Tonga and off to Fiji

The Kingdom of Tonga – Vava’u - Part II



Our time in Tonga is winding down.  It is Wednesday, and we plan to head out for Fiji Saturday morning.  We have had a wonderful time here in beautiful anchorages, visiting schools, snorkeling on fabulous coral reefs and swimming with whales...no kidding!  We even attended a Tongan funeral.  Here's a recap of our time in Tonga.

 

Tonga - Day 8 - Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Prep Day and Fakalaitie's
We spent most of Wednesday prepping for our outer island cruising.  Our first stop was to drop off some laundry, followed by the bank, open fruit and vegetable market where we picked up fresh mandarins, pineapples, bananas, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, kormas (white sweet potatoes), something that looked like a butternut squash but what the Vavu'ans call pumpkin.  We thought it might taste good bar-b-qued.  We'll see.  Tonga 0820

We stopped at the bakery picking up the last of my non-glutten order and paid for our mooring.  Wednesday evening, we went with Gloria and Gene from Pincoya to Tonga Bob's to see the Fakalaitie performance (female impersonators).  Transgender is very common in Polynesia, even in Tonga where everything else is so conservative.  The show was was very entertaining and attracted not only cruisers but locals as well.

Day 9 - Thursday, October 7, 2010
Earthquake and Skimmed Another Coral Head

We had a 5.7 earthquake off of Neiafu this morning.  It occurred around 8:45 during the morning net.  Russ was making a run to shore with a last trash run and was in the dinghy, so he didn't feel anything.  I was on the boat, attached to the mooring.  The boat started to bob up and down like a dribbling basketball.  Our first concern was a possible Tsunami.  We could hear all of the school children in the school above the anchorage out in the yard, followed by an all clear signal.  There were no warnings being given for a Tsunami, although I'm not sure what they would have been had there be one.  Naturally, the cruisers were a little nervous and wondering how protected they would be in Neiafu should there be a Tsunami.  It was a long way out to deep water.

I logged onto the net  US Geological Survey site to see if an earthquake had been registered.  The Internet service is very slow so by the time I finally got online, 10-15 minutes had passed.  There were as yet no Tsunami warnings, but the 5.7 earthquake only 55 miles from was posted.  The red spot indicating an event within the last hour, was amongst a closely linked chain of yellow dots indicating earthquakes in the last week.  Seems that there had been quite a swarm of others that we were not even aware of.  Since this one was so close to us and nothing as yet had happened, the cruisers relaxed and went about their business.

We cranked up our dinghy on its davits, disconnected ourselves from the buoy and were off to anchorage 16 which is Nuapapu South - Vaka'eitu, about a 2 hour motorsail from Neiafu.  Nuapapu is a circular group of islands connected by reefs.  We had had several reports that this was one of the best places to snorkel and to see whales.

The sky was beginning to cloud over, so we got underway by 9:45, wanting to make use of as much sunshine for seeing reefs as we could.

We threaded through the reefs and islands to get to our destination.  With the exception of the last 50 yards to where we anchored we had an uneventful trip.  The tide was low, Russ was on the bow, I was at the helm.  The sky was fairly cloudy and it was difficult to see the color changes in the water. 

We were giving a wide berth to starboard where we knew there was a 5'11" high spot.   Russ yelled back for me to turn hard to port which I did, but it was too late and our keel skimmed across a coral head into the anchorage.   Apparently, there was another high spot that was not charted.  We were not using our Nobeltec map plotter because we knew this was not accurate.  We were using waypoints and our gps.  It's good we were going slow, but when going slow the boat doesn't turn sharply.  Getting used to this visual-reaction-navigation takes some getting used to, and we obviously don't have it mastered yet.

Elysion with Josie and Steve (Great Britan) and Serendipity with Hareka (Nederlands), Wunderland, Pickles, and Stray Kitty were already at anchor.  There was a free buoy close to the eastern cliffs which we were able to attach ourselves too.  The water looked shallow, but we still had 30 feet under us at low tide.  Hareka helped us attach to the buoy.

We spent a quiet evening watching the clouds build.  It rained hard on Thursday night.

Day 10 - Friday, October 8, 2010
Belated Stormy Birthday Party

Friday morning was dark and gloomy.  It seemed like a good day to stay inside, read, relax, and bake Russ's overdue birthday cake.  Skylight called and were headed into the anchorage later in the mooring.  We invited Brian and Claudia from Skylight and Josie and Steve from Elysion over for cake and dominoes Friday night.  Pincoya and Trim decided to stay put in Neiafu until the weather got better.

It poured on Friday night with a magnificent thunder and lightening show.  As we were having wine and devil's food chocolate cake, we heard over the radio that a boat was sinking in the Ha'apai islands 100+ south of Vava'u.  It's a bummer to hear that someone is going down, particularly when the weather is so frightening.  We learned the next morning that the boat did sink, but the four people on board had been rescued and were on land.  It must have been a terrifying experience for them.

We had been thinking about sailing down down to the Ha'apai islands on our way south before taking off for Fiji.  They are supposed to be gorgeous, but the waters are filled with hazards, coral heads, etc.  After our recent eyes-wide open bump on coral and this sinking incidence we are reconsidering our plans.  We are pretty content with the gorgeous islands here.

