TUVALU (FUNAFUTI) 1st December 2011
Posted by Michael Lewis on Thursday, December 1, 2011
On Line again, this time at an internet cafe in Tuvalu. No wifi access or mob phones here, so will see how we go.
Since leaving Samoa we had a quiet trip downwind to Wallis Island, taking 4 days to do the 300 odd miles. Basically just drifting on the last afternoon & night so that we would arrive in daylight at low tide, to minimise the currents in the pass into the lagoon. Whereas we had mozzies in Samoa, there were a lot of flies in Wallis, so that was annoying. Plenty of walking to see the gendarmerie & customs to clear in, friendly people, my French language skills slowly improving.
Some reasonable provisions here with tins of pate, duck confit, casssoulette, French bread etc. Lunch for several days was a jar of pate & baguette. Forgot to mention that we had tropical downpour when we arrived so anchored behind a reef until things cleared. Caught up with Mike & Dawn from White Princess who came here after battling headwinds trying to get to Canton Island. ALso Vim & Annetta from Thetis. Enjoyed some walks, Croque Madames (Toast with ham cheese egg salad, last had in New Caledonia with Pete, Ginny, Trevor & Roz), took dinghy over to a couple of islands in the lagoon for a nice warm swim, about 28 degrees.
Spent about 10 days in Wallis, then cleared customs for Tuvalu, about 400 miles away. Again an easy trip with only 1 squall, & generally light trade winds. Arrived at the lagoon entrance about 7pm, quite dark then in the tropics, but we had been able to confirm the accuracy of our electronic charts on approach, as well as using our depth sounder, so proceeded cautiously into the lagoon pass. Not too much current in this one as it was slack water time. An hour later we anchored in front of the town, and cleared into immigration & customs the next morning. Shifted the boat up near the main wharf where there is a better dinghy landing - the beaches here are coral rocks which are no good for a blow up dinghy, but it is a 3 km walk to the main part of town from there. No ATM's, no credit card facilities, no mobile phones, no wireless internet, but a couple of internet cafes.
Have had a swim here & cleaned the weed growth off our waterline, done some cooking, and now have a few maintenance jobs to do (fix compass light, finish water protection for external speakers, make a sun awning that we can put up while sailing etc) We made a larger sun awning back in Tonga which helps a lot but too big to use under sail.
A lot of people on this small island, lots of plastic rainwater tanks donated by EEC, Australia etc. Main wharf was built by Japan. Without overseas aid many of these countries would be basket cases. Unfortunately there has to be provision to maintain what has been built without things turning to rot after 10 - 15 years.
Well that's about it for now, will try to get online again before continuing north, & also try to upload a few pics.
Love to all
Mike & Gay
Since leaving Samoa we had a quiet trip downwind to Wallis Island, taking 4 days to do the 300 odd miles. Basically just drifting on the last afternoon & night so that we would arrive in daylight at low tide, to minimise the currents in the pass into the lagoon. Whereas we had mozzies in Samoa, there were a lot of flies in Wallis, so that was annoying. Plenty of walking to see the gendarmerie & customs to clear in, friendly people, my French language skills slowly improving.
Some reasonable provisions here with tins of pate, duck confit, casssoulette, French bread etc. Lunch for several days was a jar of pate & baguette. Forgot to mention that we had tropical downpour when we arrived so anchored behind a reef until things cleared. Caught up with Mike & Dawn from White Princess who came here after battling headwinds trying to get to Canton Island. ALso Vim & Annetta from Thetis. Enjoyed some walks, Croque Madames (Toast with ham cheese egg salad, last had in New Caledonia with Pete, Ginny, Trevor & Roz), took dinghy over to a couple of islands in the lagoon for a nice warm swim, about 28 degrees.
Spent about 10 days in Wallis, then cleared customs for Tuvalu, about 400 miles away. Again an easy trip with only 1 squall, & generally light trade winds. Arrived at the lagoon entrance about 7pm, quite dark then in the tropics, but we had been able to confirm the accuracy of our electronic charts on approach, as well as using our depth sounder, so proceeded cautiously into the lagoon pass. Not too much current in this one as it was slack water time. An hour later we anchored in front of the town, and cleared into immigration & customs the next morning. Shifted the boat up near the main wharf where there is a better dinghy landing - the beaches here are coral rocks which are no good for a blow up dinghy, but it is a 3 km walk to the main part of town from there. No ATM's, no credit card facilities, no mobile phones, no wireless internet, but a couple of internet cafes.
Have had a swim here & cleaned the weed growth off our waterline, done some cooking, and now have a few maintenance jobs to do (fix compass light, finish water protection for external speakers, make a sun awning that we can put up while sailing etc) We made a larger sun awning back in Tonga which helps a lot but too big to use under sail.
A lot of people on this small island, lots of plastic rainwater tanks donated by EEC, Australia etc. Main wharf was built by Japan. Without overseas aid many of these countries would be basket cases. Unfortunately there has to be provision to maintain what has been built without things turning to rot after 10 - 15 years.
Well that's about it for now, will try to get online again before continuing north, & also try to upload a few pics.
Love to all
Mike & Gay
