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TONGA
June 30 – July 5, 2010
We have negotiated around most of the Tongan islands to get to Neiafu in the Vava’u group so we can check into customs. Tonga is the only Kingdom in the Southern Hemisphere. They are a proud and friendly kingdom but without the support of a first world country you notice the lacking infrastructure and they are less affluent. The people are excellent carvers and weave so finely the local grasses that men and women still wear the traditional pandanus overskirt.
The Rally motored through the islands to Aio Beach for the annual dinghy race. SofN arrived too late to design her racing craft. The rules said that you could not use a sail for a sail; the oar was only for steering, and no flippers for manual propulsion. We ended up being the tow boat to get the participants to the starting line. The starting line was further enhanced by the addition of hundreds of starfish that you would try and not step on in the shallows. To make the race more interesting I had supplied water balloons to slow down those who were doing too well.
Some women take their vows of ‘for better or worse’ a little too far. Even with my well aimed artillery Jackamy was a runaway winner!
The next day there was a picnic on another beautiful, white sand beach. I had marinated lamb chops and there were plenty of condiments from everybody. John was trying to get together a cricket game but I thought I would be bored so I swam back to the boat. 20 minutes later John comes to pick me up because he said we were going to play that American game…er…um…yeah … baseball!!
When we got to the beach they were tamping down the sand for the pitchers mound. The Miss Tippy kids came back with their bat & ball and lo! It was a cricket bat and tennis ball. I was surprised I did as well as I did for not understanding the rules. I think they made them up as they went along.
Several days later we had set up for a tour of Eoli Beach and Bob and I got reacquainted with our old friend,
Hani ( former minister of agriculture ). In this picture he is showing us how to make a door, or a shade for the window, or a railing for a porch, or even a table covering for dinner. He was as entertaining as our last visit and a tour of his botanical garden was very enlightening. A small cyclone in January had decimated some of the park but he was happy with his salvage operations. I have never seen basket weaving from the start to finish. We ground and drank kava which lived up to its reputation of tasting like dirty dish water…only worse. It numbs your lips and if you drink enough of it you forget where your legs are. We even saw how the locals make coconut milk.
This 85 year old lady has been making tapa cloth all her life. I can’t imagine how strong her hands must be. The cloth is flexible and strong and you can see from the heading picture at the top of the page it makes beautiful clothing. The main point I learned that day was everything they use is totally natural and growing all around them. They don’t need to buy any items from the store…even cutting the palm leaves is with a particular shell the ocean throws up on the beach.
Later we had lunch and the local school put on a show for us.
Bob & I thought this kid was a ham but he has won awards for his dancing and he sure could keep the beat.
You cannot go to Tonga without having the Tongan Feast. There was plenty of dancing but
the food is definitely the highlight. The best part is no plates or flatware to clean. Everything about this island is organic and readily replaceable. I was surprised when we got back to the boat and John needed pretzels…he thought there was nothing to eat!
We finally were ready to leave on Monday at 1pm and while John was checking out of customs Gilly and I went to spend the last of our money. We had 20 cents left over and I gave it to a yachted and told him not to spend it all at once. Since he was leaving soon and cannot exchange the money when he walked out of the store he handed me $1.85 change. This allowed me to run back into the store and buy 3 more eggs! I still have a 20 cent coin left over so I gave it to a young kid who sang a song for me on the sidewalk. When John caught up with us we went to the duty free store and as I walked in I was taken aback. I recognized him and he recognized me from two years ago. Same place – same time – small world.
As we were leaving the harbour the water was full of jellyfish. Large ones were bright lavender, bright violet, or vivid pink! The small ones were a translucent white. We knew there was going to be no wind so motoring was to be our MO for this trip. With no wave action to pummel the boat we could catch up on some chores
Like getting the 100 lb. fishing line untangled. We had lost 3 fish on the last voyage and did not want a repeat. John thought 50 lb. test would net us smaller fish so we would have just enough for the freezer but all it did was lose our best squid lures.
The following day, in 1 and 1/2 hours
BINGO!!!! We are eating Mahi-Mahi and living the good life.
There was plenty of discussion at the 10 o’clock net about how to manuver through the many islands and reefs of the Fiji nation. Generally if you were going some places and you could be there in the day light then you went for it. We changed our minds several timjes because of winds – or lack of winds. There was a moment when we were deciding to bust butt to make it to the harbour of Savu Savu before darkness or to motor less and sail more and come in a day later. We opted for a day later and pulled into the harbour on Friday at 9am.
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