Day 11 - Saturday, October 9, 2010
Lazy Saturday - Thunder and Lightening Storm

We had visitors from Nuapapu this morning.  A group of locals came by to sell us some of their handcrafts.  We bought a few items and they invited us to visit their primary school next week.    They have about 25 students ranging in age from 4- 12.  One of the men David on the boat is a teacher there.  We have been wanting to do a school visit and have some things to donate.  Pincoya with Jean and Gloria joined us in the anchorage today.  Trim and Freezing Rain are still in Neiafu.

Blue sky came out for a hour or so today.  We got in the dinghy and went ashore for a little walk.  When the tide is high, there is no beach.  When the tide is low, a golden yellow sand beach appears and wading birds take advantage of picking off fish in the shallow water.

There is a huge tree (banyon) on shore which looks like it would be a great place to build a Swiss Family Robinson tree house. 
 
The sky was clouding over and we had invited Hareka over for dinner, so we didn't stay long on shore. 

We had a nice evening, once again marveling at the thunder and lightening (our gps, navigation key, laptops, safely stowed in our oven and microwave).  Harkea left our boat about 9:30 and at 9:35 the wind started to howl and the sky opened up pouring rain.  Boats all over the anchorage were checking their anchors as their boats pulled and tugged from every direction as the wind whipped around the bay.
We were glad to be on a mooring, but were watchful of other boats.  It rained for nearly two hours.  We filled our water tanks and took 8 inches of water in the dinghy.

Day 12 - Sunday, October 10, 2010
Flying Foxes and Reef Snorkeling

This morning the sun came out and the clouds although still present were giving way to blue sky.  By 8:30 a.m. the triple trouble boat club of Worrall Wind, Skylight, and Pincoya, and passenger Hareka were in our dinghies headed across the high tide reef to a place called Japanese coral garden for a morning snorkel.  Brian had gotten some waypoints the day before from Frank on Tahina on how to thread our way through the coral heads, so he led the way and we followed closely behind him.

Once on the blue side of the reef, we found a place to anchor

 

and noticed immediately an overhanging tree filled with flying fruit bats called flying fox here in Tonga.  These bats have 2-3 foot wing span and raid the fruit trees at night.  As the sun was coming over the cliffs, the bats were waking up and flying off somewhere, presumably where it was darker.  It was exciting to see them. 

We enjoyed a wonderful snorkel.  This garden by far had more variety of coral than we have ever seen in one place.  The water clarity, despite the wind and rain, was beautiful.  There were many variety of fish, not extremely plentiful, but nevertheless beautiful.  By the time we finished our snorkel, the tide had dropped enough where it would not be safe to pass back over the reef, so wed dinghies around the island making a few stops on secluded beaches and in aqua blue lagoons.  Truly a beautiful morning!

     

 This afternoon, Russ and I are doing a few boat chores including some laundry.  I noticed the other day as we were dinghying around our boat that our solar panels weren't flat.  It appeared that one of the davits was lower than the other.  Turns out we lost a big bolt in one of our davits and there is a stress crack in the foundation bending the davit arm on the starboard side outward.  This isn't good.

Russ is trying to figure a way of supporting the davit and putting a fix on it until we reach Fiji where it will have to have a serious repair.  If he can't get a good temporary fix on it, we may need to put the dinghy on the deck and take the stress off the arm.  Always something to keep Russ busy.

Day 13 - Monday, October 11, 2010
Coral Garden West Side - Hike to abandon Resort, Dinner Party

After our wonderful snorkel the day before, we decided to go again at 8:30 in the morning.  This time we took four dinghies (Skylight, Pincoya, Serendipity, and Worrall Wind) and left early enough that we would swim while the tide was still coming in and have enough water under our keels to traverse over the reef and not have to go around the island.  We enjoyed another look at the now familiar gardens and fish. Beautiful.

   

 We traversed back over the reef.  The other dinghies peeled off back to their boats after we had a short discussion about a potluck on our boat later in the day.  Russ and I took the dinghy to shore

and hiked up an overgrown trellis trail

to an abandon resort on the top of a hill .  Built only 15 years ago, the place was deserted and from the destruction we surmised it might have been hit by a hurricane and never rebuilt.

(We learned later that the rebuild was never really completed and the property simply abandoned).

There were some overgrown gardens and fruit trees.  We were able to pickup some limes and oranges.  The bananas were a little too high on the trees (and a little small yet) for us to pick up.  We returned to our dinghy to find visitors on the remnants of the old pier.

After our hike, we returned to WW for lunch and a little cleanup for our dinner guests. As the afternoon progressed and new boats with friends arrived, we included Sidewinder and Acapella to the potluck.  Worrall Wind was going to be full with nearly a dozen people.

 (Ed and Cornelia on Acapella, surrounded by Dave and Susie  on Sidewinder),                                         

(Gene and Gloria in front Pincoya with Claudia and Brian from Skylight in the back)

Everyone arrived between 5:30 and 6:00 and left several hours later.   We had a fun evening, gobbling our way through all the contributions.    The ladies played dominoes (my first win in over a  year) and the men retired to the Lido deck for stimulating heat exchanger, plumbing, and engine talk.  Sorry to have missed that!  Not!

