Neiafu is the administrative capital of Vava’u and made for a very nice home base during our entire stay. It’s by far the biggest town in Vava’u, but it’s much smaller and less industrial than other capitals we’ve been to like Papeete or Pago Pago. The capital of all of Tonga, Nuku’alofa, is more like these places. Neiafu is more on the scale of say, Atuona, where we cleared into the Marquesas, but not as pretty or well groomed. More than anything it reminded us of some of the towns in Mexico in terms of quality of infrastructure, friendliness of people (rather varied), and most of all the fact that there is a huge expat community here that serves the annual cruisers in transit. Tonga is a much easier place to immigrate to than, say, French Polynesia, and it shows. I wrote a post for my cruising runner blog called “In the Buffer Zone,” which explains this, and I’ve included that below.
In the harbor near Neiafu there were a couple of places to anchor for free, but they were at a much greater distance to the dinghy docks than the myriad of mooring balls that litter the harbor. So, usually, when we arrived in Neiafu we’d pick up a mooring ball and pay the 10-15 pa’anga (Tongan currency) per night. The convenience made it worth it. Every morning we listened to the daily VHF net to hear what was going on and get a taste of the local politics among the expats there. By far my favorite part of the net, possibly the only reason I kept listening day after day, was the market report by Primrose. Primrose is a local Tongan guy who drives a taxi, and I don’t know his full story, but he seems pretty plugged in to the cruising community, and his market report has nothing to do with the stock market. It has to do with the local daily produce and craft market. I can still hear his voice telling us, “It’s a lovely market this morning, beautiful tomatoes coming up, lovely carrots at the market this morning…” It seemed like things changed very seldom at the market and everything was always “lovely” and “beautiful” and “coming up” but I loved it.
Near Neiafu there is a nice hike about a couple miles long up to the top of Mt. Talau, which is the highest peak in Vava’u at about 450 ft. I actually went twice, once on my own but when I got to the top I realized I had picked the wrong time of day for photos over the harbor. So, I recruited Brenden to go with me a second time, and we made a very nice mother/son day of it. I let him carry my smaller camera, so we have a photo record of the day from Brenden’s perspective, which includes a lot more photos of pigs, chickens, and spiders than mine did.
One of our favorite memories of Neiafu was our pub crawl with Lady Carolina. We left all four boys on one of the boats, I can’t remember which one, and we headed to shore to hit as many bars/restaurants as we could. This turned out to be not very many. We started at the marina wine bar, which actually had decent food and wasn’t too expensive, but calling itself a “wine bar” is a bit of a stretch. Their wine selection was one red and one white, so yeah, not much of a wine bar. It was an outdoor setting, but other than that it really was your typical bar, with pool tables and darts and a group of guys with tattoos that always seem to be there at the same table every time you go. Next up was the Bounty Bar, which is somewhat of a new establishment, and we enjoyed a few appetizer snacks in addition to our drinks. They had a pretty decent selection of rum, nothing great, but more than we had seen anywhere else. So, Steve orders a rum, I can’t remember the exact kind, but it’s one that he had bought back in Mexico that wasn’t even all that great, but OK. The girl said she’d have to ask, and then the owner came out and said he wouldn’t open the bottle because it was really expensive. OK, so why have it setting out then? It turns out Steve was the first to ever order it. I guess the guy bought it when the cast/crew of Survivor was there, but for some reason he never recouped his costs and now he was bitter about the whole thing, and he was taking it out on Steve. I ended up just ordering a rum punch which was heavy on punch and light on rum. The atmosphere was much nicer at Bounty Bar than at Marina Wine Bar, but the owner was a bit of an ass. However, I should point out that we were all in the mood to have a bit of fun with it, not get all bent out of shape over it. For dinner and nice wine, we hit the Spanish Tapas restaurant located on the main road heading back to the anchorage. We thought this place was really good, but later we heard from other cruisers that it really isn’t, so we aren’t sure if we were just a little loopy by then or if it was the other cruisers who were loopy. We intended to hit the Mango and Aquarium cafes to round out the night, but it was after 9:00 by this point, and they were actually closed. What are we, back in El Segundo? It was a great night with great friends, and we got to sample a little bit of Neiafu’s hoppin’ nightlife.
