Tonga to New Zealand ("Tongatapu to Tutukaka") via Minerva - With Crew!

Moving West:

Leg 1 Raiatea, French Polynesia to Palmerston, Cook Is. (Sept 23-28), 675 nm
Leg 2 To Beveridge Reef (Oct 5-7),                                                    288 nm
Leg 3 to Niue (Oct 8-9),                                                                    142 nm
Leg 4 To Vava'u, N. Tonga (Oct 12-14)                                               245 nm
Leg 5 To Nuku'alofa, S. Tonga (Oct 31-Nov 1)                                     168 nm
Leg 6 To Minerva Reef (Nov 7-8)                                                    258 nm
Leg 7 To Opua,  New Zealand, (Nov 10-14)                                    787nm
Total                                                                                               2563 nm 

(by Sylvia) 

When we were planning our 1100 nm passage from Tonga to New Zealand, I was concerned because the window between the time our crew arrived in Tonga (4 Nov) and their flight out of NZ (19 Nov) was quite narrow. Considering the trip takes about a week that only left a week of wiggle room to wait for our perfect weather window. My concern: we might have to leave in less-than-desirable conditions to make sure we got the crew back to NZ in time. We had spoken to plenty of sailors who had done the trip earlier in the season and their conditions ranged from nasty to dead-calm-motoring. Hmmmph, we didn't really want either of those.

Well, I worried for naught. While in Tonga both Tom and Torben had been checking the weather for days and it looked like we were going to get an  absolutely perfect weather window, at least for the first few days. Hooray!

Weather/Routing: Normal convention is to:

• Depart Tonga on the backside of a passing High
• Sail 250 nm WSW to Minerva Reef and re-evaluate the weather
• Continue if wx looks good and can cross the remaining 800 nm to NZ before the next Low arrives
• If wx looks bad, wait it out in the fairly protected and safe Minerva Reef until the favorable weather window.
• Depart Minerva and sail (600 nm) to an "aim point" 300 nm straight North of NZ (Cape Reinga). This is somewhat westerly and adds extra distance, but it enables a good (bearing off) sailing angle if bad wx arrives from the W to SW.

As it turns out, we did depart and follow behind a High pressure centered over NZ. This High left flat seas in front of us and the wind filled in from the SE, giving us really nice conditions overall. We got very lucky on this notorious passage. Usually one gets some heavy conditions either at the start or end of the 7-9 day passage since the high/lows tend to move on 5-7 day cycles.

GFS grib weather forecast the day before departure looks good.
(black lines = surface press., red = 500 mb press., wind arrows = dir & speed,
color gradient = sea state (wave height))

Tonga to North Minerva: At 07:30 on 7 November we turned on the engine and proceeded out the pass of Tongatapu. 

Torben drives while Judy helps navigate out the pass. Phil and I are on the bow using our eyes and pointing to the reef for Torben. Tom was also looking at the boat's Nav system.

After we hoisted the mainsail and jib, we were a little dismayed at our slow boat speed. The winds were perfect, 16-18 knots but we were only going 6 knots. When Torben reached down to turn the engine off he realized he'd put the throttle into reverse-idle instead of neutral. We were slowly motoring in reverse! After turning the engine off, Cinnabar surged up to 8 knots of boat speed - that was more like it.

In short we had a lovely overnight sail to our first destination - the famed North Minerva Reef.  Similar to Beveridge Reef, it was a surreal experience to make a rest stop in what felt like the middle of the ocean.

After we dropped anchor at 17:26 (5:29 p.m., 8 November), Tom wrote the following in CINNABAR's log: "Overall - really nice conditions - beam reach, moderate seas, good winds." Doesn't get much better than that. 

CINNABAR's track through the pass and our anchor spot. Note the 360 degree protection from the exposed reef.

It was quite windy but the reef provided good protection from the ocean swell and, unlike submerged Beveridge where we bounced unprotected at high tide, the exposed reef at Minerva protected us and we had a very comfortable couple of days and nights in the anchorage with our friends. 

GONE WITH THE WIND (blue) and AMARYLLIS (red) anchored in Minerva Reef.

