Pangai, the regional capital of the Ha’apai group, is located on the west side in the middle of the island of Lifuka. We went straight from Ha’ano to Lifuka, skipping past the island of Foa, but I guess you can’t do everything. To be honest, Pangai was a pretty sorry sight. Cyclone Ian had blown through earlier that year and basically devastated the whole area. It just broke your heart to see the aftermath still fresh. The place seemed hot, dusty, and exposed. There was evidence that a lot of construction was going on, including little modular, portable homes, which is good, because according to wikipedia over 2000 people were left homeless after the storm.
We spent only 2 days there, one to check in and one to check out (more details on that process to follow in the next post). The boys and I were keen to get some internet, so we went to the only place in town with wifi, The Mariners Cafe. You had to pay for each device and then she would type in the password for you. Pretty good way to keep those leacherous cruisers from using their high gain antennas from their boat to connect to your wifi once you’ve given them the password. Turns out the data speed was too slow to actually do anything. After about a half an hour trying to pay bills, I just shut it down and relaxed and enjoyed my drink. Then we walked around the town and found a couple of small stores and some ladies selling a small amount of produce. Other than that, there wasn’t much to Pangai, and we were happy to move on to the next island of Uolevu.
Gresham Family Exodus 