This turned out to be one of our most frequented anchorages. It had a remote feel to it, but also had pretty close proximity to Neiafu, so it made a good first stop when leaving Neiafu and a good last stop when making our way back to Neiafu. It was a narrow bay with steep sides and had a nice beach at its head. It was a great bay for paddleboarding and solo snorkeling along the coral around the edges. Swallows cave and Mariners Cave are not too far, so it’s a great staging place for those activities. But by far, for me, the highlight was the trail, which went all around Kapa Island. It was steep in places, and the footing was precarious in places, and there were huge spiders in places, but it was about the best running I found in Tonga that wasn’t running along a road or doing laps on a beach.
Back in California we used to charter catamarans for long weekends a couple times each summer. We’d sail out of Long Beach or Marina del Rey and spend the weekend at Catalina Island usually in the vicinity of Emerald Cove. Two of the regulars on these excursions and original members of the Catalina 1.0 crew are our friends Yi and Johnny, and they were able to come visit us in Vava’u. We had about five days between our arrival and their arrival, which was the perfect amount of time to get ready for boat guests. Since we had just left the provisioning capital of the South Pacific (Pago Pago, American Samoa) all of our food and alcohol stores were sufficient, but since they would be staying in Alex’s cabin, there was just a small amount of tidying up to be done.
Day 1 (8/12): We started out the afternoon with beers and a long lunch catching up at the Aquarium Cafe. Then we made a quick stop at the market for some fresh fruit/veg and some beer. I guess our alcohol stores WEREN’T quite sufficient after all. We decided not to waste any more of their visit hanging around Neiafu and we got the heck off the mooring ball and headed to a nearby anchorage called Port Maurelle (aka anchorage #7). We grabbed some drinks and headed to shore to enjoy our “safe arrival cocktails” on the beach. Another kid boat that we had met at Suwarrow called Ui was also in the anchorage, so we swung by to pick up their girls to take them to shore too. So, Brenden had some dig in the sand buddies. However, these girls did not just dig, they decorated. In what seemed like just a few minutes they had made a beautiful little shell garden, and when we looked over saw that Brenden had built, well, he had dug a hole. Sigh. Eventually the sun started to set, and we got chased off the beach by the mosquitos, and we headed back to Exodus and seared up the last of our yellow fin for a huge tuna feast.
Drinks on the beach at Port MaurelleThe shell garden
Day 2 (8/13): Day 2 was epic. If Yi and Johnny’s vacation ended right then I think they still would have been satisfied. While relaxing in the morning at anchor at Port Maurelle, we noticed whales out in the channel. Tim, Yi, Johnny, and I think Alex, jumped in the dinghy straight away to go have a look. Now, I wasn’t there, so this is all hearsay, but when they got close to the whales, Yi just couldn’t help herself and she jumped in the water to have a swim with them. It didn’t take long for one of the whale watching tour boats to come over and not so politely let them know that they were “breaking the law” and that they needed to get out of the water “right away!” Apparently, you can only swim with whales with a “licensed” operator and getting a license isn’t cheap, so the constant harassment of whales by tour operators is a Tongan bureaucratic revenue stream. The rule is that only 8 people (I think, maybe less?) can be in the water at a time with the whales, so I guess that’s a good thing, to keep the harassment to a minimum.
Whatever. We had a day of cave snorkeling to accomplish. First on the list was a long dinghy ride from Port Maurelle across the channel to the other side of Nuapapu Island to the underwater Mariners Cave. First off, we had to find it. So, when we thought we were close, we dragged Brenden and Johnny behind the dinghy to look for it. After some time of circling back and forth and almost giving up, we found it. To get into this cave you have to dive down to the opening, which is about 2m below the surface, and then swim about another 4m through a tunnel into the cave. Apparently, there was nothing much to see inside, but everyone thought it was a pretty cool experience. There was also a deeper entrance to the cave that Tim led Johnny down through.
Brenden and Johnny getting dragged behind the dinghy trying to find Mariners Cave
Next up was Swallows Cave after a very bouncy dinghy ride back across the channel. Now, this was my kind of cave. There was a large above water opening that you could drive the dinghy into, and if you hit it at the right time (like we did) the lighting inside is incredible with the afternoon sun. The snorkeling was great inside and out, and when you got tired of swimming you could climb ashore onto the rocks in the back of the cave and hike a little ways in. There was also a very narrow underwater cave entrance that Tim found. It’s called swallows cave because of all the swallows nesting on the ceiling, and yep, there were tons of them there. If I didn’t know better, though, I would have thought they were bats from far away.
