SINGLE HANDLING TRUCE AGAIN

Last night I was eaten alive by a mosquito before I woke up and dealt with the problem.  This is the first time we have encountered mosquitoes this trip.  I now have the mosquito screens in the hatches and repellent on hand.  Early in the morning I awoke to the unmistakable smell of fish.  A quick scan around the wharf confirmed that we are berthed next to the local fish market.  I am not complaining, where we are moored is really handy to get ashore.

Today I lose my crew and will be back to single handed sailing again for the last leg of the voyage back to New Zealand.  As it was Jessica’s last day in Nuku’alofa we decided to take it easy and just stay local.

We had a late breakfast at a café just beside the boat.  Eggs and bacon in Tonga must be the best in the world – never disappointed.  Then it was back to the boat for Jessica to pack her bag and me to fuss around doing cleaning and small chores before we headed into town for the final time.

Lunch was taken at the Friends café, where they have wifi.  The coffee and food was excellent.  The wifi so slow it was almost useless.  However, I managed to send out emails that have been sitting in my outbox since we arrived in Tonga.

Next to friend’s café is a local craft shop, nice stuff, not the usual tourist junk.  We browsed around and Jessica finally found some unusual local jewellery for her friends.  Then onto the ice crème parlour for a mix of coffee and coconut ice crème in a waffle cone – more indulgence.

Finally, we hit the supermarket for some groceries to take me down to New Zealand.  Even in the big supermarket the choice and range of products is very limited – and costly compared with New Zealand.  A lot of the products on the shelves are well known supermarket or store brands from New Zealand.

At six thirty in the evening Jessica got a taxi to the airport.  I went back to the boat and suddenly felt very alone.  I will spend tonight on board and prepare to depart tomorrow.  I have some odd jobs to complete on the boat and some equipment checks to carry out – otherwise Truce is ready to go.  I will get some fresh vegetables and fruit on board plus another case of beer as the stocks seem to be running low.

Not sure when I will be sailing from here, the crossing to New Zealand is very weather dependent.  I will start paying close attention to the weather reports and forecasts.  Hopefully I will find a good weather window to get me across the final eleven hundred or so miles without too much drama.