We were planning on leaving early the following morning and going over to Nuapapu School, but Susie and David on Sidewinder were raving about the coral gardens they had seen earlier in the day on the south side of the island.  It never seems to fail that the attraction of yet more beautiful coral has a way of delightfully delaying our plans. 

Day 14 - Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Coral Garden South Side - Nuapapu Funeral

We got up early and once again set off in our dinghies.  Gene and Gloria were having generator problems and were returning to Nieafu along with Hareka on Serendipity, so it was just the double trouble team of Skylight and Worrall Wind that vented to the south side of the island.  The tide was coming in and there were breaking waves along the reef.  We pulled up to a little beach area on the south east side of the reef were there we no waves, dropped our anchors, and dove in.

Oh my gosh!  These were spectacular corals.  The variety and colors were extensive.   We were able to float over the gardens with about 2 feet of water under us.  The water was crystal clear and the colors vibrant in the morning sun.  Hues of yellows, browns, chartreuse, pink, purple, corals and oranges; brain coral with underlayment of lime greens and spirals of cocoa brown, plate corals, staghorn corals.  You name it, we saw it!  Absolutely the best coral gardens we've seen anywhere, including the Perfect Reef in Suwarrow.  Brian and Claudia tooks some under water photos and videos that I hope to get a copy of so that we can recapture the magic of this garden.

After our snorkel, we returned to Worrall Wind.  Pincoya had left and Serendipity was just leaving.  Within the hour, both Skylight and Worrall Wind were also heading away from this wonderful little anchorage across the bay to the main island of Nuapapu.  It took us about 1 hour to cross the bay.  Over the course of the last week, we could see 1 or 2 boats maximum anchored at Nuapapu.  We were looking forward to fewer boats.

Skylight and Worrall Wind dropped anchor in 50 feet of water off the shore of Nuapapu village near their pier.   We were the only boats here, but by the time returned we had quite a few more boats in the anchorage.

             

                          
Brian and Claudia picked us up in their dinghy (our little motor was giving us problems) and we headed to the pier.  Our backpack was bulging with school supplies.  We could hear singing coming from the top of the ridge in the direction of the school.

There were some adolescent boys on the pier tormenting and eventually killing a beautiful sting ray. 

I tried not to let my cultural distaste for this activity color my opinion of these boys.    They had helped us moor the boat, climb up the pier, and had pointed the way to the village.  They had been helpful and polite.

I asked them if they were going to eat the ray?  They laughed.  They obviously had no intention of eating the ray.  They had killed the creature for sport.  It was very sad for us to see, but other than climbing coconut trees there really isn't much for the kids to do here.  Why weren't they in school?  They said their was no school today.  We couldn't quite understand why and they didn't speak enough English to elaborate.  In retrospect, these boys were attending an all day funeral that was occurring at the top of the hill and escaped for a little sport.

The four of us trekked up the hill to the village, toward the school and the singing voices.  We climbed over a few stiles
   

and walked along the ridge top through some tall green trees.  When we climbed over the last stile on to the school grounds, Tavita (head teacher and principal) came out to meet us.

He explained that the village of Nuapapu was involved in a funeral today and that the school was closed.  We got to peak inside the school rooms that were empty and were invited to stay for the funeral and to come back the following morning for school.  While it wasn't what we had come for, it was interesting to watch a Tongan funeral from the school house porch which overlooked the grave site.

Tavita explained that the person who died was an old woman with five children.  She died of cancer.  I asked how old she was.  He said she was 40.  Whoa!  We must have looked like dinosaurs if 40 was considered old. 

The village itself was probably no more than 50 people, but at least another 50 or so people had come to the village earlier in the day, feasted and had been singing farewell songs to the deceased.

When we arrived, the songs were just ending.  The body wrapped in a white shroud was laid onto a finely woven mat.  A long woven mat was placed on top of the body.  Family and friends lifted the top mat as an umbrella while younger stronger men, lifted the lower mat carrying the body.  The processional of people took the deceased down to the grave site.

Tavita explained that families were very proud of their long, fine designed mats, and that it was a sign of respect to the dead.  The Tongan funeral goers were wearing black with overlaid mats on their clothing.  Again, the larger the mat often symbolized the closeness of the relative to the deceased.  It appeared to us, that most of the people at the funeral were wearing very large mats.

The gravesite was a cement crypt.  The body was placed alongside the crypt and covered with yet another fine mat. 

                                    















Part way through the ceremony, it started to rain, and several young men materialized with a large yellow tarp on poles.  They positioned themselves around the gravesite, protecting the body and the ministers from the rain.  After more mournful singing and a lengthy sermon which Tavita translated as "death comes to all of us, so repent now and live a good life so you can be saved from hell." the deceased was raised up off of the ground and lowered with the bottom mat into the crypt.  Almost everyone was paying rapt attention.

The adolescent boys who had tormented and killed the ray sat on the hill above the gravesite.  They were not wearing funeral attire and were obviously bored and not paying attention to the "repent now" sermon.

The top mats were retrieved and folded for presumably the next funeral.  We left immediately after the body had been lowered to the ground, and by the time we had trekked back down the hill and were returning in the dinghy back to our boats, the path and pier filled with funeral goers ready to return to their villages.