Swallows Cave
Satisfied after a great day, we were lounging on Exodus in the early evening, when we once again saw whales in the channel. The timing was perfect because it was after all the tour operators close up shop, so Tim, Yi, and Johnny jumped in the dinghy again, and this time, Yi and Johnny got the swim of their lives. I can only imagine how amazing it was based on the photos Johnny took. It was a mother and her calf, and at one point Johnny must have gotten a little too close, because mama gave him a swipe with her flipper. This story lives on in the epic quote, “Johnny got bitch slapped by a whale!” We joke about it now, but we are very lucky no one got hurt.
Diving with whales
Oh no, and that’s not all for day #2. That night, Lady Carolina came over and we had a rum tasting party. And this was no wimpy rum tasting, because between Steve and I we had at least 15 bottles out on the table. To make it interesting we turned it into a competitive blind tasting where we had to guess which rum each selection was. Carolina opted out of the tasting, so she was our server and judge. Steve is about as competitive as I am, but we were civilized and kept the trash talking to a minimum. I pulled out the win by a slim margin, however, apparently I can’t tell the difference between regular Captain Morgan and Captain Morgan Private Stock, which was just blasphemy. Obviously, I had had a too few many tastings by the time that one came around. (Oh, don’t worry, Steve will get the better of me in our whiskey tasting, coming soon to an anchorage near you.)
Rum Tasting
Day 3 (8/14): In the morning we weighed anchor and headed around outside of the island group into the Hunga Lagoon. This took us out of the protected waters, so Yi and Johnny got a short taste of ocean sailing, but conditions were light, and we didn’t have to batten down any hatches. The Hunga Lagoon is a small body of water with a couple passes, only one navigable by yacht. There isn’t much current flowing in and out, but the opening is very narrow, and you have to make a quick turn just upon entering for safe clearance. Lady Carolina arrived at the pass just ahead of us, and they dropped their dinghy and Steve and Kyle did some scouting before proceeding through with the big boat. When we got there, Tim gave them our hand-held depth sounder and they were able to take readings to determine for sure there was enough depth, and for sure there was. So, with Steve and Kyle in their dinghy they led us through the pass in Exodus, and then went back to Lady Carolina to enter themselves. To be honest, this was a lot of effort for what turned out to be a pretty straightforward entrance with accurate charts, but I guess you can never be too careful. Once at anchor the guys went out for some lobster diving, without any luck.
The Hunga lagoon is a pretty nice spot. We anchored of the southwest side off of the island of Fofoa, which is private, and you can’t go ashore. Across the lagoon is Hunga island where there is a resort and a village, but we never made it down to that end. We did cross straight east over to Hunga Island to a beach and took a short trail through the “jungle” to the very southern tip of Hunga overlooking a reef and a couple of small islands, one hosting the “Blue Lagoon Resort.” We decided that the next day we would go check that out.
Entering the Hunga LagoonHeading out for a hike
Day 4 (8/15): In the morning, Johnny and Alex took the paddle board for a long, upwind paddle over to The Blue Lagoon resort to scout the beach for surfing and to ask for permission to come to the beach. They came back with a favorable report, and we all piled into the dinghy before the tide got too low so we could make our way out of the lagoon, over the reef to the beach. We settled in on the beach and not 15 minutes later an older gentleman came over to us and started yelling at me and Tim. His basic message was that this was private property and the proper thing to do is ask permission. Tim tried to break in to explain, but he kept going on and on, telling us what we were doing was taboo. No, he wasn’t Tongan, he was European, couldn’t quite place the accent. Finally, when he took a breath, Tim explained that those two guys over there are our friends and our son and they came over earlier and asked for and received permission to come over. The man’s demeanor totally changed. His face went soft, and he was apologetic. He said he saw someone talking to his son earlier, but he didn’t know that was us. He offered us cold beverages and told us we could stay as long as we wanted.
That spot turned out to be a pretty special spot. The beach was small but with beautiful white sand, and Johnny even managed to catch a few waves on his surfboard. Alex and Yi weren’t quite able to, because they didn’t go out as far as Johnny and were a bit heavy to catch the small waves closer in. Brenden, on the other hand had a field day on those small waves. Lady Carolina also joined us, and after we warned them that they better go over and ask permission they came back and the boys, including Tim, buried Joel in the sand. Then they built huge sand muscles all around him. Later that afternoon the guys all went lobstering again, but without luck. All they came back with was a single crab. It was a good size, but one crab will hardly feed 6 people. Until Johnny decided to make a crab bisque of it. So, we all enjoyed our bisque and later we had game night. Regrettably no one sunk the Bismarck, and everyone kept on their pantalones.
