Tongatastic

Serai
Jason and Emily Willis
Sun 9 Sep 2007 20:29
We have just spent a few days in the main anchorage here in Tonga, meeeting up with old and new friends, and enjoying the benefits of civilisation, like fresh bread from the bakery, dinners ashore and drinks in a bar. We have been out too many times, and woken bleary eyed a few too many times too. But as this is our last blitz, our last holiday until NZ, we have decided to enjoy it to the max!
 
Tongans are a very religious nation indeed. Sunday is very much a day of rest, and no-one is allowed to do ANYTHING on a Sunday. After a few nights out, this was fine with us. So we decided that when in Rome...so we headed to Church on Sunday morning. We were told that one of the best services was in a large white church that sands on a hill overlooking the anchorage. We headed there, unsure of the denomination, but hoping that it would be a wonderful way to spend a morning. We were not disappointed. The service was 80% sung. There were no hymn books or order of service handed out. No need really, as everyone seemed to know all the words necessary. The priest sang often, and the choir were up and down like yo-yo's. The singing was some of the best I have heard in a very long time. It made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The harmonies were all spot on, and were certainly not just left to the choir. Each member of the congreagation seemed to know there place in the harmony too. Communion was dived up to ease the flow of people, so that 4 cups were administered in various parts of the church. I decided to take communion too which I have not done for quite some time. It was a moving experience, and then as we all filed out, we discovered that the church was in fact a Catholic Church. So a first there too, as I have never been to a Catholic service before, and certainly never in Tonga before, and certainly never taken a Catholic communion either. Wow, what a day!
 
We decided to check out the arts and crafts here, as we had read that they were of a good quality and that they were very well priced. Prices are indeed good, but we soon discovered the quality is fairly poor. Nevertheless some of the wood carving is OK, and just needs a bit of finishing. So we bought a big carved stick and a tiki statue. I have already started to sand off the tiki statue and it has made a hell of a difference. I think with a dremel tool too, it will be pretty good. We visited one lovely lady in her shop and bought a few bits. She was so nice and invited us into her workshop so we could see how she worked and what tools she used. There were whalebones on the floor, from which she carved many of her necklaces and ornaments. These were very prized and worth a lot of money to her, although were so old that they did not look like bones at all. These had been recovered from the seabed having been there for hundreds of years, but once cut and polished, looked fantastic. We also saw a traditional Tongan fishing lure. It is made out of Oyster shell, with a hook formed out of Oyster shell too. On the back of it are some 'feathers' fomed from the stripped bark of a walnut tree. I decided it would be fun to make a modern variant, so we purchased some bark and also a piece of shell, already formed as a lure. I then tied a modern hook to it and tied on the feathers. In the water, it looks incredibly realistic, so now we are just waiting to catch a fish on it!
 
We moved away from the main anchorage as soon as the weather improved. We have been slowly making our way around some of the closer anchorages, with 1-2 hours sails from one to another. We dingyed to a large cave called swallows cave, due to all the swallows that nest in there. We could row our dinghy right inside and then look around at all the crevaces and also snorkel in the freezing water! It was pretty cool. Just a shame that so many people thought it would be nice to graffitti their names on the walls.
 
For the last couple of days we have been in an idyllic anchorage, with a spit of sand jutting out of small island and turquoise water all around it. The snorkelling has been incredible, with one coral formation playing host to over 50 clown fish, hiding out in all the anenomies. They are so cute, its no wonder everyone falls in love with Nemo! We spent yesterday playing frisby on the beach, having a few beers and generally sunbathing. It was an awesome day spent with our friends on Barraveigh and Barefeet. Ems cooked a chilli in the afternoon and we all ate chilli on Barefeet with a few beers. The end to a perfect day!
 
Will write more as and when it happens. Oh yeah did I mention that as we fell asleep last night, it was to the accompaniment of whale song? How cool is that! Oh yeah, and the day before we saw two pair of whales, mother and calf, swimming along and one pair breached near us. I never mention that? Well its just another day in paradise, here in Tonga!
 
Till the next time. Be very jealous!
 
Love
 
J and Ems xxx