We spent a quiet afternoon on the boat.  Two 12 year old boys swam out to the boat to visit.  We chatted with them and blew up some balloons for them to play with in the water.  Turns out that one of the boys claimed to be the son of the woman who died.  He and his family didn't live in Nuapapu, but Tongatupu, but his mother had come from Nuapapu originally. 

The school teacher had told us previously that the children would now come to Nuapapu to live with family and attend school.  The other boy told us that he was not from Tonga but from Vava'u.  We explained to him that Vava'u was a part of Tonga.  He looked astounded and said no, he wasn't a Tongan, but the other boy was.  He was a Vava'uan.  It's a very small world here. 

Another family dropped by in their outrigger canoe to sell us some handcrafts.  We bought some more book marks that Lisa the young lady had made and gave each of the children balloons.
        

After the boys tired of us, they swam out to some of the other boats that were now anchored in the bay.  There were now 9 boats in the anchorage.  Where did all of these boats come from?  Tavita had requested that we inform all of the cruisers that the school would welcome them all tomorrow morning at 8:30.  Russ and I dutifully went around to each of the boats, introduced ourselves and extended the invitation before we returned to the boat at sunset.  The two boys were still in the water (nearly three hours later), having made their rounds to each of the boats.

Day 15 - Wednesday, October 13, 2010
School Visit, Port Maurelle, Swallows Cave

By 8:15 a.m., there were fifteen cruisers trekking up the hill with various school supplies and resources. There were representatives from Worrall Wind, Skylight, Momo, Pickles, Gryphon II, and Sara II.   We were greeted with fresh flower leis and seated on wooden benches.  Claudia and Brian
          

Children ranging in ages from 3-12 were sitting barefoot and cross legged facing the cruisers.
Tavita welcomed us and explained that because of the previous day's funeral and three days of mourning where children are expected to stay quiet, that they would not be doing a lot of singing, but they would break the tapu for a quiet welcome song. 

     

Tavita explained that Nuapapu school was the lowest academically performing school in all of Tonga and that he had been sent by the minister of education to Tonga to see if he could make a difference.  This is his second year, and he says he can see some slight improvement. 

Given that there are few resources and no one in the village makes a living which derives income (all are self sustaining farmers and foragers), these children have very little, have no vocational or professional role models, and no television, computers, etc. to see how the outside world lives.  Expectation of academic achievement is limited and relative to their insulated world.  The classroom library had well-used picture books, nothing above a third grade reading level.  Teacher made charts in both Tongan and English lined the walls.  A motivational horizontal poster in English was mounted over the blackboard.  "If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail." 

The children themselves were charming, polite, and delighted in trying out their English and mugging for the camera.  They had each memorized a script in English telling us their name, how old they were, how many brothers and sisters they had, and what they wanted to be when they grew up. 

Nearly all the girls wanted to be teachers, and all the boys, except for one who said he wanted to be a carpenter, say they wanted to be soldiers or pilots.  With the teachers singing quietly and asking the children not to sing, the children performed some dances and hand clapping songs.
           

   
Tavita asked me to share with the children what I had brought for them.  After a short show and tell of glittery pencils, whistles (which they would receive after three days of mourning), notebooks, binder paper, pencil sharpeners, and construction paper, I brought out my package of balloons and let them choose whatever color they wanted, provided that they try to tell me the color in English.          

They actually did a very good job.  The shyest of the children took white balloons as that seemed to be a color or English word with which they were most familiar.   The cruising family from Pickles with four children the same ages as those in the children in the school were also given balloons, but they had to learn the Tongan words for the colors.  The Tongan children were happy to help them learn their words.

Another one of the cruisers who was a teacher taught the children "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" song, except she substituted Head with eyes, and shoulder with fingers.  The kids got a kick out of that.  I think the teacher may have worried a little bit about the tapu they were breaking with all of their high energy and laughter.

Julia from Pickles sang Itsy-bitsy spider with the hand movements.  The Tongan children giggled.  They knew this song in their own language.  Tavita ask if I would transcribe the English words on the black board.  Boy!  I haven't seen a black board and chalk since my first year of teaching, having quickly replaced blackboards with white boards and markers.    I broke the chalk three times before I got the words on the board.  I wish I had individual white board slates and markers for these kids.  What a challenge it would be to teach in this school!  If we were to stay here any length of time, I'd volunteer my time.

We had a delightful time at the school.    The children loved being photographed and seeing the immediate results in the view finder.  After our morning session, the boy whose mom had died took us on a tour of the village, (just houses and a church, no grocery or handicraft stores

climbed a coconut tree for our refreshment

 and led us back down to our boats by 11:00 a.m. 

Had it not poured rain for nearly an hour, we would have left as soon as we returned to our boat.  The rain slowed us down a bit, but we finally pulled up our anchor and headed towards Port Maurelle by 12:30.  We expected something a little more commercial of this anchor with a name like Port Maurelle, but in fact this anchorage is quite lovely with no pier, just white beach, palm trees, and beautiful aqua blue water.