Alex – hoping to surfMuscle man JoelThe lone crab for the crab bisque
Day 5 (8/16): After spending a fair amount of time on VHF in the morning to figure out that we could go to a Tongan feast the next day on Sunday we sailed over to anchorage #11, which is formed between the southern end of the island of Pangaimotu and the small island of Tapana. This is where the “famous” Ark Gallery is located. What is the Ark Gallery? A small, floating gallery where a woman sells her paintings. Brenden and I dinghied over to check it out and Brenden loved some of the paintings, but we didn’t buy anything. There is a Spanish restaurant on Tapana called La Paella that everyone raves about, and I called but they were booked that evening. So, call ahead if you ever want to go there.
Day 6 (8/17): We had a fantastic day at the Tongan feast, which was held on Hinakauea Beach on Pangaimotu. It is put on by a restaurant called Three Little Birds that is owned by a Tongan man and his Australian wife. It was a lunch time all you can eat buffet, and when we arrived, they were cooking two small pigs on spits, and drinks were flowing from the bar. The feast food was mediocre at best, but the overall day was a wonderful experience. We met some new people and enjoyed live Tongan music and kava drinking while relaxing in the grass all afternoon. It was also here that I found my replacement sipping rum since I had long run out of Bacardi Anejo. Turns out it was a Tongan rum called Marlin, and it was dirt cheap at the market, but very decent to sip. (Side note: While I stocked up on Marlin rum when we left Tonga, I should have bought a lot more, because there’s no good sipping rum in New Zealand and all the rum they have there is very expensive.)
Drinking some Kava
They day was capped off with whiskey tasting, game playing, and general merry making on Exodus with Lady Carolina and True Blue V. We also met a new kid boat and invited them over as well, and I was worried they would get the wrong idea of us since it was one of our more crazy nights. Turns out they fit right in. Their boat is called Sudoeste, and they have a 9 year old daughter named Emily who played legos all evening with Brenden and Joel. After winning the rum tasting game I am sad to admit that I came in dead last in Whiskey tasting. Although, I did get an honorable mention by Yi, our pourer for the evening, for repeatability (I could recognize the same whiskey twice, even though I was totally wrong in my identification of it.)
Day 7 (8/18): We left the fleet at anchorage #11 and moved over to #32 on the north side of ‘Euakafa Island. Everyone else went for a snorkel in and around the reef west side of the island while I enjoyed some much need “me time” on the boat. Later, Tim and Johnny went ashore to scout for a location (and ask permission) to have a beach bonfire. They came across two building projects, and the first people they talked to were very discouraging of us coming ashore. But they said to go ask the people further down the beach at the other building project. Here they met Brett and Robin, an Australian couple with several large dogs who are building a house there. They were friendly, told us we could hang out on the beach as much as we wanted, and generally just talked and talked. In the end we passed on the beach bonfire that evening, but it was nice to know there were friendly people ashore.
Exodus at anchor at ‘Euakafa
Day 8 (8/19): On this morning we were awoken by the sounds of humpback whales. They were loud and clear from inside the hulls but barely audible from up above, so needless to say we all stayed in bed a little longer than usual. Later we went ashore to hike to the “tomb of the Tongan princess.” The chartlet in our guidebook shows a trail, and Robin sort of verbally gave us guidance on where to start. We started out on something that seemed like kind of a trail, but quickly it dissipated and then we came to a bit of an uphill rock climb. After a flurry of scouting and Tim yelling he’s going this way and Johnny yelling he’s going that way all of a sudden I found myself alone at the bottom. I had no idea who was with whom and didn’t feel like blindly climbing around. I announced to no one in particular that I was going to head back the way we came and see if I can pick up the trail again. After picking up a large stick in order to clear spider webs in front of me I made my way back but found nothing, so I headed back to where I had separated with everyone else to just wait. Soon, I was joined by Yi, and we waited for news from the boys that they had found a trail, which came soon enough. When we made it to the tomb it was a little anticlimactic, and I was soon informed that Brenden had peed, well not ON it but NEAR it, so we were sure to have a princess haunting later. We continued passed the tomb to some lookout spots with amazing views out north over the island group. In the afternoon, we headed back to Port Maurelle, and Tim, Yi, and Johnny dove in Swallows cave again. That evening we finally had our beach bonfire complete with hot dogs, baked potatoes, and s’mores.
