Haʻapai

NoForeignLand is absolutely indispensable, and we think it is fantastic. No cruiser should be without it. We use it constantly. This page is a supplement to the app. See this area on NoForeignLand · Some Tuesday on NoForeignLand · Captain Steve on NoForeignLand · First Mate Meg on NoForeignLand.

Haʻapai is the quiet middle child of Tonga’s island groups: fewer boats, fewer facilities, and some of the prettiest beaches and clearest water in the kingdom.

The trade-off is protection. Almost every well-regarded spot is excellent in the usual SE trades and settled weather, and almost none of them are comfortable in a strong westerly or when swell wraps over the reefs at high tide. Official cruising notes and local sailors routinely say that if a real westerly or a “bullet low” is coming, the safer move is north to Vavaʻu.

We have been spending time in this group before we check out for Fiji in late October. The numbered planning chart is how we think about the anchorages. It starts from Pangai, and it is not for navigation. We cleared into Tonga at Neiafu, in Vavaʻu. We have not cleared in at Pangai.

In this group

• Haʻapai anchorages, the numbered planning chart. That is the only place-by-place page.
• Vavaʻu, the group to the north.
• Tonga, the country page.
• Clearing in.