week 2 in Tonga

Nickanddenisesailing
Tue 24 Oct 2017 22:21


18.41.52 S 173.57.67 W

So after our boozy BBQ with the other two boats we had some compulsory recovery time - about a day and a half before we headed around the corner to a nice little bay with a small beautiful picturesque island close by. 'Riffiki' (the Dutchies) had decided to head off in a different direction so we spent the next few days in good company with 'Due West' Paul and Jenny.

Nick and I did some island exploring and some nice snorkelling near the smal island. When we first ventured into the water we were amazed to hear whale song. They must have been close but the rules in Tonga are very strict about interactions with whales, so we decided to snorkel where we had planned and hope that they might come in closer. Unfortunatley they didnt show - but it was beautiful listening to their amazing sounds. In the evening I went for a quick walk through the near by village - where I found hundereds of pigs everywhere as well as some cheeky kids who were asking for sweets. When they realised I didnt have any they progressed onto asking for my watch, bracelet or camera - apparently any of those would be a good substitue.

The next day we ended up just moving around the corner (its been amazing to do these tiny little hops and find beautiful anchorages everywhere) to another lovey spot - Port Maurelle. We spent some time preparing for Ruths arrival and otherwise we snorkelled and skufed behind the dinghys. Paul and Jenny have 'dream dinghy' and they also have a wakeboard. We spent hours of fun with them hooning around the anchorage on the various boards - wakeboard, paddleboard and surfboard. We also had some good quality relax time. Knowing that the next month or so was going to be pretty full on with guests we realy made the most of taking life slow.

It was soon time to head into town and pick up Ruth. We ened up anchoring a slight ways away from the main town, in a nice spot with some turquoise water around. We headed into shore and tried to organise a taxi to go to the airport to pick her up. After realsing that it was going to cost about $100 there and back we decided to investigate other options..... we asked about a hire car and were directed to a chinese shop. Realising that it was a kind of mini mart type shop we decided to ask around to see if we were in the right place. Sure enough we were directed to the back of the mini mart. While winding through the containers and piles of produce etc we found a guy who pointed us into the front of the supermarket. There we found a lady who pointed us to the back of the supermarket - where we had just come from.... so laughing at this ridicuos situation we saw some guys with their shirts off stacking stuff right at the back and in the darkness of a filled store room area. We
jokingly asked - 'is this the car hire place?' to which the reply was - 'you need a car?' we said yes. Then the guy pulled out some keys from his pocket, walked us to the front of the supermarket where he pointed at a car (in the police station parking/field area). He said we could have it for $40 for 24hours and just handed us the keys. A bit baffled we took the keys and said see you tomorrow. No names, licences etc were needed and he said we could pay when the car came back. So with our sweet ride we headed to the airport (with some sight seeing detours on the way) to pick up Ruth.

The whole being on boat thing was very new to Ruth, and bless her coming from Scotland (via south Is NZ) she was white as a sheet. This brought on some hilarious comments and looks from people around town. Thankfully we didnt stay too long in town and after provisioning, taking on water and fuel - and a sunday morning trip to church (for the novelty) we headed off back into the islands again.

After a quick nights stop at Cannibal island, we moved around the corner to where we had snorkeled with the whale sounds a few days previously. Ruth and I did some nice snorkelling and shell collecting on the island before all 3 of us headed off through the village on a nice walk over to the other bay.

As the weather was due to get a bit wild we decided to delay heading south to the other group of islands (the Ha'apis) and instead find some shelter further east. After a twisty route through some shallow coral heads we ended up anchoring off a small island with a beach full of beautiful shells. Ruth and I came back with quite the collection. The wind picked up and the rain came down but luckily the next day there was a bit of a window for us to take the dinghy over to a near by island (known as one of the most beautiful in the south Pacific). It might have been the grey weather - but we didnt think it was particuarly stand out - might also be how spoilt we have been..... Anyway we headed ashore and did some exploring of the windswept cliffs and deep red soil tracks.

The next day the weather eased a bit and we headed back through the coral to a nice sheltered bay closer to our departure point to the Ha'apis. We had most of the day and the night there. Ruth got into some paddleboarding and that was where I wrote the last blog post from. By the next day we wanted to get to a good spot so that our early morning departure to the Ha'apis would be easy. We ended up back at the anchorage where we had the beach party. Ruth and I managed to get over the reef and have a nice snorkel before we tried to get a good sleep for the full day passage starting the following morning.




This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using GMN's XGate software. Please be kind and keep your replies short.