We dropped our anchor, busied ourselves with lowering the dinghy and doing a few chores.  As the afternoon sun was dropping down the sky, we took the dinghy to the western cliffs where the sun was now shining brightly into the caves etched into the cliffs.  Swallows cave is the most famous of the caves.  

It was misnamed because it was originally believed that the birds were swallows.  Turns out the birds are a tern of some sort that nest very much like swallows in mud formed nests hanging from the ceiling.  The birds were chirping and flying around the large cavern.


The cave is so large, that dinghies can enter.  We entered the cave to find two other dinghies inside. 
We had brought along our snorkel gear and were tempted not to mask up and snorkel as we were so enthralled with the cave above the water. The cathedral dome in the entrance opened to the sky with greenery growing over the top.



The calcium deposits and etched walls were nature's art.  They not only had their own color, but reflected back the blues and aquas shining up from late afternoon light.
                                              

We didn't like to see the graffiti in the cave, but some of it dated back to the 1800's, and we marveled at the lengths some of the graffiti artists had gone to scale the heights within the cave.  Graffiti isn't just this generation.

One of the other cruisers snorkeled over to us and told us we had to get in, as we would not believe the fish.  It was a little eery jumping into the water in the cave, but indeed the fish were incredible.  They were some sort of a small silver fish, mackerel or sardine that reflected the colors of the water with silvery shimmer.  What made them magnificent were the numbers.  There were tens of thousands of these fish swimming in synchronized schools in balls, in spheres, in spiraling planes in the cobalt blue and aqua of the cave waters.  It was fascinating to watch and to swim through the balls and with the fish.            

                                  
After Swallows cave, we made a short stop and snorkeled in a cave called Indiana Jones cave just a fifty feet around the corner.  It too had a lot of fish, but most remarkable was the top of the cave which opened to the sky.  All in all our cave experience was unforgettable.

Day 16 - Thursday, October 14, 2010
Lazy Day at Port Maurelle

It sprinkled off and on all day.  We lounged around, making one trip into shore to walk along the beach  and another trip out to a large coral head.  The sand at this beach was unbelievably soft and fluffy. 
    
Look how much our feet sank in.The coral wasn't terrific, but we did see some varieties we had not seen before (mostly soft corals) and it looked like a nursery for skipjack and red snapper.  As we motored back to the boat from our snorkel,

 we introduced ourselves to a couple on Northfork from Incline Village, Nevada - Mark and Dana, and invited them over for a glass of wine.  We had a nice evening sharing stories dreaming about our next adventures.  They too are interested in traversing some of the inland waterways of Europe once they get there.


Day 16 - Friday, October 15, 2010
Return to Neiafu

We returned to Neiafu by 10:00 a.m.  The moorage was pretty full.  We did find a spot close to the shore and next to Trim.  The water is very still here, but there is also no wind to cool us off.  As soon as we were hooked to a mooring, we lowered the dinghy and went into shore to make arrangements for a whale swim early next week.  Turns out we were able to get on a boat the following day with Endangered Encounters.  It's rainy today, supposed to clear a bit tomorrow, and then be rainy again on Sunday.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that it will be nice enough tomorrow.

Because we would be leaving early in the morning on Saturday, we would miss the Saturday market.  We decided to do some shopping and picked up some sweet potatoes, bread fruit, green peppers, and two bunches of very small carrots.

Trim, Pincoya, and Freezing Rain brought dinner to our boat this evening.  They were in possession of fresh tuna, so they made platters of sushi.  It was delicious.  Pincoya is leaving on Sunday, Trim and Freezing Rain on Monday.  It's getting a little sad to know that everyone is going in different directions.

Day 17 - Saturday, October 16, 2010
Swimming with Whales!  Bon Voyage Dinner.

By 8:00 a.m. we were on board Proteus with whale-guide Brenda and Skipper Maki and four other wanna-be whale swimmers.  The day was very threatening in Neiafu, but we could see lighter skies to southwest, so that was the direction we headed.  Over the course of the day we saw a dozen humpback whales….a courting couple, three mothers with calves, and four-five solo adults.  We didn't see any full breaches, but lots of rolling, slapping, and spy hopping.

Russ waiting to get up close and personal with Moby Dick

See the snorkeler in lower right corner?

The first sighting was a single male that fluked and dove in fairly shallow water.  A small group of us got into the water close to the "footprint slick" of where the whale dove.  He was singing!  It was beautiful.  Because he was in fairly shallow water, he was hanging upside down on a diagonal and had not gone far.  We could see him about 15 feet below us.  It was very exciting.

Small groups took turns getting into the water with each encounter.  Each swimmer saw something a little different depending on their turn and how quickly they could get their masks and fins on, slip into the water, and swim quickly with the guide. 

On one of the swims, there was a whale directly below me about 20 feet.  I was directly above his tail which was as big as I was.  My heart was pounding.  What a rush. 

The other really exciting swim was with a mother and her calf.  They dove while we were in their proximity and the baby was on the mother's back.  We got to see them descend into the depths.  The group wrapped up the day with a snorkel in Swallow's cave and Indiana Jones Cave.  We had a great day. 

Both China and Japan are wooing the Tongan government with freebies to gain fishing and whaling rights in Tonga.  The whale watching foundation is growing in strength and want to convince the government that whale watching is a better alternative to whale killing. 

