Vavau, Tonga, June 7 - 15 2010

After arriving in Vavau, the northern island group in Tonga, we spent 4 days in the main port town of Neiafu. While there we enjoyed many of the comforts of civilization such as internet cafes, non-internet cafes, stores and restaurants.

We also celebrated Fred's birthday with a very nice dinner ashore, what a treat! After dinner, we went for a few beers at one of the bars on the water, and then, after we returned to the boat, Tom, aka the birthday devil, tried to convince us all that we must have Jim Beam in order to celebrate properly. Fred is not a bourbon fan, so I helpfully suggested Jaagermeister instead, and away we went, thereby insuring that everyone felt at least one year older the next day. I may have forgotten to mention before that Tom also nearly killed our freind Sean on his birthday, which occured while he was with us in southern Tonga, by encouraging him to drink way more Jim Beam than is good for anyone. We notice that Tom has timed the extension of his stay so that he will be with us for Jeff's birthday but then gone before his own birthday arrives 10 days later. We think this is cheating and would like to lodge a formal protest with someone.

We spent about four days in town, more than we might have otherwise because, of course, we had some gear to repair. Unfortunately for us there was almost no wind while we were there, and the port is very protected with high hills on all sides, so it was very very hot, and some enormous jellyfish were visiting the port also, so we were hesitant to use our normal cooling method of diving off the boat and paddling around.

Because of the heat we were very happy when we finished our town errands on Thursday and headed out to the outer anchorages. When we pulled into Port Morelle, the spot we had intended to anchor at the first night, we changed our minds quickly when we saw that it was also protected by very high hills. Instead, we went another mile and anchored at Nuku where we could sit downwind of a sandbar between two islands so that our breeze was not blocked at all. Heaven!



We did a quick scan for jellyfish, and seeing none, we all jumped into the water. The guys got out the mini plastic football and commenced their game of jumping off the bow pulpit and trying to catch the ball on their way into the water. It seems to be a bit tricky to throw the ball accurately enough while you are treading water, so completed passes are rare enough to warrant wild celebrations.

Just as I was about to get out of the water anyway, I felt a sharp sting on the inside of my forarm. I looked around, but didn't see anything in the water, but got out quickly anyway. That evening a string of itchy bumps appeared on my forarm, but nobody else had been stung, and we didn't think too much about it, these things do happen from time to time. Next day Fred went for a long training swim during which he felt a bit like he was being stung also, but he didn't have any marks on him afterwards so he decided it was all in his head.

Later that day we moved to a different anchorage off Ovalau island. We detoured past Mariners Cave along the way and Fred volunteered to be the boat man while Jeff, Tom and I swam in. There is an underwater tunnel into the cave that you can snorkel through and then you come up inside the cave itself. The top of the tunnel is about 6 feet underwater and about 12 feet long. The trick is not to come up too early so you don't hit your head on the edge of the tunnel. We had gone in before in 2008 with our dive guides, but this time we were on our own, so it seemed a bit spookier. We got directions to the cave from the skipper of a very lovely 76 foot Swan that was circling around outside while some of it's crew swam in the cave. Fred offered to trade his 39 foot Swan for that fellow's larger boat, but oddly enough his offer was not accepted. Fred then brought us in close to the cliff and



the rest of us jumped off the boat and swam over to the opening. The swimmers from the other boat all came out of the cave as were approaching, so we had the cave to ourselves after we got in, which we managed to do with no mishaps. Once inside the cave we saw the fog effect that is created as swells come into the cave and compress the air inside. Tom Kollmer was not impressed by the fact that someone had left candles on ledges inside the cave, or he was annoyed that we didn't have matches to light them with, or perhaps both. I tried to swim down inside the cave to see the lower entrance to the cave, which is 65 feet deep, but although our free diving skills are increasing, I couldn't get anywhere near the top of this second tunnel. We do know people who have swam through it, and supposedly one of them went all the way to the bottom and d lost.

After we swam back to the boat, we headed over to Ovalau island. This was described in the book as a day anchorage with excellent snorkeling, and we thought we could use the settled conditions to our advantage and stay there overnight, since the winds were again expected to be very light. Jeff and I went for a snorkel and Tom swam ashore with his book while Fred filled the dive tanks and did not get in the water. Jeff and I could see that the reef here used to be quite impressive, but most of it was dead now, with a few patches of new growth which were home to some lovely but very small fish. Our Tonga guide book is a few years old, and we've been told that the reefs have been damaged by several large storms since it was written.



The next morning poor Fred looked like he had the measles. He had stings all over his arms, legs and most of his chest. He said that he had barely slept the night before because they were so itchy. We knew he had gotten the bites during his morning swim because he didn't go in again after that. I also had gotten quite a few more bites, during my snorkel swim, but we were puzzled because Jeff and Tom, who had been in the same water at the same time, had nothing. We got on the radio and got some information from other cruisers. Apparently we were being bitten by either microscopic jelly fish or sea lice. Sea lice? Great. We were told that the effect of the stings could be lessened considerably by applying vinegar to them as soon as possible, which would be great if we were feeling the bites immediately, but we weren't and we didn't have enough vinegar on board for all of us to drench our entire bodies after each swim. We also learned that these things had never been in Tonga before. Apparently this was their first visit. Lucky us that we were here for it.

