Tongatapu is the main island group of Tonga. In contrast to Vava’u and Ha’apai, which are clustered or scattered collections of small islands, Tongatapu is basically just one big island with dots of smaller islands surrounding it. The big island itself is also called Tongatapu, so Tongatapu can refer to just the island or the entire island group. It is the most populous island, the center of government and of the monarchy, and the main commercial hub for all of Tonga. Since it is the most southern island group in Tonga, it is also a hub of cruiser activity towards the end of the south pacific cruising season as boats are getting ready to make the passage to New Zealand.
Nuku’alofa, the capital city of Tonga, is located on the island of Tongatapu. It is by far the biggest city in Tonga with numerous grocery stores, public transportation, a large fruit/veggie market, bakeries, a donut shop (yes, a donut shop!), and a small commercial wharf. It’s possible to stern tie your boat to the wall inside the little harbor, and I think you can also anchor outside of the breakwater near the harbor, but most cruisers elect not to do that so as not to have to spend time in such an industrial location. Most cruisers, instead, elect to anchor off the small island of Pangaimotu and Big Mama’s Yacht Club.
Pangaimotu is a small island, and I know exactly how small it is because I ran around it and measured the circumference to be 0.6 miles. However, it is large enough to provide adequate wind protection for a whole fleet of boats, and more importantly, Pagaimotu is where Big Mama’s Yacht Club is located. Big Mama is a real person, and yes, she is big, and yes, she is a mama. She and her husband Earl own and operate the small resort and restaurant and saying that they are cruiser friendly is an understatement. It IS called a “yacht club” after all. Big Mama’s restaurant and bar is the ultimate island hangout with a sandy floor, picnic table seating, and relatively cheap beer. The food was mediocre at best, but the restaurant provided a nice fall-back option for those times when you just don’t feel like cooking. And since much of cruising is in location where there is NO fallback option, we tend to take advantage of it when it’s there. Internet for a fee was available, and it was slow, but it was also a very welcome change from our totally unplugged existence traveling through the Ha’apai group. The kids had a lot of fun hanging out on shore at Big Mama’s because there was a rope swing, a sand court where they could play volleyball and dodge ball, and generally just lots of room to roam about and do kid things while not being confined to the space provided by a boat.
Gresham Family Exodus 