The view from the top of our hikeBeach bonfire
Day 9 (8/20): Sadly, we had to head back to Neiafu to end the journey where we began. Lunch at the Aquarium Cafe. We had a lot of fun with Yi and Johnny and because of their visit we saw WAY more of Vava’u at that point than we probably would have on our own. We were sad to see them go, but maybe someday we’ll visit them on their cruising boat.
This morning we were back at Port Maurelle, and I was determined not to let the spiders keep me from enjoying a good trail run. So, I left my radio and camera back at the boat to keep my hands free, and I searched the beach for a good stick. The first one I found was a good size, but it must have been a bit waterlogged, since it was much heavier than it looked. Then, after scanning about for another minute or so I found it. The perfect length, thickness, and weight to carry and wave about as I ran. The stick was to clear the path of spiderwebs before I ran into them with my face. So, yes, I ran today while carrying and waving a “get out of the way spiders” stick. I laughed at myself a bit and alternated between pretending to be a javelin thrower and pretending to be a tribal warrior. Fortunately, I only passed one guy on the path, and he was cracking coconuts and wasn’t much interested in my spider clearing, javelin throwing, tribal warrior self. Since I was self-conscious, I felt the irrational need to explain why I was running around with a big stick, so I told him it was “to clear the spider webs.” After the fact, I wondered if that made me seem even more ridiculous. If he cared either way, he didn’t let on.
I carried a big stick, but I also ran lightly. Running lightly had nothing to do the spiders and more to do with the pain in my right foot. Flash back to just before we left home in early 2012… I started having numbness at the base of my middle toe on my right foot during my runs. It would come and go, but eventually the numbness turned to dull pain then to a sharper pain, which had me stop running altogether. I was devastated that during my last month at home I would miss my last chances of running on my beloved strand (the path along the beach). Once we got to Mexico and I started running on sand it seemed to heal, and I haven’t felt the numbness or the pain since. Scratch that. I HAVE felt numbness when I ride the standup paddle board, but that’s in both feet and I didn’t actually think it was related. At this point, I’m not sure, because it’s a very similar sensation. Fast forward to now, and I’ve been feeling the numbness in my right foot again for some time. I haven’t written about it, because I was trying to pretend it wasn’t there. Luckily, there has been no pain yet, and I was hoping that my new shoes would help out a bit. So far, they have helped, and the numbness has subsided. However, today it was back. So, I ran slow and light, and I’m trying not to be devastated over it. I will go easy and for now so that at least it doesn’t get any worse, and the next time we have internet I’ll actually have to get around to self-diagnosing this issue, since the ignore method doesn’t really seem to be working.
Fakatonga means “the Tongan way.” It is slow paced here, and people are very laid back. Things that are unexpected are taken without angst or stress, and church, family, and friends take a higher priority than work or material wealth. According to the guidebook, it is not a commercial culture, and a large percentage of the population doesn’t even participate in the cash economy, but rather they grow and make what they need, and trade and share within their community.
We have yet to try to conduct any business here such as boat maintenance or repairs, so I can’t yet speak to this firsthand, but the information in the guidebook has caught my attention, because it so reminded me of the Mexican culture. Apparently, time and schedules are very loose concepts here, and “later today” might mean “tomorrow” or it might mean “next week” or maybe “not at all.” Also, Tongans dislike saying “no,” and when they say “yes” it may actually mean “I don’t know” or perhaps “maybe.” This is just like Mexico, where we found the people valued making you happy and telling you what you want to hear over saying no or telling you something that may disappoint you. This can be extremely frustrating for those of us that come from more of results-oriented culture rather than a people-oriented culture. We got used to it in Mexico, and even started appreciating the sentiment. We just sort of stopped expecting to get anything done quickly and we simply went with the flow rather than pushing the issue or getting frustrated. I suspect we will draw on that experience and it will help us while we’re here in Tonga if we ever try to get anything done.
