Tonga is closed, since 2020.
New Caledonia is still closed.
Australia and NZ I think will allow yachts, but require quarantine, even with
documentation of double vaccination and boosted, length would depend on a rapid antigen test being negative. They are presently not available in Hobart. Don't know about availability in other
ports of entry. Probably not in Launceston, either.
We do not have information relative to the damages in Fiji from the Tongan volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai. There has been flooding and evacuations in the Lau group, in the east, I read yesterday. Probably significant ash-falls there, as well. Both nations are largely horticultural economies and I really don't know enough about their soil to have a good take on how the gardens will grow, having been flooded with
salt water. The ash is usually nutritious to the soil, once the big bits have been cleared.
CF has 2 threads running now about the volcano and its effects, and many links have been posted. If you check them out, it is obvious that we are in the very earliest days yet of getting information about what the people need, let alone whether they will open their borders.
There is a lot of remembering about how Cook's expedition brought disease; the missionaries brought smallpox; others brought measles; and each time mass extinctions came from European-introduced diseases into places that had not before had to cope with them. The Tongans are really keen to not get Covid, and are presently Covid-free. Today's
New York Times had an article explaining that
history, today:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/w...ano-covid.html
Probably doesn't much affect a crossing,
per se, but it will affect where one should go. imho, it's not time yet. If you need to renew your US Visa, would a trip to
Mexico for a few months do it? From
Mexico, you could go to
Japan, then maybe back to the US till the Pacific is welcoming again; or possibly, segue on down to
South America. There are certainly many natural wonders there, and perhaps travel will be okay. El Pinguino was allowed into
Ecuador for 2 weeks. Not long for seeing a place, but at least not still totally closed, either.
Ann