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The flat calm waters of the Vava’u group were indeed just what the Doctor
ordered for Lucy’s ribs and we spent a couple of weeks amongst the islands
and anchorages of this part of Northern Tonga. It is an area we have
explored before and not somewhere we expected to visit again this year but
it remains a favourite spot and it was lovely to get a chance to spend a bit
more time there . Fortunately the slight delay caused by our diversion has
not really made much of a difference to this year’s plans so once Lucy was
back in tip-top condition we took off up here to Wallis, a small French
overseas territory that is little visited by yachts or indeed any other
tourists. By plane, it is as far as you can possibly get in the world away
from Paris and by sea it lies just a bit off the beaten track, not really on
the way to anywhere and as a result we were pleased to find when we arrived
that we are the only yacht here at the moment. It is a pretty special
place to have to ourselves and as you should be able to see on the Google
earth map we are now anchored off an uninhabited motu that forms part of the
protective reef with the lagoon inside. With its blue water, white sand and
palm trees it is a picture postcard South Pacific desert island complete
with huge thundering breakers crashing onto the outer reef protecting us
from the ocean swells just a few hundred metres away. Sadly as I will be
uploading this using the Sat phone I can’t post any pictures at this stage.
Maybe it is because of the lack of tourists but the people here are
extraordinarily friendly even by the high standards of the South Pacific.
To clear customs and immigration we hitched into town from our anchorage at
Gahi Bay picking up a lift straight away and the driver insisted on going
out of his way to take us right to the front door of customs. The smiling
customs officer dealt with the brief formalities and then immediately got
out his chart of the lagoon out so he could recommend the best anchorages
and where to get shelter from the prevailing winds.... the first time a
customs officer has ever offered such friendly advice. As we left customs
we asked a lady the way to the bank as we needed get some of the local
currency...... she insisted that as visitors we should not have to walk and
got into her car to drive us there! Having collected some cash in the form
of French Pacific Francs we made our way to the supermarket where I
discovered in common with French territories the world over it is possible
to get fresh baguette, good French cheese and a huge range of fruit and
vegetables....not only that but they could also supply us with snails, frogs
legs, and even hoky-poky ice-cream...... I HAVE ARRIVED IN HEAVEN!!!! At
this point we bumped into the smiley customs officer who taking one look at
our pile of supplies offered to drive us the 4 miles back to where we had
anchored our boat. As I said...... extraordinarily friendly!
The island is named after the British Naval Captain Samuel Wallis who was
the first European to stumble across the island in 1767. Unsurprisingly
the Polynesian residents already had a name for the island (Uvea, which many
still use today) but he decided to rename it after himself and then sailed
away again over the horizon. This guy clearly had a knack for finding
idyllic south sea
islands he was the first European to visit Tahiti ahead of Bougainville and
a full decade before the better known visit by Cook. As ever with those who
“discovered” this part of the world the most extraordinary thing is not that
he came looking for these places but that having “found” them he actually
persuaded himself and his crew to sail back to the stinking, dangerous,
diseased hellhole that was 18th century Portsmouth to tell everyone else
about it. It is surprising that many more of them did not do a “Bounty”and
stay here.... I certainly would have done!
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