Tonga/Fiji - June 2008

Bula from Fiji

Sincerely sorry to hear NZ is experiencing stormy, wintery conditions. May not pay to read on if you can't show any sympathy for the heat we are encountering at the moment!!

Continuing from last time……….

We continued to make our way north through the islands to Vava'u, which is the northern most group. We had stopped here before when we were making our maiden voyage from the US. It is a popular cruising ground for yachties and charter yachts. Unfortunately the weather was again not 'playing the game', so for the second time we were restricted in what and where we could go.

So many beautiful islands we just couldn't get to because of strong trade winds and rain…rain…rain. But being who we are we just made the best of it…..eating at the Yacht Club and restaurants, meeting new friends and catching up with old friends, the odd game of cards playing both new games and old and generally making good use of every dry patch of weather that came along.

One advantage of being in these warmer climates is that when you get wet walking in the rain it never takes long to dry out again!!! But on the boat things were all feeling damp, mold was appearing on the walls and in wardrobes and Sascha couldn't believe what could grow on her leather belt and bag!! On fine days the boat's cockpit and sides resembled a Chinese laundry.

Timmy left us in Vava'u having decided to return to NZ to put down some roots for a while and maybe try a career in a new direction – well, that was the plan when he left but possibly subject to change.

We picked a great weather window to Fiji and had a lovely sail up to Vanua Levu in the north of Fiji. On the way the fishing was great -5 strikes –threw back the huge tuna and barracuda and kept the mahimahi. We have spent most of the time, so far, moored in the harbour at Savusavu, the port of entry. It has a strong sailing community and we have had a great time. Cruiser's curry night on Thursday nights at a local restaurant give you a great three course meal for NZ$9 or a two course lunch any day for NZ$4. At the supermarket another cruiser got a piece of local frozen fish, enough for two, and it cost NZ$1.90. Amazing.

If we had to name a country as the friendliest people in the world -we'd give it to Fiji. In the islands or the towns the people seem just so happy to chat and help us. We have had invitations into homes just as a result of conversations while buying something in a shop. We've even had the local tailors make Daryl a shirt and a couple of cool dresses for me, really just for the fun of it.

But things do move slowly here. We ordered the fuel truck, who booked us for 10am Thursday. He arrived 4pm Friday. We went to check out on Friday only to find that customs had put last years date on our cruising permit (two weeks ago), so we can't leave until they fix it in Suva. The rules have changed for those cruisers wanting a a cruising permit for the more isolated Lau Island group. One yacht has spent 3 months and $5000 and still hasn't got through the red tape. Consequently we didn't even start the process.

There are so many other beautiful places to see here, we will focus on those. Fiji's political situation isn't affecting us personally, apart from some seemingly illogical laws concerning movement of yachts. An explanation given in the Fiji Times newspaper for one of the changes was that boats are responsible for the spread of drugs and prostitution!!!! It doesn't fit with the type of people we're meeting but I suppose you never know.

Daryl and Sascha were at the Yacht Club happy hour last night enjoying a quiet beer with fellow cruisers. They were out on the deck soaking up sunset over the harbour, when the deck immediately below them collapsed, dropping themselves, their friends and the table about a foot. All was well, but both had had momentary visions of an unplanned swim. Hopefully very soon we will be heading out of the harbour and we'll begin a month of island hopping our way down to Suva.

All the best

Laurel, Daryl and Sascha.

NZ /Tonga - May 2008

Malo too all,

Cool Bananas is on the move again.

After waiting 10 days for a good weather window, Daryl, with three crew (Sascha, Timmy and Maria), sailed up to Tonga in 6 days arriving on the 18^th of May. They were pleased they had waited, as yachts that left earlier had a rough trip with winds up to 60 knots. Cool Bananas, on the other hand, had a smooth (ish) drama free sail.

Maria has returned to NZ, while Timmy and Sascha are cruising with us. Timmy, a 30yrs old Irish backpacker, is going to fly back to NZ as we leave Tonga. Unfortunately we haven't been able to convince him to do otherwise. Sascha, our second in charge skipper, will stay with us for the season.

Timmy will leave us having had some new experiences -how to retrieve the scrubbing brush when you drop it overboard – mid ocean swim with 2800 metres of water below you – swimming with sharks – how to catch baby snapper that you can't keep – eat raw fish – getting close to the orcas and eating something other than cereal and chocolate. He leaves us with a new love for Daryl's coat and cook barbequed chicken and Laurel's satay peanut sauce!!