The foundation has developed some guidelines for whale watchers and swimmers, that are being carefully observed.  After several years of following these procedures, identifying individual whales by their flukes, the foundation is reporting an increase in the number of whales each year.  That's good news.

  

Saturday evening, Pincoya, Freezing Rain, Trim, Sidewinder, and Worrall Wind enjoyed a Bon Voyage dinner together at the Dancing Rooster restaurant.  Russ had red snapper and I had a lobster stir fry…..delicious.  Tomorrow begins the migration south.                                                                               


Day 18, Sunday, October 17, 2010
Fiji Bound Dessert Group

It sprinkled most of the night with a couple of good downpours that helped us fill our water tank.  I took advantage of the rainy day to make a large pot of stew and bake brownies.  Russ did some chores then went ashore to watch college football on  the Aquarium's large-screen TV.

Pincoya left for New Zealand as Skylight was returning from the anchorages into Neiafu.  We invited the Fiji-Bound group over for a planning meeting and Sunset dessert. 

                                 

By 7:00 p.m. Trim, Worrall Wind, Sidewinder, and Skylight were enjoying white Russians, brownies, nuts and mixed fruits while we  enjoyed the sunset and reviewed waypoints and weather. 

Lori is flying out of Fiji for the states on October 28, so they are leaving tomorrow so that can get to Fiji as soon as possible.  Looks like the wind is negligible for the next week and they will be motoring most of the way.  Sounds perfect to me, but we have some chores to do first and Russ is determined to wait for the wind to pick up which is this coming Saturday.

The remaining three boats are striving to have all their chores and prep done by the end of Wednesday so that on Thursday, we can all strike out for a jump off anchorage and leave from the anchorage on Saturday morning.  If the wind is good, we will get to Fiji by Wednesday or Thursday of next week (Oct. 27-28).

More later.  All is well on Worrall Wind

The Kingdom of Tonga – Vava’u

We have been in Tonga for several days now.  We arrived on Wedensday, September 29.  On Tuesday (we skipped Monday), our wind had died to less than 10 knots.  Worrall Wind needs at least 12 knots to move.  Consequently, we polked along all night on Tuesday, finally turning the motor on around 6:30 a.m. when we got our first sight of land and our visual bearings.

Tonga – Day 1 – Wednesday, September 29, 2010 - Vava’u

As we were motoring into the channel to Neiafu, there was some splashing directly in front of us, less than 100 yards.  We slowed the engine and veered to port as three hump back whales were doing the slap dance with their fins.  A pod of dolphins was leaping about.  It was great fun to see them.  The last time we saw dolphins was in Moorea.

Our Nobeltec navigation maps on our laptop which were very accurate in French Polynesia, Cooks, and Samoas, were way off here in Tonga.  We had been warned of this, so were prepared to enter during the daylight, use the range markers, visual cues, and gps waypoints.  When we positioned ourselves correctly, we looked on the nav system to see how far off we were…..according to the nav system we were traversing the land!  This is definitely one place not to enter at night.

When we called port control, we were directed to tie up at the fisherman’s wharf and raft up to the boats already there.  We were number three in the checkin-checkout cue.  Elysion from Great Britain with friends Steve and Josie whom we had met originally in the Marquesas and again in Tahiti, were the boat we rafted up to.  We arrived about 11:00 a.m., and were boarded in succession by immigration, customs, health, and quarantine.  After our visits, we were directed to the ATM so that we could get the fee money we needed. 

Since it was after 12:00 p.m. and lunch time (all offices closed), we decided to have lunch with Steve and Josie at a local café.  We returned to our boats, stopping to pay our fees, and pushed off the fisherman’s wharf by 2:30.  The anchorage was only a short distance away where we found a buoy and latched on.

Our first visitors were Brian and Claudia from Skylight.  We had met them in Suwarrow, and they too will be going to Fiji with their boat during the hurricane season.  Brian helped to fix our Wifi bullet system in American Samoa.  It stopped working in  Samoa.  Once again, he tried to help us, but the elusive bullet was not cooperating this time.  Brian and Claudia had already been in Vava’u for a couple of days and were heading out in the morning for some of the outer anchorages.  We’ll catch up sometime within the next couple of weeks.

Later in the early evening,  we joined Don and Marie on Freezing Rain for gin and tonics.  Both Lori and Ken from Trim and Steve and Helen from Dignity were on board.  We swapped stories and spent an enjoyable evening just sitting still.

Tonga – Day 2 – Thursday, September 30, 2010

On Thursday morning, we got up and headed into town to look around and deposit or laundry at the Coconet Café which is just a short walk from the dinghy dock.  From there we met an anglo lady coming down the hill who asked us if we needed any help finding anything?  She was bubbling with excitement because she had just found a local establishment that would bake gluten free products.   We of course made one of our stops at the Tropicana Café and talked with the owner/baker where we ordered gluten-free bread and banana muffins.  Her supplies were getting low, so I offered to bring in some of my own flours which I did the following day along with my gluten free recipe book.

During our touring, we stopped at numerous shops to look around and the tourist office where we picked up a pamphlet and discovered that the Ene’io botanical gardens offered Tongan feasts and entertainment on Friday Nights.  We hustled back to the boat and organized a party for Friday night.  I was really looking forward to learning the names of native plants and trees. 

