Checking Out Tonga
Serai
Jason and Emily Willis
Mon 24 Sep 2007 20:48
We finally managed to escape the main town of Tonga, to go exploring all the islands, and oh what a lot of islands there are! This place is INCREDIBLE. It is just so unspoilt and there are so many anchorages to choose from. I always thought that the BVI were some of the best cruising islands in the world, but I was wrong. The BVI have to come second to Tonga. Having seen loads of Clown fish, and done some great snorkelling we headed out to the Coral Gardens, anchorage number 16 in the Moorings Guide. It was another beautiful place with a little bit of drama added too. There is a big reef extending across the anchorage not marked on the charts. The depth went from 100ft to 17ft in seconds. A bit of heartstopper as we (or should I say I) had decided to sail into the anchorage. Of course I got all the "I told you so' looks as we crash gybed out of there to escape the reef and douse our sails to make a more sensible entry under power!
The weather was forecast to pick up again so we moved to another anchorage, no 11, which offered all round protection. We had a horrible sail here in 25 knots with driving drizzle and yuckiness. It was nice to arrive, for there to be a mooring ball free and for us to settle down to a nice cup of tea. Of course the moorings are all on top of one another so it was not long before we were anxiously looking at the bow and stern of various boats not 3 feet away from us! Lovely...not quite the relaxing idyll we had in mind.
Undeterred, we booked a table at the local Spanish restaurant, specialising in Paella. Although not the cheapest meal out, it was nonetheless priceless. With our friends Erin and Chris, we managed to avoid the rain showers on the dinghy ride across, and then find our way to this rather rustic restaurant. Once there we enjoyed a 3 course Spanish feast including fish, gazpacho, Spanish omelette, paella and icecream, and all of it washed down with copious jugs of Sangria, which Chris kept ordering so that we we did not risk running dry! With dinner over we settled back to enjoy the owner, his wife, and the waiter entertain us with Spanish songs and songs that could have been in any language, but in the end we decided the singer was simply making up his own language - very resourceful. Occasionally we heard the odd English word, but it was hard to say for definite. In accompaniment with the songs, and perhaps buoyed by the romantic nature of some of the ballads, the resident goat decided to get rather affectionate with the resident dog. One thing led to another and before we knew it the show had taken on a rather unexpected flavour! The dog seemed unperturbed but the goat was unrelenting. The entire audience was in stitches, as the poor singers tried to continue their romantic ballads, full of Spanish passion.
Suffice to say, we had a fantastic evening. It really was a lot of fun and we even managed to get back to the dinghy without getting wet. Unfortunately our mooring ball kept banging against the hull all night, and despite our best efforts we could not seem to stop it. We ended up having a fitful night, but with grey skies the following day, there seemed little else to do than relax and catch up on the previous night's lost sleep!
We got stuck in this anchorage a little while waiting for some cloudy weather to pass, and also for some friends to join us. We made good use of the time though with day trips to different islands and mammoth shell collecting exercises, which seemed to be organised by the girls with military precision. Of course we now have a boat full of shells which we need to hide and stow around the boat. I'm still not sure where they are all going to go, but far be it for me to say!
Eventually the sun came out and we headed out across a difficult area, with Ems up the mast keeping a wary out for reefs. We had to steer a course through a large reef in order to get to another set of beautiful anchorages. We made it through and discovered that Tonga consists of yet more anchorages in paradise - is there no end to it? We headed out to a nearby island in the dinghy and got swamped by kids on the beach. We chatted to many of them and had a laugh with them before heading to the local school. All the girls wanted their picture taken, and we met the headmaster. Well I guess he was the Head...there were on,y 2 teachers in total! Anyway, we chatted with him and then went back to the boat and got him a few medical supplies which we had spare and also gave him some of our audio book cassettes, In order to help him teach English. He seemed genuinely pleased, even though other cruisers seemed to have donated much more (even a photocopier!). At the end of our chat he asked us if we knew any songs and produced his guitar music book. He knew the chords but did not know how some of the songs were meant to be sung. Unbelievably he had Ems and I singing Hey Jude and even a Ronan Keeting number! Some of the kids in class giggled a bit, but I think we did pretty good renditions!
After some glorious days in the islands, we headed back to the main town to get the boat ready for our departure to New Zealand. We have had numerous email correspondence with Commanders Weather, our chosen weather routers. There appears to be a window for us to leave on the 27th, although a couple of lows are giving a little cause for concern, but I hope will stay out of our way. We will get another forecast the day before we go, and then hopefully set off. It should be about a 10 day trip if all goes well and we'll try to keep you all updated on progress...weather dependent!
That's it from us. Its a bit of a long one I know. Sorry.
Till the next time.
Love
J and Ems xx