My run yesterday was slow and hilly. We were anchored in a nice, sheltered location on the north side of a small island called Tapana. The anchorages here in Vava’u are numbered, so this was anchorage #11. I picked up the road behind the beach on the north side of the small bay (the beach is actually on the south side of the island of Pangaimotu). The road leads north back to Neiafu and I turned around just short of where I turned around when I previously ran south from Neiafu. I passed through a small village and being a Sunday morning, I was greeted by the sound of the harmony of church hymns. I was a bit self-conscious huffing and puffing past the church, since I don’t think running on a Sunday morning would be considered “Fakatonga,” but I can only hope I wasn’t perceived as being too disrespectful.
Since we’ve traveled all the way down to 18 deg S latitude, it seems to be much cooler here in Tonga. When the sun is out it’s quite warm, but the breeze is cool, and when the sun hides behind a cloud it sometimes feels downright cold. Currently, it is almost 2:00 in the afternoon and the outside temperature is 24 deg C (approximately 75 deg F for my American friends). This makes for spectacular running weather. Of all the places we’ve been, this reminds me most of weather at home. Not too hot, not too cold.
We are in the northern island group of Tonga, called Vava’u, and I’ve had the chance so far to both run on the roads around the main town of Neiafu and to run on a trail at the head of one of the many scattered anchorages in the vicinity. They’ve been very different runs, but one common thread that I am enjoying is the rolling landscape. I’m not saying I’m running strenuous hills or anything, but there’s enough up and down gentle elevation change to get the heart rate up just a little and to give the run that much more depth.
This morning I paddled to shore near high tide at the head of an anchorage called Port Maurelle. It is named after the Spanish navigator who was the first European to make landfall in Vava’u, and according to my guidebook, he didn’t stay long due to theft and vandalism by the natives. I suppose that’s just one side of the story. The Tongan name for the anchorage is Fangakima, and I don’t know what that means. The anchorage is stunning with high and thickly wooded bluffs on either side. There is a coral and white sand beach at the head of the cove, and our first evening we enjoyed our “safe arrival cocktails” on the beach until the mosquitoes chased us away. Behind the beach is a trail leading in both directions, and it is on this trail that I headed out on this morning, in my new bright pink running shoes, I might add. The run was going along nicely, even if the terrain was a bit lumpy and muddy, until I ran through about 3 consecutive spider webs. They were spun across the trail and near impossible to see until they’re in your mouth or eyes or caught in your hair. A little further up the trail I caught a glimpse of a web high above the trail with a spider in it about half the size of my hand, and it had a catch in its web that was large enough that it could have been a small bird. At this point I’m reliving in my mind the other webs I ran through and kept wondering what size spider might have fallen on me when I inadvertently destroyed its dwelling as I passed. In my initial freak out reaction, I frantically brushed at my hair to get rid of what clearly wasn’t even there, but in the process, I loosened up some strands of hair and the wisps kept brushing my face making me think spider all over again. I couldn’t take it anymore. My Zen like running experience was anything but, so I headed back to where the trail runs just behind the beach and did quarter mile laps in the area I knew I had already cleared of spiders. It was flat terrain, so I didn’t get any more of the gently rolling hill action I spoke of above, but at least it was spider free.
We arrived in Tonga two days ago, and like a good little tourist, I read up a bit about Tongan culture before we arrived. Three notable customs are worth mentioning here, since they differ so much from our own lifestyle.
1) The Tongans are deeply religious, and Christianity is the dominant religion. Sunday is reserved for worship and fellowship, and things like fishing and diving on Sundays are even illegal (according to my guidebook). Cruisers are discouraged from doing any outwardly obvious boat work projects or things like hanging laundry to dry in order to respect the Tongan Sunday observances. Yesterday, which was Saturday, we attended the annual Agricultural Fair in Neiafu, which was basically like any street fair we might have at home in Hermosa Beach or Manhattan Beach, with vendors selling everything from food to jewelry to crafts to artwork. This is an important event here though, and it was attended by the King of Tonga himself as well as the Deputy Prime Minister and many other very official looking people. We arrived just as they were shutting down all the shopping and a presentation started including music and speeches by all the stately important people. We were warned ahead of time that there would be no fewer than six different prayers during the ceremony, and although it was all done in the Tongan language, I could tell that some of speeches did sound to be prayer like. My point in bringing this up is that there definitely isn’t separation of church and state in Tonga.
