Sun, 4 Nov 2001
Hello All --
Well we are checked out of the Vava'u Group in northern Tonga and will be leaving in a day or two for the Haapai Group in the middle and then down to the capital city of Nukualofa in the south of Tonga. We have been told that we should be able to easily access our yahoo account in Nukualofa. It will be nice to have access to our address book again, or at least I hope we will be able to access it. I have learned to never count your email access until you have sent the emails. But it still is a pretty cool way to stay in touch all in all.
Please send any emails to our yahoo account and do not send any more message to the Mermaid.
We should be in Nukualofa in about one to two weeks and will email when we arrive there. Next mail drop will be for New Zealand and we will send that address from Nukualofa.
We were just finishing up a snorkle trip the other day and Paul was about to pick up the dinghy anchor when he notices a number of fish all looking at the same spot. Turns out there was an octopus there, when he sensed Paul he changed color and went under a rock and pulled rocks infront of himself then looked out. Paul said he was pretty big with a body about as big as a human head and about 3-4 feet long all together. Paul said he has never seen an octopus out in the open before and it was areally great experience. The snorkeling was great with an incredible variety of coral and lots of fish, very great location and one of the best we have seen on our trip. Find that every time we go snorkleing we see new things that we have not seen before. It's almost magical at times.
We have really enjoyed our time here in the Vava'u Group and it reminds us a lot of the San Juan islands. Lots of great anchorages located close together and you can actually sail from one to the other and many are only an hour or two apart, sometimes less. It has been a nice change from doing overnight passages between places or motoring between anchorages as we did inside the lagoon at Bora Bora. Every place is unique and wonderful in it's own way.
Paul (LaMarche) asked in his last email if we were planning to come home while we are in New Zealand and unfortunately the answer is no (at least at this time). The stock market has not done as well as we had hoped and we are having to make some compromises on some expenses. Certainly would love to come home and see everyone as we miss you all very much. One fantasy I have is New Year's celebrations at the LaMarche cabin up near Crytsal. Lots of good times there and dressing up in turtle necks and sweaters sounds like a fun change from warm weather. So please keep the cards, letter, emails coming we love hearing from you all. Photos are really appreciated also, almost makes us feel like we are there at times. As you may be able to tell Suzette is writing this as Paul is back on the boat changing the oil. He got the morning off to do a two tank dive that we won in the Friendly Friday Night Boat Race. Fun thing is that everyone wins a prize and first prize is usually a bottle of champange so frequently it is better not to be first.
Well will sign off for now and hope to have emails waiting when we get to Nukualofa.
Lots of love, hugs and kisses -- Suzette and Paul