The weather has been variable, but who's complaining when the average water temperature has been 26 degrees. Although we haven't seen a lot of sunshine as yet.

We did the tourist thing in Tongatapu, hiring a taxi for the day to see the sights. There were fantastic blowholes, fruit bats, limestone caves, 1300AD pottery and of course the king's residence and palace.

The fish market has mahi-mahi for NZ$5 a kilo!!!!!!

A few days after I flew in we stocked up on as much fruit and vege as we thought we could eat and headed up into the more remote area of the Ha'apai island group.

The first night there we anchored off a fishing village, consisting of 5 men who went back to the big island at the weekend. Sascha came back from our initial visit with a gutted octopus to cook up for dinner (a bit chewy we decided). The next day one of the fisherman arrived with a clam, which he showed us how to gut. I made a clam chowder, which, if I may say so myself, was pretty good. We also caught a decent sized mahi-mahi on the way up so we can't complain about the variety of seafood so far.

Due to bad weather on its way we sheltered off Ha'afeva for a few days. The local were ultra friendly and we had two invitations to Sunday lunch within minutes of walking towards the village.

Daryl did his usual offer of help to fix things and before long the weed eaters and generators appeared out of the woodwork. The thank you was in the form of a turtle shell, which we couldn't accept and a suckling pig lunch which was all good.

Timmy got a beautiful big shell as a thank you for helping wheel a wheelbarrow full of coconuts!!

We have had a great time socializing with our cruising friends on 'Aurielle' along with new friends we've met. Sue and I are back into the shell collecting and Timmy is accusing me of sounding like a 'shell investor' when I sort and eliminate the rejects.

Snorkelling and wreck diving are back on the agenda and the cameras have been clicking away.

Today we are tied up in the port at Pangai, it's pouring with rain - Daryl has already thrashed Timmy in chess - - Sascha has been in and found fresh bread - Daryl is taking advantage of the fresh water by scrubbing the decks and we are going to have a flax weaving lesson this afternoon.

Take care

Laurel and Daryl, Timmy and Sascha

New Zealand Summer. Family and friends -2007/2008

I always wanted to anchor "Cool Bananas" off Opotiki. Opotiki is Daryl's home town, where he was born and grew up. So we sailed to Opotiki in the new year and anchored off Waiotahe beach for a couple of days. The weather was kind and it was a nice thing to do...



Above are Daryl's family who gathered to farewell his brother John who was moving to the South island.
While in NZ we enjoyed time cruising with fellow cruisers 'Aurielle' from Tasmania. We spent time at Mercury Island, Auckland and Great Barrier with them. Scallops, crayfish and snapper in abundance. We also enjoyed time with Noel and Val on 'Windhaven. They had a great knowledge of the local fauna and flora, which made our walks interesting.
The easter break was spent at Waiheke off Auckland, with our children and their cousins. Fish on the menu each night.....what more could you want.

Noumea - October/November 2007

Cool Bananas is still in port and the weather is not playing the game for us. Leaving today would have meant head winds much of the way and then not a great angle to sail into NZ. So we will have to suffer another week or so of sunshine, swimming and snorkelling etc until it settles. We have had a lovely time here in New Caledonia but we're looking forward to being back in NZ.
We will be in touch again when we know more.




Hi All

Finally the day has come. Daryl is filling the water tanks and getting ready to fuel up with duty free fuel. Cool Bananas is setting sail for NZ. The forecast has stayed stable for a few days and is looking very promising for a great passage. We should be in Tauranga in about a week.

See you soon from the Team on Cool Bananas






The crossing home was not a simple one. We left on a good forecast but missed catching the back of the high so winds were lighter than hoped. Then a few days out we got warnings that the cyclone off Fiji may cross our path. We made the decision to stop in mid ocean and watch what happens. We kept ourselves 2oo miles away and watched it move south. Once it had passed we continued on our way. After 24hrs of lumpy seas we had a great run to the top of NZ, down the coast and into Tauranga.



Mid ocean swim. The team to NZ

Best Wishes
Laurel and Daryl

Noumea and Loyalties - October 2007

Bonjour to all

We have just come back in to Noumea after three wonderful weeks sailing in The Loyalties. We sailed in the company of two other yachts – Tropical Cat and Aurielle both with couples aboard. We were all pleased we had buddied up before leaving because we hardly saw another cruising boat the whole time we were away.

