Commodore
July 16, 2024

Wednesday 17 July – arrived in stunning Ongea

We had a very good night passage. There were 3 other boats on AIS all heading for Ongea, thankfully we managed to avoid those and all the reefs and islands! I was very happy that the couple of squalls were on Rowan’s watch, as he skirted around them and I slept blissfully through them!

We got to the pass at about midday which was good for light, mid-tide so navigating the bommies was quite challenging. The island is about 10 miles long, we were heading up to the northern end having entered the pass which is in the south. Quite something looking out for coral heads and then entering the little bay where we wanted to anchor which was extremely hairy, much better done at high tide. There were 3 boats already in and we found a spot put the anchor down. After Rowan dived in to check the anchor were a little alarmed how little clearance we had, a quick chat with one of the other boats and we decided to move nearer to them where the water was deeper. We have been in contact with Rob and Frances on Alia Vita, they joined us later in the day. They had been in the island Faluga only about 5 miles away. The locals had discovered she was a GP and had got her to help a woman who had a very infected wound, she was just finishing off with her, when another local came and asked for help, he had a very deep cut from a fishing accident, we saw a photo, big flaps of skin. She had to stitch it up. They have been sailing for 10 years so she didn’t feel very practiced but I am sure the locals were eternally grateful. The supply boat only comes once a month with provisions and passengers. That is why they have no shops here, as you can imagine medical emergencies are a real struggle.

Map showing where we are, the we entered on bottom wetern end of island youcan the two main dark blue passes

Entering the pass, relying heavily on charts to find our way through the reef

Heading up around the headland

Interesting cliffs along the way.

The scenery and the colour of the water gets better and better

Finally anchored here….. I promise there is no enhancing of the colours!

The open area on the right is where we came through

The view out the front

Around 3:30pm when Alia Vita was settled and had some lunch, we decided to head off to the village to do our Sevusevu. There are only two options to get to the village, by dinghy though narrow channels only possible at hight tide or a 45 minute walk. We opted for the walk, as we are running a little low on dinghy fuel and it will be ages before we get any more. On one of the sailing compendiums, there is a mark where to find the path to the village. The start is at a completely hidden beach, we couldn’t believe it when we found it. It was a gorgeous walk through dense jungle, sometimes the path getting rather obscure, but absolutely stunning walking under a canopy of lush dense vegetation. It was a good 45 minute walk, we soon realised we couldn’t be too long as it gets dark by 6pm and we wouldn’t want to do the walk in the dark. On the outskirt of the village we found some men working their farm plots. One of the men claimed he could do the Sevusevu, so we were invited to his lovely home where we handed over the Kava, and a few words were said. An old style house made completely of corrugated iron these days, it was surprisingly cool sitting around on the grass mats, with the men wearing their sulus (skirts) and us ladies well covered. Rowan spotted a huge fuse box in the house and it turned out to be for their solar, definitely no electricity supply here. Some little kids then said they would show us their school which was very quaint, with lots of positive messages everywhere. We couldn’t linger long as it was getting late. I had only bought my prescription dark glasses, so it was quite challenging for me to see in the fading light.

Rob and Frances came on board for sundowners when we got back, it was a magnificent sunset. We made the mistake of not drinking any water after our long hot walk and went straight into a couple of G&T’s and rum punches. By 8:30pm after a lot of stories we were all knackered. Rob and Frances departed and we managed a slice of toast for supper and collapsed into bed. Not too surprising after our shifts on the night passage. It had been a long day!