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.
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