ADVENTURE
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Bret and Chad Van Roden's voyage of the broken compassPublished: April 01, 2011
March 2011 blog from the Broken Compass
The inhabitants of Tonga created their own time zone, which puts them first in the world to celebrate the coming of the New Year. We celebrated at a local bar called The Mermaid. We were lucky enough to not only enjoy Tongan and American New Year traditions but also a leg of Norwegian dried lamb called “Fenalar” which was snuck past airport officials by a Norwegian girl with one heck of a smile.
Enter Elisabeth. We met her several months ago in French Polynesia. She is an amazing free-diver and cook, two good assets on a sailboat in the South Pacific. During Elisabeth's three-week visit, we sailed to some of the pristine beaches in the Vavau island group, anchoring off several reefs and successfully spearing fish for dinner each evening. We also visited one of Vavau’s two popular caves: mariners cave, which has an underwater entrance that leads into a misty cave perfect for an aquaman hideout.
All good things must come to an end, and Elisabeth flew home to her architecture firm in Norway.
With the low season in full swing, the entire island group is open for our exploration. The threat of cyclones keeps people away – and us here – until late March. Until then, we'll hone our inter-island sailing and diving skills, checking out what the Vavau group has to offer. Visitors from all over the States are lined up over the next couple weeks before Bret and I raise our sails and continue our journey west.
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Meet the adventurers ...
... and check out more photos taken during their voyage.
| Bret and Chad Van Roden's voyage of the broken compassPublished: April 01, 2011 |
March 2011 blog from the Broken Compass
The inhabitants of Tonga created their own time zone, which puts them first in the world to celebrate the coming of the New Year. We celebrated at a local bar called The Mermaid. We were lucky enough to not only enjoy Tongan and American New Year traditions but also a leg of Norwegian dried lamb called “Fenalar” which was snuck past airport officials by a Norwegian girl with one heck of a smile.
Enter Elisabeth. We met her several months ago in French Polynesia. She is an amazing free-diver and cook, two good assets on a sailboat in the South Pacific. During Elisabeth's three-week visit, we sailed to some of the pristine beaches in the Vavau island group, anchoring off several reefs and successfully spearing fish for dinner each evening. We also visited one of Vavau’s two popular caves: mariners cave, which has an underwater entrance that leads into a misty cave perfect for an aquaman hideout.
All good things must come to an end, and Elisabeth flew home to her architecture firm in Norway.
With the low season in full swing, the entire island group is open for our exploration. The threat of cyclones keeps people away – and us here – until late March. Until then, we'll hone our inter-island sailing and diving skills, checking out what the Vavau group has to offer. Visitors from all over the States are lined up over the next couple weeks before Bret and I raise our sails and continue our journey west.
<<< Back to main Broken Compass pageEnter Elisabeth. We met her several months ago in French Polynesia. She is an amazing free-diver and cook, two good assets on a sailboat in the South Pacific. During Elisabeth's three-week visit, we sailed to some of the pristine beaches in the Vavau island group, anchoring off several reefs and successfully spearing fish for dinner each evening. We also visited one of Vavau’s two popular caves: mariners cave, which has an underwater entrance that leads into a misty cave perfect for an aquaman hideout.
Meet the adventurers ...
... and check out more photos taken during their voyage.