The weather and seas have warmed up since I last wrote, so water activity is back on the agenda. With no dive buddy Daryl hasn't done much diving but we have snorkelled. The waters were so clear were sometimes seeing the bottom from the boat when we were in 100 ft of water.

The Loyalties are made up of three main islands, each quite different in its geography, so the scenery has been varied. I have decided Daryl has a thing for caves, especially those bordering the sea. I think he has been a pirate in a previous life and is still looking for the treasure!!!

I, however, have to own up to getting a little addicted to shell collecting. It all started with these remote islands offering the opportunity to find a perfect nautilus shell, which incidentally we didn't find. Sue from 'Aurielle' was already a skilled collector, so we spent many pleasurable hours combing the beaches.

The last island we visited was Ouvea, a sweeping curve of white sandy beaches and turquoise water, about 50 kilometres long. We thought we had arrived in paradise. Never had we seen such a postcard perfect place. The local stores sold the most gorgeous bread, so we were set. The guys took turns at doing a dinghy run in to the shop at 6.30 in the morning to get the bread.

There is no daylight saving hours out here so we have adopted the local lifestyle. We have been getting up soon after daylight - 5.30ish and in bed around 9pm. We still haven't got used to everything being closed between 11.30 and 2pm though. Someone recommended a patisserie that I trudged my way to one day in Noumea only to find it was closed between 11.30 and 3pm. Isn't that when you'd be most likely to want it? I don't know!!

We are now heading back to the marina to reprovision, charge the batteries, use the internet, wash the boat down inside and out and stock up on fresh fruit and veg. If the weather is kind we would like to do one last trip down to Iles de Pins before being back in mid November to prepare for the sail home. At the moment I haven't found an excuse to take the easy route and fly home, so it looks like I'm one of the crew for the passage back. From Noumea to North Cape is only 700 miles – no sweat.

Hoping everyone back home has shaken those winter blues and is enjoying the spring sunshine. We are both really looking forward to being back ourselves.

Au revoir from Laurel and Daryl.

Vanuatu/New Caledonia - September October 2007

Hello Again from Cool Bananas

We had an uneventful sail between Vanuatu and New Caledonia. There was a notorious passage we had to come through just off New Caledonia which I had done much research to get wind and tides right for. We sailed through there at dawn, with the seas a slight roll, doing 10 knots!!

When Jenny arrived we headed to Isles of Pines. On the way we had a fantastic experience with some whales. We had stopped to watch them and they came up close to us. They hovered for quite a while until we decided they were getting a little too curious. Such huge creatures!!

The water is a little bracing to get into, (25 deg.), but we brave it a few times to make sure Jenny got the New Caledonian snorkelling experience. The water was soo clear. We saw turtles above the water and turtles below.

To get the lay of the land we hitch hiked around the island. Yes - what we tell our children not to do - we did!! We were picked up by fantastically friendly people, some with little English, but we got there. So much fun.

On the way back we stopped at Amedee Lighthouse, which Daryl and I last visited 20 years ago. The snorkelling there was great, a reserve, so the fish were generally big. Met some cruisers there, got invited to a birthday celebration, and have spent time with them since, which has been nice.

We are feeling well travelled when we invite a cruising couple, that anchored in a bay with us, over for a drink and then establish we last saw them in Antigua!!! It is a small world. They are also from Hamilton but were on a friend's boat in Antigua and now cruising on their own. It was like a reunion.

We have to say that things here are expensive. They have a 40% sales tax added to everything. A loaf of 'Natures Fresh' bread is $13, steak is over $40 a kilo, scallops $90 a kilo at the fish market, asparagus $50 a kilo. Needless to say we are not eating those particular foods and have found cheaper alternatives. The local baguettes are always good and the pastries a cheap lunch.

I gave myself a haircut yesterday. Oh how I miss my own hairdresser!! I braved it and had a cut in Vanuatu, but the language barrier here was a little great to risk it. Daryl thinks it looks fine, but I can imagine when my hairdresser will say when I get home.

We have had a bit of time in Noumea. I've enjoyed people watching - the French - they have such a 'stylie' way of dressing!!! Their clothes, fabrics, shoes are so…. classy.

We have had a change in our original plan. We have decided to stay on in New Caledonia, not go to Australia, and then sail back to NZ in mid November. That way we can continue to enjoy New Caledonia and hopefully get out to some of the outer islands which we missed coming in because we came in later than first planned.

Best Wishes