We also spent quite some time with a Fijian/British woman, Ameca, in her art shop.  She was very informative about the Tongan culture.  The farther west we have gone, the stronger the missionary influence.  In French Polynesia, provocative hip swaying dancing,  showing  and adorning skin with tattoos is the norm.  In the Samoas, the women are quite covered up and show very little skin.  Their dancing is far less sensuous.  She indicated that the women here are far more covered.  Fiji is even less tolerant. 

Ameca was telling us that the Mormon church here offers to build local families houses if they join the Mormon church, but the family must tithe 10% of their income.  As far as she knows, the Mormons are at least returning some material benefit to their parishioners.

Some churches such as the catholic church still pass the basket, and other churches, publically publish a list of families and donations received from each of the families.  She said that the Tongans are humiliated at the bottom of the list, so it is not uncommon for them to take out big loans so that their donation status rises on the list.  The standard of living is so poor here with 80 percent unemployment, that is disheartening to see the Tongans take out these loans which they can ill afford to take out or pay back, immersing them into more debt. 

We mentioned to Ameca that there were several women at the church we passed.  We inquired if it was a funeral as many of the women were wearing black.  Both men and women were seen with straw mats around their waists.  Ameca told us that today was Ladies’ Day.


It was a special day honoring women. The men and women who were wearing black are in mourning.  The thicker and bigger the mat around their waist and hips indicates their closeness to the relative that passed away.  Less than a year ago a Tongan ferry making its way north to Vava’u carrying many Vava’u citizens sank.  Seventeen people from Vava’u were killed, and many of those we saw were in mourning for those lost in this tragedy.

Other people, particularly bankers, government workers, and others who command respect where light weight short mats indicating that they have an office job or profession (similar to wearing a tie).  We noticed several students wearing the shorter mats and many who were not.

Tonga – Day 3 – Friday, October 1, 2010
On Friday morning, we made a quick trip into town to pickup our laundry, and to drop off some supplies to the Tropicana.  We picked up the banana muffins and loaf of bread, and at another stop The Crow’s Nest Café, we made arrangements for 12 cruisers to attend the Ene’io garden feast and entertainment.  Russ also picked up some very good looking muffins and cinnamon rolls.

Steve, Josie, Russ, and left for Ene’io beach via a local taxi with our packs and snorkel gear at 1:00 p.m.  We enjoyed an afternoon of lounging on a beautiful beach which we had all to ourselves, reading, swimming, and snorkeling.  Some of the remarkable creatures we saw while snorkeling were giant black sea urchins and deep indigo purple sea stars.

At 4:00 p.m., we washed off in some clear water which was provided to us in a bucket by the owner Hana’tele.  We dressed ourselves and were just finished when two more taxies pulled up with the rest of our group from Freezing Rain, Trim, Acapella, and Leu Cat.

Hana’tele is 64 years old and retired just a few years ago as a minister of agriculture for Tonga.  He is a very learned man, having traveled around the world visiting California, San Francisco and Sacramento, and meeting the Pope four times.  He inherited family land when he was 8 years old and always loved plants. 

Hana'tele

Josie from Elysion

Plants grow easily in the South Pacific, but the culture is such that Tongans do not think of plants as renewable resources.  They just take what they need until the plant becomes scarce and eventually extinct.  Planting and harvesting is not a part of their cultural psyche.  They live for the day and perhaps tomorrow, but think no farther into the future.  Over the years Hana’tele has be planting and nurturing Tonga flora.  He has had little help from friends and family who think his ideas of planting and purposefully growing plants and trees are strange.  Yet they are most willing to drop by his garden and take whatever they want (communal mentality).

We spent an enjoyable afternoon in Hana’tele’s beautiful botanical gardens.  He showed us the plants and told us how the plants, leaves, and roots are used in Tonga.  He must keep his gardens behind locked gates and fences because the cultural aspect of taking what you want would soon deplete the acres of gardens he has painstakingly grown.  Many of the species are no longer  on the verge of extinction because of his foresight.

The group enjoyed watching the sun set while we had cocktails over looking the bay.  Dinner included roast suckling pig, sea cucumbers, red snapper in a cream sauce, and curried chicken.

After dinner, we were entertained by local youth dressed in tapa performing Tongan dances and song.  Tongan women dance with their feet close together and hardly moving.  Most of the dance is done with their hands and there is no hip movement.  It is very sedate and quite exquisite compared to other Polynesian dancers. 

The boys and young men are much more active.  During the dancing, spectators are encouraged to bring their paper money out and give or attach it to their favorites.  The cruisers were quite generous with their pang’as and helped to provide some scholarship money to the young dancers and their families.

At the evening’s end, each of us were presented with leis made out of plumeria.  I think everyone had a wonderful time.  When we returned to our boat in the starlight, we noticed hundreds and hundreds of big white jelly fish in the water.  We were glad not to be swimming as the jellies invaded the water.


