BBQ at Nuka Beach
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Thu 1 Jul 2010 00:03
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Thursday 1st July
The morning after the dinghy race we moved
round to the island of Nuku for a BBQ on the beach. It is known as the
picnic island of Vava'u. Many official functions for visiting dignitaries have
been held there. Churches and schools use it for annual celebrations and private
parties constantly visit the sandy white beaches to explore the island. In 1983
the Tongans had the honour and pleasure of hosting Prince Edward to a feast in
Nuku during a day of sailing and snorkelling. Very impressive!
Before we anchored there we made a slight
diversion and headed to Nuapapu which is best known for 'Mariner's Cave'. The
main entrance is a couple of metres below the surface and the tunnel is about 4
metres long so it's a bit of tricky one. You're supposed to use the swell to
pull you towards it, then exit when the swell pushes you out. We opted to wear
dive gear and go in but Hans and his son snorkelled through as did Charlie. An
interesting phenomenon of the cave, caused by the swelling sea, is the fog that
forms every few seconds, only to disappear again just as fast. It was very
interesting!
  Nuku Beach with spectacular
views
 Everyone was wearing something
pink as it was Charlie's 13th birthday party
 The men all looked very
fetching, particularly Pete!
 
 BBQ's were set up on the beach
as well as a table and chairs, courtesy of Gaultine
 The dinghy dock
 Charlie blew out the candles
(or pretended to as the wind kept blowing them out) and then recieved the
'Birthday Bumps'
 As the sun went down the
remaining boats played a game of cricket
 And then we settled down for an
evening around the campfire, courtesy of Annie and Freddie who spent the whole
night keeping it alight!
 Charlie was superb and played
the guitar and sang for us. She played the favourites Brown Eyed Girl, Wonderful
Tonight, I'm a Believer, Hallelujah and Wonderwall!
 Then Brian had a go with
Charlie and Sheila as his backing singers
 Once Charlie had a blister on
her thumb, Brian did the strumming, Charlie did the chords and Sheila was the
backing singer and dancer. What a family!!!!
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