Tom and Liam (GWTW) went spearfishing in Minerva.
(Unlike other reports we've read, big fish were not abundant)

Fresh fish that night
(Had to settle for small goatfish)

North Minerva to Bay of Islands, NZ: Although we would have liked to stay in North Minerva a bit longer, the good weather was stable and it looked like perfect conditions to sail on to New Zealand. On 10 November we turned the engine on at 09:28 and motored out the pass of North Minerva Reef. Our friends on GONE WITH THE WIND would stay another night and depart the next day.

We had good conditions the first day and were able to sail the entire day. The winds were in the 16-21 knot range. The seas got a bit lumpy that evening and CINNABAR was going very fast, in the 8-9.4 knot range. When we started taking big waves into the cockpit, we reefed the sails (reduced sail area) to make things less bouncy and more comfortable. 

Just after midnight, we crossed over the 180th meridian, which divides the western and eastern hemispheres. This is the opposite of the 0 degree (or Prime) meridian which runs through Greenwich, England.  From now on, we would be reporting our position at longitude EAST instead of longitude WEST, a milestone! 

That day the conditions moderated a bit but we still sailed 100% of the time in good winds in the teens. A boat 1 day ahead of us reported having to use their engine because they were becalmed. We hoped that we were bringing the wind with us. Since our genset (small independent generator) had died, we continued to need to run the engine 1-2 hrs daily to recharge the batteries (not optimal). However, the engine also heated the water for showers, so it wasn't a bad thing. Tom's log entry that night: "Weather forecast still looks great."

Perfect wind at 17.6 knots, sailing on a close reach in flat water, heading right to our destination,

 The third day, Monday 12 November, the conditions lightened a bit more but we still kept wind in the sails, hoping to stay above 7 knots of boat speed in order to get to our destination Opua, NZ before nightfall on Wednesday. Boats were having to motor ahead of us, and GONE WITH THE WIND reported having to motor behind us, but CINNABAR kept zipping along at a comfortable 7-9 knot range.

Phil enjoyed hand-steering.

On day four the seas became quite flat and the winds got lighter, but we managed to maintain our desired boat speed. We used the mild weather opportunity to deploy our storm jib/staysail for the practice and to check the jib sheet leads. 

Keeping Phil busy on the bow.

Also, things were really getting cooler and we pulled out jackets and hats...but not shoes. Around midnight the temperature was down to 65 F, a new low.

Torben, Sylvia, Judy and Phil enjoying the great conditions. No shoes yet.

The passage to-date was going incredibly well with our experienced, fun, and capable crew, everyone getting lots of sleep, the boat going moderately fast, and the conditions staying favorable. We were thanking our lucky stars each day while being ready for any road bumps or hiccups that could eventuate at any moment.

I loved sharing galley duties with Judy. Lasagna, another great dinner down the hatch. Note Phil resting off-watch in the background.

In the early morning hours of day five at 03:10 we passed under the 100 mi. distance to our destination. At 04:37 the wind got very light and our boat speed was too slow. In order to make it into Opua before dark that day we turned the engine on and motored until the winds came up at 10:45. 

At 12:30 Phil sighted land and got to yell "Land Ho!" 

It's always exciting to sight land after many days at sea.

As we entered the stunningly beautiful Bay Of Islands we were amazed at all the bird life. We loved seeing the huge albatross but the colorful gannets, hundreds of them, were especially striking as they dive-bombed into the water head first to grab fish. 

CINNABAR enters the Bay of Islands.

The Australasian Gannet  (photo courtesy of NZ Birds Online)

We called harbor control and reported entering the bay and that we would meet Customs at their special dock the following morning. They gave us the OK for that and at 17:30 we dropped our anchor at Roberton Island for our arrival celebration. We'd made it! This was the first place we'd ever seen where the pictures of the location did not do it justice.

Our traditional celebratory shot of Don Julio. (Thank you SHINDIG)

Yay! We're here! Why is Torben frowning?

Come on Torben, how about a little smile.

That's more like it.

The next morning we went directly to the customs dock to wait for our turn to check into NZ. We spoke to a man who had done the trip 11 times and he said the weather for this trip was by far the best he'd ever had. 

We were greeted by a harbor representative who gave us a NZ welcome package that contained several forms that needed to be filled out. We had already filled out and emailed some forms, as required, ahead of time.

