roof there was two rooms a bed sitting room and a kitchen with single ring primus stove cooking, most of the cooking is done outside in a pit in the earth.
Saturday afternoon and there was racing for each skipper in Optimist dinghies there was betting and all proceeds to going to charity. The winners donated their winnings and $2,000 was raised to send junior sailors to the Optimist championships in Samoa.
The Yacht club stayed open Sunday until the early hours of Monday so that we could watch the World cup Soccer final. And then it was time to clear out to go to the next island Viti Levu.
We left mid morning it was to be an overnight sail. The forecast was not good so we chose to take the northern route. This would give the least windward sailing and allow us to enter the reef at dawn the next day, with about another 60nm of sailing in the protected waters inside the reef, to arrive at Musket cove on a small island on the south west tip of Viti Levu. The route took us through a lagoon called Save a Tack pass. The chart was new but the survey on the chart was from the 1800s and warned of discrepancies and the use of GPS.  We have on board a forward looking depth sonar so we decided to go for it. Normally as you approach a pass you can see the sea breaking on the reef, not this time. Our heart missed a beat or two as we inched our way into the lagoon, we were very nervous because the small island in the lagoon according to the chart was 3.5 miles from the pass, our radar showed the island to be 1.5 miles away. We have re-christened this Heart Attack Pass.
The crazy thing about Fiji is that you have to clear out of and into every island you visit, even though each island is still Fijian. So once we arrived we had to clear Immigration and Customs.
The day before I left for home was a fun day for the Rally yachts. There was racing Hobicats, and John and I came third in this. Not bad when the two in front of us where crewed by experienced Hobicat sailors. However we did not do so well in the obstacle race. We came next to last.
The evening BBQ was a little sad for me because it was to be the last night with the Blue Water Rally.  I have become very close to many of the people sailing on the rally and they will be gone when I return to Fiji.

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