2) Tipping is not common here, and it can actually be interpreted as an insult, since it can be seen as implying that you think they need your handouts. I’m sure in the more touristy areas with lots of western visitors they know and understand that it’s just part of our culture and don’t get too offended, but the guidebook actually discourages tipping. (As an aside, while in American Samoa I had incorrectly attributed this concept to the Samoans, and I failed to tip our taxi driver who brought us from the laundromat back to the dock with 10 loads of laundry. I hope I didn’t unintentionally insult him by *not* tipping while I was trying to not insult him by tipping.)
3) The women dress modestly here. The guidebook recommends women have their shoulders and knees covered when going ashore, and I’ve tried to abide by that, wearing a long skirt one day and capri pants another. This is quite problematic for my running, though. Yesterday, I wore my capri running pants (that I had to rummage around the boat to find since I haven’t used them since leaving home) under my shorts. It was not exactly a comfortable solution given the heat and humidity, but luckily the sun remained hidden during most of the run, and then it even rained to cool me off. It wasn’t enough rain to be unbearable, just enough to sting my eyes as I moved along forward. I’m not sure I’ll be able to bear running in pants when the weather clears up and the sun is shining (although it’s been raining for so long, it seems like it will continue indefinitely). One of the guidebooks says shorts and t-shirts are OK to wear, as long as the shorts aren’t too short. Well, I don’t know the exact definition of “too short,” but my running shorts are pretty short, as most running shorts are.
I’m trying not to be too annoyed by any of this. I am, after all, a visitor here, and I’d like to respect and appreciate everything about it, including all the differences. And yesterday as I was running, I was trying to thing about potential positive aspects of the societal norm here that women cover up a bit more. We in the west tend to have a knee jerk negative reaction to these sorts of things, because we see it as limiting our freedoms that we are so accustomed to. But I was wondering if perhaps women here have fewer issues with body image, that are almost epidemic in the U.S. Perhaps having the freedom to dress half naked is a freedom we should have on principle, but exercising that freedom may not always be in our best interest.
We are planning to be in Tonga for two to three months, and I’m looking forward to getting to know the place better, and maybe get to understand some of the nuances of the culture that you simply cannot get from a guidebook.
Our first weekend in town they announced on the net that there would be an “agricultural fair” at the high school on Saturday, and the King of Tonga would be there. We had no idea what an “agricultural fair” is in Tonga, but how could we skip a royalty sighting? So, we headed out Saturday morning to see the King. Note to self… when someone tells you the fair is at the high school it would be good to see if there is more than one high school in town. Yes, we walked all over trying to find it, but at least we got to see more of the town and interact a bit with the locals as we asked for help.
The fair itself was like any street fair in Hermosa Beach, for example. Vendors selling all sorts of food, handicrafts, jewelry, clothing, artwork, everything. Including whole raw octopuses (or is it octopi?) and sharks, so maybe not quite like Hermosa Beach. By the time we got there, though, they had shut down all the shopping for the ceremony which included speeches/prayers (in Tongan) by all sorts of important looking stately officials, including the King himself. Afterwards, the King and his entourage walked around the shopping stalls and greeted all of his minions. We crossed the security lines a little before we were supposed to since the King was still touring around, but the security guards just watched us and didn’t stop us. Not exactly the secret service. We enjoyed some tasty cinnamon rolls and vanilla ice cream, and then made our way back to town.
Upon arrival in the Neiafu, we located the fishing wharf that we were directed to tie up to in order for the formalities to begin. This was not the kind of dock you prefer to tie your yacht up to, if you know what I mean. It is a non-floating concrete dock with plenty of sharp spots and pokey things to mark your fiberglass or pop your fenders. One of our friends actually sustained some damage to their standing rigging while tied up there, but they were there on a particularly bluster day and were blown pretty hard into the dock.
When we pulled up there wasn’t any room for Exodus, so we stood off until we saw an official looking guy on shore clearly directing us over to the nearby commercial dock. Now, this dock looked even worse! It was higher from the waterline and had large tires tied alongside to serve as bumpers for the large ships but would have been no good for Exodus. Best case we get a few large black marks, but worst case our deck actually slides underneath one of the tires and then gets smashed by the surge. No thanks. We told the guy, as nicely as we could, that we would just wait for a spot at the other dock. Then one of the local fishing boats called Whalesong offered to let us side tie to them while we check in. This was the best we could hope for. Tying to this boat was WAY better than being up against the dock.
