Tofanga Island, Ha'apai Group, Tonga
Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Mon 19 Oct 2009 05:03
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19.57.393 S 174.28.141 W
Just about the perfect day in the perfect place.
The sun is out, there is a gentle breeze and it is not too hot. The beach is
white/pink and the water and sky are various shades of blue. And... we have it
all to ourselves, not another boat or human being in sight.The beach is a
paradise for shell lovers, we collected many beautiful and unusual shells
(girls, you'll love them).
In Pangai, Lifuka we got involved in a major
clean-up day organized by some NGO's from New Zealand.Hundreds of school
children took part. It was good fun, we met many locals. We were
allocated the wharf area with a large group of school children and adults. The
rubbish was all collected in a shed; the end result was a staggering pile. The
NZ 'ders were going to sort it all in the next few days and send the recyclable
stuff to NZ. Good luck to them. In the afternoon there was speeches and dancing
and food and drinks for the kids. We are a bit doubtful as to the success of the
exercise as the next day there was new litter where we walked. (There isn't
really anywhere for the people to put their litter). Anyway, enough of
that.
From Lifuka we sailed to Uoleva, a beautiful
island, where we had a Tongan meal at a back packers resort (we were the only
ones there). Yesterday we had a good sail to Uiha (saw some Humpback Whales on
the way) where we visited some historical sites. Interesting, but in a poor
state of repair.
And this morning we dropped anchor off Tofanga. The
snorkeling is not great here so we will move to Uonukuhihifo Island tomorrow
(only the next island down the chain).
   The truck collecting the rubbish that was picked
up
Tongan dancing
girls
Tofanga: The perfect shelling
beach
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