On Our Way to Tonga

Well, we left Rarotonga in the Cook Islands early yesterday (Monday) morning, just after the sun rose and are enroute to Tonga with a possible stop at Beverage Reef. We waived farewell to our great friends on Brittania and Piko (who we have buddy boated with since Mexico) and motored out of the harbor. Because of light winds, we ended up motoring for the first 24 hours, something that we have not had to do since leaving Mexico...in fact, lunch was rice and beans so with the motor running we felt (briefly) like we were back in Mexico!

We had an awesome time in Rarotonga. We met some great locals ... Ron (a mechanic), his wife Gina and their daughter Rongina. They shared a ton of fresh fruit with us including some of the most delicious passion fruit we have ever eaten. They also went with us on the awesome cross island hike which takes one across the island and to the "needle", a peak with spectacular views of the island. We also met John and Hinano who own the Hidden Spirit Cafe & Grill located in Maire Nui Tropical Gardens (which Hinano has grown for the last 15 or so years). They too were awesome people who lent us their pickup truck for about 4-5 days so that we could get around the island. Barb will write more about both in a later blog. Needless to say, if you need a great mechanic Ron is your guy. If you are looking for an awesome meal, Hidden Spirit is the place to go.

Barb and I also celebrated our birthdays in Raro. We had a great potluck party on the wharf Sunday night with Brittania and Piko and our new local friends. They brought some great local dishes as well as the best meringue cheese cake we've ever had! It was a fun night and was great sharing it with these friends.

And also, thank you for all the facebook and email best wishes from everyone. Unfortunatley, with no internet access and limited email it is very difficult to respond to those wishes directly, but know we loved getting them!

Best,

Michael
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At 8/17/2011 05:07 (utc) our position was 20°24.20'S 163°50.57'W