The next day Fred and I decided to go diving anyway. We have full wetsuits so we thought we'd be safe. Jeff and Tom stayed on the boat and circled around while we were down since there was no place to anchor near our dive site. We dove the south west corner of the reef around Euakafa island. It was a good, but not great, dive, and I saw two new fish that I hadn'tseen before, but they don't seem to be in my fish book. (Note to self - look for new fish book in Fiji). I got a few new stings on my hands and feet on this dive, but again didn't feel them till later so the vinegar was not effective. We are all now afraid to go in the water because these pesky bites are very itchy and they last about four days.

After the dive, we motored around to anchor off of Tapana Island, home to a spanish restaurant called La Paella. We'd heard wonderful things about this place when we were here in 2008 and were disappointed not to get there then, so we were determined to go this time. We were not disappointed. They serve a four course set menu that varies a bit based on availability of ingredients. Our dinner started with two courses of tasty tapas, followed by a very nice paella (which our spanish friend Irene says tastes just as it should) with some delicious ice cream to finish it all off. Entertainment is also included in the evening. The spanish couple who run the place sing and play guitar after cooking dinner. We understand that the duration of the singing varies quite a bit, based in part on audience participation and in part on how late the previous evenings performance went on. We only got a few songs We were basically there for the food anyway, and in this we were not disappointed and would highly recommend it to others. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we did see a first for us there that evening. There was a dog in the restaurant throughout the evening, which is something we've become accustomed to, but after dinner was over a goat wandered in also! It is pretty common here to see goats and pigs in people's yards even right in town, but this was definitely the first time we'd seen one in a restaurant!

Because of the small stingy things, and the huge jellyfish, and the fact that the reefs here are just not that impressive for snorkeling or diving, we have decided to leave for Fiji sooner than we originally planned. We have managed to successfully shanghai Tom Kollmer into staying longer and making the passage to Fiji with us. We expect it to be a three to four day sail and hope to leave at the end of this week weather permitting.

Haapai Tonga, May 27 - June 5, 2010

We had a great time in Ha'apai, the middle island group in Tonga. This group consists of mostly small, low lying, picture postcard looking islands set amongst numerous coral reefs. Think sandy beaches and palm trees and you've got the basic idea. A few of the bigger islands have small villages that run off generators, while the largest has a very small airport, a few stores a very small, very laid back resort, a dive shop and electricity.

We spent about two weeks in Ha'apai. Because there was no internet access, I've got a lot to report here, so I'll start with just a brief summary, for those who just want to know that we are still alive and have some idea of where we are. Basically, we were island hopping around Ha'apai and spending lots of time snorkeling, diving, spearfishing and fishing.

Most of the scuba diving has been on our own, as opposed to with a guide. Before we did much of this I was worried mostly about our safety during the dives themselves. This turns out not to be much of a problem - we just don't go super deep and we never push the time limits (mostly because we run out of air first anyway). The real challenges are figuring out where to go, and timing the currents right if there is current in the area, and not forgetting little details like taking your weights with you and having plenty of gas for the dinghy. But we're working out the kinks and having lots of fun while doing it.

We've also been enjoying Tom Kollmer's visit quite a bit, and Fred wants me to give a little poke to those of you have said you'll come visit, but never actually show up. I don't want to name any names, but Tim Farley, John Dagelman and Robin in Canada all come to mind. Seriously people, get your act together and get out here.

That's the quick summation. The detailed version follows.

We spent our first two nights at Nomuka'iki (iki means little in Tonga, so to find Nomuka'iki on the chart you first find Nomuka, then look for a little island near it). This is where we made our first attempt at diving on our own this trip, but we had to abort after our regular outboard engine decided to stall on us inexplicably just as we got to the dive site, which was about a mile away from our anchorage, next to our island but downwind, with no protection and no other land between us and Fiji. Luckily, We got our small backup dinghy engine started after a few anxious moments (during which I realized that we had never actually started our new "backup engine" before this and - we did, however, have the hand held VHF along also). Once we got the backup started, we decided to forget about the dive and get ourselves back to the safety of the anchorage. It was a slow trip since it's a small engine and there were four of us and all our dive gear aboard, but Fred assured us that if necessary he would swim us in while holding the dinghy rope in his teeth. Happily, that wasn't necessary, and after unloading all our gear and determining that the regular dinghy engine just needed a bit of help getting back into neutral, after which it was fine, we consoled ourselves with a marvelous snorkel near the boat.