Day 4 – Saturday, October 2, 2010

We did some shopping at the local produce market, picked up some gluten-free baked goods, and spent some time cleaning the boat.  We were able to find through the Tropicana café a man who owns and operates the Vava’u net.  Russ picked him up and ferried him to the boat.  Within 45 minutes, Thomas originally from Switzerland had our Wifi bullet working again.  Yeah!  The good news is we are working.  The bad news is that we are working very slowly. 

Tonga has no fiber optic cable laid out across the ocean.  All transmissions are through a narrow band on the satellite…slower than slow.  Sorry, no Skyping at this speed.  We enjoyed our visit with Thomas who expressed many of the same sentiments about the Tongan culture that we had heard from Ameca and Hana’tele.

Day 5 – Sunday, October 3, 2010

A group of us visited the Catholic Church this morning to hear the Tongan Choir.  Our boat is in the harbor below the Catholic church.  Clear melodic voices drift across the anchorage each evening during their practice.  The mass began at 10:00 a.m.  The choir sang for over 30 minutes of the service, and it was quite lovely.  As we expected, dressing for church brought out the Tongans finest clothes.  Men and boys wore skirts with mats, women wore dresses with mats that were below their knees and covered most of their arms.  There were many Tongans dressed in mourning black with mats around their waist.  The family of women and children directly in front of us, made us wonder if their father, brother, or husbands were lost during the ferry accident.

It was cute watching the children and their response to being in church.  Kids are kids the world round.  Several children were being pushed and pulled into the church.  Their wiggly, giggly bodies were up and down, in and out.  Mothers were giving the children meaningful glances as the kids got too active while playing with handheld toys.   One child got a cuff on the head from her mother for goofing around. 

Ordinarily, flip flops are the shoe of the day, but on Sunday, the fancy footwear was pretty amazing.  Even little girls were wearing heels.  Some women and children were barefoot; apparently they could not afford fancy shoes or their fancy shoes hurt their feet.

The priest was animated  and gesticulated while pacing back and forth across the alter platform.  The entire service was in Tongan, and we didn’t understand one word he was saying.  He did however elicit a few laughs from the congregation who appeared to appreciate the service.  Nearly the entire congregation got up for communion.  There were three lines and three stations.  Communion was very efficient and took no more than 10 minutes.

After the service, we returned to the boat for lunch.   In the afternoon, Russ dropped me off at the Aquarium Café while he helped the Dutch couple on Spirit.  Their boat caught on fire a few days earlier and their Lehman engine (same as ours), needed some repairs.  Russ was offering some help.  While Russ worked with Spirit, I learned how to play Baja Rummy from Freezing Rain, Trim, and Acapella.  It was a fun way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Day 6 – Monday – October 4, 2010

We woke up to rain this morning.  Our planned hike to the top of Mt. Talau was postponed a few hours until the clouds passed by and the sun came out.  Of course when the sun came out, it was hot and steamy as we hiked up the trail through the jungle.  It was an easy hike, although there were some places along the trail where ropes had been tied as hand holds going up the slippery muddy slope.

Russ, Susie from Sidewinder, Steve and Josie from Elyison

Once on top, we had some nice views of the bays and islands of the Vava’u group.  Tomorrow, we are going on a jet kayak expedition on the east side of Neiafu.  The kayaks will take us across some shallow reefs and into some caves for snorkeling.


Day 7 - Tuesday-October 5, 2010

We received word from Marie on Freezing Rain that she had been in contact with Vava'u Adventures and because of the low tide, our jet kayak tour was being postponed from 10:00-11:00.  It was nice to have a leisurely morning on board, drinking coffee and reading through emails.  By 10:30, our sunscreen was on, our snorkel equipment was packed, the camera was in a water tight ziplock bag, and we were in the dinghy to pickup Marie for our jet kayaking adventure.

We parked the dinghy at the Aquarium Cafe dock and walked over the hill from Neiafu to Old Harbor, arriving at the adventure shed just before 11:00.  The tide was very low.  Our guide and proprietor was a young man named Jason from Oakland, California.  He grew up in the Montclair area.  He and his sister and brother-in-law  live in Tonga, currently operating Vava'u Adventures.

There were three kayaks on the shore ready to push off….kind of.  Seems the kayak to which I was assigned didn't want to work.  There seemed to be something wrong with the fuel injection and it wasn't firing right.  Both Russ and Marie were in jet kayaks ready to go.  There were no other kayaks available, so I hopped in the dinghy with Jason.  It would have been fun to zip along in the kayak, but I would not have been able to take pictures as my camera is not waterproof and would have been tucked away.  It was actually to my photographer's advantage to ride in the dinghy, let Jason do the driving, and allow me to snap away.

We saw some lovely beaches, climbed up to a sink hole, and saw some tremendous blow holes shooting foam 50 or more feet into the air.  We also got to do some snorkeling on a reef.  Most remarkable on this snorkel trip were the giant plate or platter coral delicately terraced up the shelf to the reef and teaming with yellow fish over a foot long.  We also saw a crown of thorns sea star and several of the now familiar periwinkle blue/purlple sea stars.

Tonight, Worrall Wind, Trim, Freezing Rain, Pincoya, and Restless visited a local pizza parlor.  Tomorrow, we'll do some shopping for fresh produce, breads, etc., and take off for the anchorages either tomorrow afternoon or Thursday mooring.

More later.  All is well on Worrall Wind