Home at Last

All checked out at Port Denarau in Fiji and off again for the last leg of the trip and home to New Zealand.  The first few days were a little rough and uncomfortable, but then the seas calmed down and it was beautiful sunsets once again.  We still had some food to eat up and the b'que was put to good use in the calm weather.

Nearly there, putting up the New Zealand courtesy flag and the yellow 'Q'  flag, ready to go alongside the Quarantine  berth in Opua and clear customs.  We arrived at 21.30 on Tuesday 23rd October and cleared in the next morning.

Janis, our excellent crew in his 'hospitality manager' role and pouring the champagne to celebrate our safe arrival.

Good friends from S/Y Ultimo came over to welcome us and enjoy a glass with us.                                                                                                

'No Rehearsal' in berth G5 in Opua Marina.  They have done a wonderful job of extending the marina and have several purpose built catamaran berths.  Cruising across the Pacific we notice that there are more and more multihulls out there now.
 Maybe we will be saying in the future "Do you remember those monohulls?"


So, home at last.  Who knows what the future will hold.  Will we cruise around the Bay of Islands or set off on another adventure to distant shores once again?.......only time will tell.

Fiji

And so on to Fiji....

No Rehearsal on a buoy in Savusavu harbour, where we checked in.  The customs officers could not have been more pleasant as they went through all the forms with us.

There were several good places to eat here and a great fresh market too.

Seeing the sights.

Crowing coconut palms to transplant later.

Baby bananas!

There is a great tradition of Cava drinking here.  It is a root which is ground up and then mixed with water, the locals will sit around and sip this mixture, which looks a little like muddy water.  It is quite a ceremony and taken rather seriously and  I did try it, but prefer a G and T.  It is said to have medicinal qualities and aids sleep.

Just chilling after a heavy night on muddy water perhaps?  Luckily no heavy machinery was involved, just a machete!

Meeting up with good friends Di and James in Musket Cove.  A great  coffee shop and excellent sausage rolls too.

Then we went off to Port Denarau to check out and finally head south to New Zealand.

Whale Video from last post in Tonga

Tonga

From Bora Bora we headed straight to Tonga.  There was not much wind for the first four days and we had to motor, but sailed the next three days.

Great to have Lisa on board with us for this passage, and it turns out she is rather good at making scones.

Daryl seems to be good at attracting birds on his watch.  They often land and stay with us overnight for a rest before heading off in the morning.  This is a great spot for them to sit, anything that they may drop goes straight overboard!!

Another beautiful sunset on the passage, I shall never get tired of seeing these glorious colours.                                  

Janis, our crew, is still with us and enjoying going ashore and finding coconuts. he almost looks like one of the locals.

One of the islands we visited.  No, our mast is not that high, one of fellow cruisers had a drone and took some wonderful shots.  It is a great way of seeing the reefs around this Island Resort, where we had a sundowner there.

Lisa and I chose a cloudy day to walk up to the top of the mountain, good to stretch our legs for a change.                    

Anchored off the beach.                                           

But, by far the best experience of this whole trip has been swimming with the whales, yes, actually getting in the water with them.  We set out with a special guide, who was good at letting us get as close as possible without disturbing the mother and calf.  It was amazing to be so close to them, the calf was very inquisitive and I could almost have touched it, that close.   Hope you can see the video, I shall add a photo too, just in case it doesn't work.

Fabulous!     

Bora Bora

Bora Bora as seen from the island Tahaa, great sunset drinks scene.

Ben, Daryl, Lisa and I on the foredeck with Bora Bora mountain in the distance.  Great to have Daryl's son and Lisa on the boat together, first time we have had more than four on the boat at one time!

Janis at the helm and Bora Bora in the background

A night out at one of the local hotels, great cocktails, food and some entertaining dancing!!

And finally, no visit to Bora Bora would be complete without a stop at 'Bloody Mary's,  no prizes for guessing what we ordered to drink.

Great stop on this island, many of the hotels ashore do not welcome cruisers, but it was great to be able to swim in the clear waters and enjoy the snorkelling, saw lots of manta rays, stingrays and sharks.  All tame and feed from the tourist boats for the entertainment of the tourists.

Next stop Tonga, many stop on the way, but we shall head straight there once there is favourable weather winds.

Tahiti

Daryl's son Ben joins us in Tahiti, there's quite a lot of produce in the market that we cannot recognise!

Ben and Janis admiring the view from the 4x4 as we took a tour of the interior of the island of Tahiti.                         

Beautiful scenery

Pineapple fields forever!

The iconic chalets over the turquoise water, full of honeymooners!

Pearl farming in Tahaa, French Poly.

Visiting a pearl farm, amazing to see how they seed the shells, and string them all together and then put them back in the water for a couple of years to produce more pearls.  They can do this three times with each shell.  The varieties are so different.

Extracting the pearl and replacing it with a substitute.

Sorting and sizing the pearls.

Tuamotos

I have been looking through my photos and they all seem to be of sunsets, they are spectacular here.

Sunset

Sewing a bit of leatherwork for one of the grab handles.

Daryl enjoying a sundowner on the beach in Fakarava.

A crowded beach in Fakarava, just a couple of friendly dogs that came for a walk with us!                                                

Moon rising over the island.

Gambier Islands

One of the high peaks of the Gambiers

Tarawai.  Valerie and Herve live on this island and welcome cruisers each Sunday for a b'que there..  

A basket of fruit from the islands.

We checked in to the islands and then we were free to explore the town of Rikitea.  A small village where all the locals are pearl farmers and have done rather well.  They are very friendly and helpful, but do not grow much on the island and rely on the supply ship for all their fruit and vegetables.

A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, maybe just quite a lot of yellow canvas!

Another good evening on 'No Rehearsal'!  We met some great cruisers in Rikitea.

Lush Gambier Islands.

Panama to the Gambier Islands

Daryl and I decided to take on an extra hand to help with the watches for the long passage across the Pacific.

The crew of 'No Rehearsal' enjoying a sundowner at a rooftop bar in Panama City.  The last night out before the crossing.  Janis is 24 and from Germany, sadly he had slipped by the pool in the marina, that's the reason for the bandage!

Going through the canal was quite a stressful experience, but we managed it all in the one day and were glad to be out at last into the Pacific.

Most of the passage was what we call 'Champagne Sailing' with a glass of wine and nimbles each evening at sundown.  We decided to sail only on one of the headsails and that worked really well.  Having the choice of five to choose from, there was always one that fitted the conditions, and we used them all at some stage.

Showing Janis the ropes, and he showed me a new knot too, never too old to learn new tricks!!                                  

Land Ahoy, after 24 days we approach the Gambier Islands and anchor outside the main town of Rikitea.