Next we headed to the island of O'ua which we probably would have skipped normally, but some north winds were coming and there are relatively few places in Ha'apai with protection in that weather, and it seemed like the best of the ones near us that did. We weren't particularly impressed with O'ua itself, but we had a very fun potluck supper on Catina one night which was attended by us and Paul from Scott Free and the crew from Sol Maria and a good time was had by all. The next day we tried the diving thing again with Fred volunteering to be the boat guy, since there was nowhere to anchor the dinghy near this reef. Jeff, Tom and I went down and although the visibility and coral were not great, it was still fun to get a dive in with Tom and to have some success getting ourselves into and out of the water on our own.

Also while at O'ua, Tom befriended some of the local boys who would paddle out on an ancient and definitely unseaworthy craft to visit us each day. Tom asked the guys if he could take a picture with them and we were all surprised when the kids flashed some gang signs during the picture. Gang signs? In Tonga? We spent much time speculating as to where they could possibly have learned about gang signs, but had to leave it at speculation as neither their English or our Tongan language skills (of which we have none) were up to a real explanation. Tom did, however, delight the kid thoroughly when he gave him the bandanna off his head after the guy said he liked it. Presumably because it is his gang's colors.


While at O'ua we read about some spectacular diving to be had at Wickham reef, just south of us, that was only accessible in very settled weather, which was what we were expecting after the north winds went away, so we stopped there and it truly was spectacular. This was the biggest and healthiest reef we had seen since Rangiroa, and, in my opinion, by far the best dive we've done in Tonga. There was a huge area of beautiful coral with valleys to swim in and wonderfully colorful reef fish everywhere. It was really, really lovely.


Next we headed to Uonukuhihifo island and had the good luck to arrive the same day a mess of fish had been caught by the other boats that were there. They had planned a beach party potluck to share the wealth - woohoo. Tom was fascinated by the cows roaming this uninhabited island after he got over being startled by them while walking down the beach in the dark.


The next day we went out to both dive and fish from the dinghy. Unfortunately we had trouble locating a dive spot that wasn't too rough or didn't have too much current. While looking we realized that we had forgotten our dive weights, but as we fished our way back to the boat to get them, we caught a blue finned trevally. Our fish book listed it as "excellent" food quality and we agreed. It was delicious. Fish really is better the same day you catch it!

The next day Jeff, Tom and did a circumnavigation walk around the island and did a little snorkeling from shore. Tom then continued on to circumnavigate the neighboring island and attempt to get a picture of the cows, but they managed to hide from him.


After that we headed up to Uoleva, where we had been before in 2008. I was keen to visit there again because the snorkeling was fantastic, and the guys were keen to go because a Tongan feast was being organized which was going to include pig. We are all about the pig on the God Spede! The feast was in fact a feast and was unusually good food, and the guys had a nice chat with the folks from Mariner's Cafe who organized it.

The next day we did a drift dive in the pass with Lisa and Lester from Obsession and afterward Gavin from Sol Maria put on a spearfishing display. Gavin has competed in free diving competitions in the past and it shows. He can go quite deep and stop and wait for the fish to come to him. Fred got in with his spear gun also, but Gavin had already picked off the easy ones so Fred was left with only the smart ones to shoot at and they all survived to be shot at another day.

The next day we snorkeled in the anchorage and it was even better than I had remembered. I took a turn with the spear gun, but couldn't get anywhere deep enough to hit anything. Those fish were just laughing at me. But I did watch Lisa and Lester bag a crayfish (she spotted it and he grabbed it), so I learned something about catching dinner, even if I didn't actual do it.

Next we headed to Lifuka island with Ha'api's capital city of Pangai. We went on a shopping spree hoping to find some fresh produce, but the stores here have mostly canned goods. Well, to be more specific they have mostly canned corned beef. I swear to you that in every store at least one tenth of the aisle space is taken up by canned corned beef in an amazing variety of can sizes. Particularly amazing since there is not a variety of anything else. No other item comes in multiple sizes or brands, but there is always a huge row devoted to the canned corned beef. And let me be clear, I do not mean corned beef hash, it's just plain corned beef. Oh, and sometimes there are cans labeled simply "Corned Meat". I'm just not brave enough to read the label to find out what's in there.

In the end, after going to every store in town (which was easy to do since there are only six and they are all within a two block radius) we came away with potatoes, onions, frozen frying chickens and some good old American bacon, which we were very excited about.

Next we headed to Foa, where we went diving with a dive guide again. It was nice to have someone else fill your tanks and find the dive spot and lead you around to all the good stuff, although we do enjoy going on our own quite a bit too.


After that we spent one night in Ha'ano which had more really tremendous snorkeling and Tom tried his luck with the spear gun, unfortunately, again to no avail. The next day we motored to Mo'unga'one where I played boat person while Jeff, Fred and Tom did some diving right off the sail boat and I motored around in circles since there was no anchor spot nearby. They said it was a great dive with swim-throughs and a huge Napoleon Wrasse. After the dive we anchored off Ofolanga for dinner then left at 10 PM for an overnight sail to Vava'u, where we are excited to find cafes and banks and internet service. Ah, the comforts of civilization.