The volcanic disaster in Tonga strikes to my heart. My husband Mike and I have traveled to that island kingdom three times – in 2005, 2009, and finally in 2013. It is so sad to think of those pristine blue waters, tropical beaches, and palm forests covered with ash. Tonga is not a wealthy country and I am sure the inhabitants are suffering greatly from the damage to their homes and livelihoods.
I wonder too how badly the coral reefs and sea life will be affected. At least the humpback whales, who migrate to Tonga annually in the July-October time frame to raise their babies, are far away in their migratory feeding grounds this time of year.
Pictured is our boat Raven, a 64 foot long ocean capable sailboat. We bought her on Christmas Eve 2004 in New Zealand and our first cruising adventure the following season was to Tonga. Here we are anchored in the Ha’apai Group, stern-tied to a palm tree.
Our two boats, the sailing yacht Raven succeeded by the powerboat AVATAR, traveled to a total of 40 different countries from 2004 to 2016 before we ended our cruising lifestyle. During those years I kept a photo-journal blog initially named The Raven Logs and later re-christened The AVATAR Logs in keeping with the change in vessels. The blogs began as emails home to family and and friends, written while struggling with what was then prehistoric internet technology in a third-world country.
Those were life-changing years that I will never forget. My early photography efforts were snapshots, but each year both my camera and my writing skills improved, so those journals document that growth as well. The blog still exists but links have broken and photos have turned into ? marks. I’m starting to go back in time to polish up those posts, year by year, to bring them back to life. There might even be a book hidden away in there! Did you ever notice that my online portfolio was heavily weighted towards seascapes and underwater scenes? Now you know why!
I polled my audience and the consensus was unanimous that I should resurrect my sea-going stories and share them again. Stay tuned!
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