O Y S TER NEWS
“Stunning, steep sided anchorages which you can clearly see are in the middle of the calderas of ancient volcanoes.”
A boat full of so many accomplished men and women, usually sailing double-handed and talented sailors both. Perhaps that band of ‘single-handers sailing with their wives’ has been overtaken at last!
As guests are already starting to leave the anchorage, we experience a fl y-past from the New Zealand air force. Not unfortunately in honour of the marriage at Minerva, but rather ‘Orion’ asking each boat to identify itself so that they can see if we have already registered with the New Zealand authorities and record our latest ETA, before we leave these Tongan waters. Cheekily we ask ‘Orion’ for an update on the arrival of friends sailing south from Tonga. ‘Mandala’ they say, is North West of the reef. Sometime later aſt er Migration has leſt to more hoots, cheers and VHF chatter, we motor
Sea Rover across the lagoon towards the pass, so that Devala and I can go diving off the reef outside, the fi rst time we have been diving on our own. Just as we are anchoring, we see Mandala entering the pass and wave to the friends we fi rst met a few months ago, cruising through the Tuamotus.
As the sun went down that evening, we joined Mandala for drinks and a big catch up. We had last been together in Tahiti, to where we had enjoyed a wonderful, windy sail from the Tuamotus in winds up to force 7. We anchored fi rst in Matavia Bay where Cook had also stopped to observe the transit of Venus.
We had another reason for wanting to meet with Mandala. When we leſt Tahiti mid-September, we had onboard a friend who had crossed the Atlantic with us in 2008 and also Mandala’s mail
from New Zealand which had arrived aſt er they had sailed. Together, mail and friend, we cruised west through the Society Islands, enjoying picture post card anchorages in Moorea, Huahine, Tahaa and fi nally Bora Bora from where our friend fl ew home and we were leſt with Mandala’s mail!
We sailed the mail to Maupiti, a beautiful underdeveloped island just twenty fi ve miles west of Bora Bora. It is a wonderful last memory of French Polynesia, from where we fi nally dragged ourselves away in mid October.
Now here in Minerva Reef, we have united Mandala with their mail! Whilst they had spent the past few weeks in Tonga, we had sailed southwest from Maupiti to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. T e passage had started badly, as we had to motor for nearly a day to fi nd the wind, before enjoying a great sail in light airs
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