18 39 S 173 59 W
Neiafu, Vavau, Tonga
The night before last, we sailed 60 miles south from the Vava,u group
of islands to the Ha,apai group. We sailed by night so as to arrive in
daylight and be able to see our way through the reefs. Most paper
charts suffer from datum errors which shift everything sideways
(sometimes a few feet, or up to a mile or two in the less well surveyed
regions). In the last few years, the better electronic charts have
corrected most datum errors, but in Tonga we can still sail several
hundred metres on shore periodically and for entering passes, daylight
is essential. 15 miles before our destination of Lifuka, we past the
deserted island of Ofolanga, and dropped anchor near the little dinghy
pass through its reef. A shelter made of plaited pandanus leaves and a
few drying stands for fish are the only signs of humanity, but a small
boat arrived after dark last night and left again at dawn. We were
going to sail on to Lifuka this morning, but it is so still that we
shall give ourselves a quiet day to explore & catch up on sleep.
On leaving Niue, 2 1/2 weeks ago, we spent two days dodging around
clouds and squalls in the S Pacific Convergence Zone to arrive in
Vava'u, Northern Tonga. The SPCZ sat stationary for another week and we
had blustery weather. We arrived on Friday evening and sailed straight
to where Perigrinata & Incognita, 2 other Canadian boats, were
moored. They are heading for Fiji en route for Australia this year, and
although we hear them on the SSB radio and exchange occasional e-mails,
we had not expected to meet for a long time. A convivial afternoon
& evening were spent exchanging ideas & experiences, snorkeling
and shell hunting on the beach, and eating Sonya's and Janine's
wonderful hot soup.
The kingdom of Tonga is one of the few S Pacific countries to retain
its traditional rulers through the last 200 years (although it was
under "British Protectorship" for much of the 20th C). Traditions are
strong and churches even more numerous than many countries (5 churches
of 4 denominations in the village of 200 people that we were shown
around). There is a meeting of western interests and native villages on
tiny islands without roads. People are friendly and smile easily and,
in town, most speak good English. In the main port of Neiafu, we were
checked in by a customs officer built ready for the All Blacks and
wearing traditional Tongan black "skirt". Neiafu (pop 6000) supports
the only road system in the Vava'u Islands and has the only shops.
We moved 1/4 mile from the customs dock and picked up a buoy outside
the Moorings Co. yacht charter base. We caught up on banking, internet,
food shopping, and mingling. The Mermaid Bar/Restaurant, with a dinghy
dock outside, is so packed with crews from boats that we have met
during the year that we never made it further into town in the evening.
We also met some land travelers there Pat & Wally from S Australia,
who went on one of the "Swimming With Whales" boats.
>From Neiafu, we chose an anchorage well sheltered from the gusty E
winds and were thrilled to find a mother humpback and here calf sharing
the same bay for a few days. Tonga is one of the few countries where
swimming with whales is legal. We first heard about this from a couple
that we met in the Galapagos Islands who worked for BBC Natural History
in Bristol. Indeed it was quite a thrill! 3 times we took our dinghy
out into 150 ft of water which was clear enough that, snorkeling, you
could just make out the glimmer of white pectoral fins or the crowd of
remoras around the big whale. Mum would cycle up and down about every
10 minutes moving very slowly and taking a good look around before
surfacing. The calf came up quicker and was more inquisitive, sometimes
swimming up straight towards us in the water and then rolling over and
looking with one of his big eyes. He would breach occasionally or flap
his big tail on the surface. We estimate that the calf was about 25ft
long and mum was maybe 45ft. Neither seemed to be upset by the presence
of a of 1 or 2 dinghies and a few swimmers, and they would let us get
up to 10 metres or so away. However, there are rules stating maximum 5
swimmers in the water at any time.
The islands are rocky and all except one are less than 3 miles long.
Many caves lie in the surrounding cliffs, including the famous
"Mariners Cave" which has no entrance above water. Inside it, with the
gentle surge of the swell, your ears feel the pressure change and a
mist forms and clears again on the surface of the water with each wave.
The only light is the opal blue outline of the underwater entrance.
We also walked many footpaths linking bays and villages. Villages are
pretty: Pigs keep the grass neatly cropped, homes are simple but
decorated with shrubs & flowers, one school and several churches
are the only larger buildings. Outside, are coconuts, mangoes, many
other native trees, and plantations of banana, tapioca, papaya and
other things we did not recognize.
We returned to Neiafu to check out, then spent one more night 10 miles
SW in the lagoon of Hunga Island. The entrance was said to be 6 to 8
feet deep so Dave took the dinghy through to check while Jan stood off
in Harmonica. Inside the lagoon, there was one village, and one resort
with 2 smart deep-sea fishing boats moored outside. We picked up one of
the moorings and walked through a mile of bush and plantations to the
village. This was entirely surrounded by a corrugated steel fence to
keep pigs in (or out. We were not sure which since there were pigs on
both sides). On the way back, we met a fellow with 3 dogs, a big
machete, and an armful of leaves which he called Tongan Spinach whose
appearance and stature would have made most people cringe if he had
been in a western city. We, and he seemed in a good mood to chat for a
while and exchange background with each other. On returning to the
resort, where we left the dinghy, the white female owner or manager had
returned and was surprised and not happy that we should have walked up
the tiny trail to the village.
Next day we walked the other way, met a Tongan who was "cleaning up"
her plantations and home in the woods with the aid of some workers from
the village. They were preparing roots and leaves to cook in an "uma"
or underground oven. They showed us the path through the trees to the
other side from where we could see the Blue Lagoon resort. It looked so
much like a picture postcard that we later took the dinghy round and
Janet had another shell collecting outing. We also met and chatted to
an Australian/Scottish/Polish gentleman who was looking for somewhere
else to base his life as he withdrew from the business world. What a
fine mix of cultures!
As we sailed away to the South that evening, the whales were still
sounding and splashing. That will be our lasting memory of Vavau.
Fond wishes from Jan, Dave & Harmonica
www.techco.ab.ca/harmonica