6,000 km South Pacific Voyage Of Discovery

Published on Monday, November 19th, 2012, under Blog

Ellis along with long-time friend, Ruurd van der Wel, and a small international team of close friends and colleagues, sail a 43ft Beneteau yacht (Miro) from New Zealand to the Kingdom of Tonga, return – a voyage of around 6,000 km.

On their 2-month expedition they have to make the notorious 2,000 km open water crossing from Waikawa (South Island of New Zealand) to Tongatapu, the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga. The team then island hops throughout the vast archipelago, discovering what the Kingdom of Tonga has to offer, making new friends along the way and uncovering a few mysteries in the process.

Their voyage is timed with the annual migration and calving of the gentle giants of the Pacific – the Humpback Whales. Some incredible encounters are experienced with these majestic creatures. On several occasions inquisitive calves would come within 2 – 3 meters of the crew in the water.

The team succeeds in landing on the remote volcanic island of Tofua. Guided only by vague directions, past from word of mouth, they manage to find and meet the lone occupant at the northern end of the 55 square km island, and are shown a route up and over the 550-meter high crater rim, to the active caldera within.

Tofua makes up part of the Pacific Ring Of Fire and is one of the more active volcanoes within the Kingdom of Tonga. It constantly billows smoke and gases, loud booming sounds echo deep from within its bowels, and occasionally it belches lava from its 130 meter deep cone at its epicenter. At night the glow from its molten lava reflects in the cloud of smoke that constantly rises from its cone.

The team also inadvertently discovered a recent, yet untold shipwreck story, from a lone Tongan living on the isolated Kelefesia Island. The elderly man tells the crew about seeing a yacht sink on the outer reef of his little island two years prior. Unable to use words, he draws a crude map in the sand with his machete, as the late afternoon sun set. 

The following day the crew went out to try and find the wreck for them selves. Sure enough after a couple of hours combing the outer reef system they came across the wreck sitting on the bottom. The 55ft Ferro Cement Schooner was still mostly intact, wedged between massive corral heads, at approximately 12 meters depth. The crew penetrated it with their scuba equipment and after much hunting they located the preserved captains log, among many other items. After salvaging the logbook they delicately opened the waterlogged pages and found some of the last entries from the captain before the vessel went down.

The team also dived in the remote and difficultly accessible cathedral cave of Eua Island, as well as exploring the remains of a long forgotten timber ship wreck in Vava’u.

After an incredible five weeks in the Kingdom of Tonga the crew narrowly avoid the first cyclone of the season, before their departure for New Zealand.

On their return voyage bad weather strikes for 4 consecutive days and they are blown over 100 km off course. They are eventually forced to settle for an alternative harbor back in New Zealand.