Tom tried to coax the nice harbor "greeter" lady into giving a free teeny bottle of whiskey to each crewmember, not just 1 bottle per boat. No dice.

The boat-bottom bio-hazard crew came out to take pictures of CINNABAR's bottom to make sure we weren't bringing any undesirable hitchhikers into NZ waters. They take this very seriously. Luckily we had new bottom paint applied in Raiatea, plus Tom cleaned the boat's bottom in Tonga just before we left, so we passed with flying colors. (Our friends on SMETANA just down the dock were not so lucky. They had to get hauled and washed at their expense before they were allowed to sail away.)

The food biohazard agent inspected our stores (food) and the only things he took were some frozen chicken and hamburger meat, and fresh fruits and veg (1 apple, 1 orange, 2 carrots, 1 egg). We'd heard about NZ's "war on meat and honey" and fully expected to lose fish (frozen from Palmerston), salami, and other cured or possibly canned meats but no, we got to keep all that and the herbs, spices, and other plant products. He wanted to take some frozen chicken stew but we promised we would eat it that night so he let us keep it.

Our bio-hazard gets dumped in the bins for incineration.

At 14:20 (2:20 p.m.) we were done clearing customs and Torben deftly drove us off the dock in some wicked current. As we motored out to our anchorage we passed GONE WITH THE WIND on their way in. They reported that they had gotten pummeled their last night at sea, some of the worst weather they'd had in their past 11 years of cruising. We breathed a sigh of relief that we'd left Minerva Reef when we did instead of waiting one more night.

A very large dolphin escorted us to our anchorage.

We dropped anchor in beautiful Omakiwi Cove and made it an early night as we would be weighing anchor at 03:00 the next morning. We were all keen to get down to Whangarei (74 nm trip). With CINNABAR's deep draft we would only be able to come in on the high tide which would be at 14:00. So we would have to leave at the godawful time of 03:00 to make the tide.

Bay of Islands to Whangarei: After sunrise, it turned into a lovely day and we had a beautiful motor-sail down the picturesque coast. 

Very pleasant day for a scenic journey south.

We could have used a bit more wind but we had plenty of fuel so we just sat back and enjoyed the journey. We'd had no luck fishing all the way from Tonga and today was no exception. The birds were having great luck, however.

We sail by Tutukaka, halfway between Opua and Whangarei. The birds had better luck fishing than we did.

As we sailed around the Whangarei Heads we could see one of the America's Cup boats practicing in the distance (they can hit speeds of 40+ knots). What a great welcome into Whangarei.

It was a long motor into the bay and 11 nm up the Hatea River to our final destination at the Town Basin Marina. CINNABAR has a nearly 9' draft and we were in water reading 9', yikes! But we made it up the river, under the drawbridge, and into our spot with no difficulties.

A local boat led us through the drawbridge, very neighborly!

Very high tide as we pass the marina office on the left.

Cinnabar's new home, side tied to the old vessel RUAH.

Epilogue (by Tom): 

Arrival to NZ was a big deal for TC and SS. This was our main general goal when we set out cruising 6 years ago. This was the culmination of our central dream of 20 years and it was great to reach it in our 30th year of being a couple together. We look forward to spending much time here in NZ exploring this wonderful country and doing some major refit/repair to our floating home. From here onward it is all a bonus and we will formulate a new master plan/goal for our blessed lives. Our current thinking is to do a few more years of this cruising, including heading to places like Fiji, New Caledonia, Australia, and Tasmania.

We are extremely grateful to have had our friends and crew go to all the trouble and expense of joining us for this grand passage/adventure from Tonga to NZ. What great memories and how very enjoyable. 

Special Note: On this passage, Torben brought along his brand new (portable) Iridium GO! satellite wifi router along with a weather & routing subscription to the Predict Wind weather service. I must say, this combination package worked extremely well for easily getting weather updates and for the routing aspects. I've been a die-hard fan of using the HF Radio, Saildocs, and Expedition software to cover the same aspects, however, I am impressed with the ease and capabilities of Torben's new system. It must be why a few other trusted cruisers are using the same setup. I enjoyed comparing the two systems and there's much to recommend about the newest one.

Album: TONGATAPU TO TUTUKAKA