We had a light lunch while we were waiting our turn in the check-in queue, and soon enough we were boarded by two officials: one from customs and the other from quarantine. To be polite I put out some cookies and served them tea, and it didn’t take too long for us to realize that there was really no purpose for them to board Exodus other than to eat our cookies and ask us for stuff. They didn’t search anything, and they weren’t too concerned about what food we were bringing in or how much alcohol we had. In fact, the alcohol I listed just prompted them to ask us for a bottle of wine. They made some small talk asking us if we caught any fish along the way, and when we said yes, they asked for some. They also asked for WD-40. Now, we’ve been accustomed to trading for things, in fact it was our impression that most people are proud and they aren’t looking for a handout. They want the trade to be fair, and in a lot of cases they’ve wanted to give US extra things. There were only a couple times we were flat out asked for stuff, but this was the first time it was by the governmental officials. Everywhere else we have been they have been extremely professional. Even Mexico, that has such a bad rep for corruption, had stand-up officials.
There were fees, not a huge amount, but since we didn’t have Tongan money yet, I had to take a short walk to the ATM in order to complete our check-in. On the way I was stopped by a man selling bread, and he asked me how many loaves I wanted. He gave me a price for three loaves, and I offered him 1/3 the price for 2 loaves. He accepted, and said he would have the bread for me when I walked back, and I was feeling proud of myself for such a good haggle. Then I popped into a store and saw just how cheap bread really was. When I saw the man on my way back he had 3 loaves of bread and asked me for his original price. I was fully prepared to honor my deal even though it was WAY overpriced, but here he was trying to really gouge me. I held firm and paid him what I said I would for two loaves, and politely declined when he asked if I needed any laundry done or any courtesy flags.
After we were done with customs and quarantine, we were told to go ahead and go take a mooring and then later that afternoon to walk to immigration to check in with them. We learned later that immigration usually comes to the boat too, but since it was lunch hour, they didn’t make it for us. Immigration check in was easy. The immigration official did not ask for anything, and he was very pleasant. Afterwards, we walked around town to acclimate ourselves. We found the duty-free alcohol shop, and their rules there are a bit strange. Usually, you can purchase duty free alcohol upon checking out of a country, but in Tonga they allowed you to buy duty free up to 24 hours within checking in, based on your passport stamps. I bought one bottle of Bundaberg rum, but that’s about it. The selection wasn’t very good, and the prices were still quite high. However, in Tonga we have found something we haven’t had in a long time: GOOD BEER.
Tonga is a large island group east of Fiji and south of Samoa. It is the sole hold-out of Polynesian monarchies and it boasts to be the only South Pacific nation that was never under outside imperial rule. There are three main island groups, and from north to south they are Vava’u, Ha’apai, and Tongatapu. We visited all three but spent more time in Vava’u than the others. The capital of Tonga is Nuku’alofa, located in Tongatapu, which is where we cleared out of the country to voyage to New Zealand.
Tonga’s on the edge of the rim of South Pacific volcanoes, and there are still a few active volcanoes along the western side. If you follow this sort of current events, you might have seen that in December, 2014 (shortly after we left) an underwater eruption west of the Ha’apai group created a brand new island. Amazing.
Vava’u is known as a tourist destination, specifically for charter cruising and whale watching. Tonga is one of the few, maybe only, countries that let people dive with whales as long as it’s with a licensed tour operator. Once we got out amongst the islands, we could surely see why they have a decent sized charter business here. There are tens of protected anchorages, all within about 10 miles of each other, with plenty of options depending on the prevailing wind direction. Additionally, most of the time when you are moving about between anchorages you stay within the protection of the outer islands and fringing reefs, so you’ve usually got pristine water for some spectacular day sailing. There are also many anchorages listed as “day anchorage only” meaning they aren’t quite as protected, but these are usually the most beautiful spots with the best snorkeling, if you can stomach the surge coming over the reef at high tide.
The main town of Vava’u is Neiafu, which is tucked inside a deep, protected, harbor, which is considered a viable hurricane hole. There are also many smaller towns and villages scattered amongst the islands. The Moorings charter company has published a cruising guide for many years that lists all of the anchorages in Vava’u by number. We didn’t visit all of them, but we did manage to see quite a few. Our favorite was anchorage #30, but you will have to wait until next time to hear about that one.
Gresham Family Exodus 