Having a Whale of a Time in the Kingdom of Tonga
Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Thu 21 Oct 2010 20:33
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21:07.553S
175:09.00W
We have been a bit remiss with the blog over
recent weeks but frankly we have just been having far to much fun! My
mother, Pat, has been out to visit us and has spent the last three weeks with us
in the glorious "Friendly Islands" of the Kingdom of Tonga. This may well
be a long way from most places and quite hard to get to but is really worth
considering if you ever decide to persue the Pacific dream and visit this part
of the world. It is home to the most spectacular and welcoming
people and the scenery is breathtaking. Here is our
new family portrait taken on the island of Ovalau with Jamie, Lucy,
Spot the Dinghy and Bamboozle swinging at anchor in the
background.
 We arrived in the Vava'u Group of islands in time to join in
with a week of fun and general frollicking.... The Vava'u Regatta and
Festival. Amongst the other entertainments were two gentle races.
Here is a picture taken from Bamboozle during the second of these two races. The
crucial thing, which only the most observant of you will notice that this
crowd behind us contains both the other Amels taking part in the
race. Happily we managed to maintain this situation all the way to the
finish. We were very pleased to manage this as these were the two who we
really wanted to beat home but it would be disingenuous to pretend we were any
where near winning the actual race....i if we had taken a picture looking
forward at this stage there would have been almost an equally large crowd in
front!
 The destination of the race pictured above was Tepana Island,
venue for the big event, Vava'u's famous Full Moon Party. Here we are
getting in to the mood in our pirate outfits!
 Just a few days after the Regatta Pat arrived to join
us. Here she is (under the hat!) getting straight into the local pace of
life, off to explore one of the lagoons in "Katie the Kayak".
 She is a bit of an energizer bunny so we endeavored to keep
her good and busy. These karts are a great way to explore the main island
and provided plenty of entertainment as well as a good view of some of the
wilder back routes of Vava'u.
 A team photo on the hills above the NW corner of the
island.
 Another really special thing about Tonga at this time of year
is that the Humpback Whales are in residence. These magnificent
mammals come all the way up from the Antarctic to mate and calf in the calm
warm waters of the archipelago. We had a number of spectacular sightings
including this show provided for us over breakfast one morning. However
the highpoint of our whale watching and I really do mean HIGH HIGH HIGH point
was the day we spent out on whale watching tour, attempting what may well
be the ultimate in big mammal encounters, actually getting in the water and
snorkeling with them in the crystal clear blue waters. We were incredibly
lucky and thanks to or excellent guide Albert (not a very Tongan name!) who
seemed to have the ability to think like a whale, we had a number of really
very close underwater encounters with a full grown pair of adults
each weighing in the region of 40 tonnes. Our finale for the day, and a
moment that I doubt any of us will ever forget, occurred while we were floating
20m above them while they were peacefully doing whale things. In a
strange reversal of our plans for the day the male decided to come up
and do a bit of human watching! He swam right up towards the
surface just underneath us, his big eye clearly visible and
at what seemed to be the very last moment rolled over, arched his back
and peacefully slipped by just a few meters below with his big white
scarred belly almost scratching distance away from us. None
of us were carrying a camera in the water but the image is seared into my memory
and no recording could have captured the absolute magic of the
moment.
 Otto and Lili from Vagabond joined us for dinner at La Paella
restaurant. To call this place quirky would be well short of the mark. The food
is excellent and once you have finished eating the entire staff become the band,
being joined at one point, not only by the howling of the dogs but also by a
dancing goat!
 Tonga is home of the Pig Roast and here we are at a local
feast. I thought it would be a good plan to sit near the pig but sadly not
long after this picture was taken, it was removed from the table for carving
leaving a big hole in the feast right in front of me!.
 Never one to miss something new, here is Pat getting stuck in
to the "cava". A mildly narcotic drink made from the crushed roots of a local
bush. It tastes a bit like muddy water and makes your lips go numb but
apart from that it is delicious!
 A slightly more enjoyable drink....... a friendly Tongan
had just hopped up a tree to get a coconut to refresh the hot looking
"palangis".
 It may not be a very big tuna but at last we caught a fish
with Pat on board. We actually caught 4 of these little guys during the
day which made for an excellent barbeque.
 This is a much less light hearted photo. A French boat called
La Tortue had a string of unfortunate rigging and engine issues which,
magnified by some nasty weather rapidly developed into a catastrophic situation
which eventually lead to the total loss of the yacht on the reef pictured
below. The people on board managed to get off safely
but nothing could be done to save the vessel. Although we hardly knew
the poor couple who lost everything in this disaster we are good
friends with Andy and Rhian on Zephyrus who undertook to salvage as much as
possible of value off the wreck for the owners and also to remove anything
that would pose a threat to the surrounding reef and ocean (paints, solvents,
fuel, oils, plastics etc). We joined them in the pretty
spooky anchorage of Kelefesia to give them a hand and provide some much needed
dive equipment and full air tanks. This picture shows Andy and
I preparing to make a dive onto the wreck to remove more of the deck
hardware (winches, tracks, blocks etc) as well as what remained of the
rigging. It was a sombre couple of days but Andy and Rhian did an amazing
job in rescuing so much stuff and in clearing up the site and provided
another great example of how the cruising community help look after each
other in the absence of any other outside help.
 Even in the wilds of the Pacific it is sometime possible to
find a decent Margarita. Sunset on the balcony of the "Giggling
Whale" in Neiafu!
 A typically smiley Lucy modeling our smart new crew
shirts.
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