Goodbye Tonga

Back in Neiafu for July 4, but there were no fireworks or other celebrations, this being Tonga, not the US. Still, we had a good time at a fund raising dinner for a veterinarian who travels from New Zealand to do mostly free work for the Vava’u community.

On July 5 we went whale watching. Tonga is one of the few places in the world where you can get in the water with humpback whales. This was just the beginning of the whale watching season but we talked to people who had had an amazing time in the water with whales two days earlier. So we took a chance on the expensive ($230 USD per person) day trip. It was a beautiful day and we were the only customers on the boat, along with a captain, two crew, and a guide. They were all very nice and the guide knew a lot about whales and what’s going on in Tonga.

The guide (green shirt) is also the daughter of the boat owner, who also owns the Kraken restaurant, where we had dinner the night before, the fund raiser for veterinarians. We spent the morning zooming around, looking for whales.

I spent some time up top, looking for whales as well.

For lunch, we stopped in Hunga Bay, a beautiful and well protected anchorage that I had stayed in when I was in Tonga in 2016. Above, you see the entrance. A bit narrow with a tall rock sticking up left of center, just to make it a bit more challenging.

Now inside the pass, looking back, you can see how narrow it is. If we took Calista in, there would have been maybe 5 feet on either side. Tight!

But the bay is gorgeous and very calm. A great place for lunch!

We dropped anchor near the south end of the bay. The crew served us quite a nice lunch of sandwiches, fish, potato salad, veggies, and fruit. They treated us well!

We spent the afternoon looking for whales again. Around 14:30 we spotted some but when we got to within about 200 meters, they dove and disappeared. That is the closest we got all day. Very disappointing. We knew we were taking a chance, this early in the season. Although it did not work out, we had to try.

On Sunday, we decided to take a hike through town and then up Mt Talau.

As you can see, Neiafu shuts down on Sunday. Tonga is a VERY religious place and Sunday is all about church and family. A week or two earlier, we went to a church service. The singing was magnificent and very enthusiastic! We were the only non-locals there and we definitely stood out. People were very friendly and during the sermon, the preacher welcomed us to the congregation. People clapped, and turned and smiled warmly.

Anyway, on this day, we walked through town and then up Mt Talau, maybe a 4 mile round trip. On the way we past this grave on a hill overlooking the bay.

At the top we had a 360 view of the area. This is looking south, with Neiafu in the distance on the left and the anchorage center.

To the north-east are more inlets and islands.

On July 10, we took a hike through town going south to Veimumuni Cave.

On the way we saw this beautiful ‘Garden Canna’ along side the road.

The stairs down to the cave were well maintained.

You had to duck and watch your feet when entering the cave.

The pool inside was clear and not very deep. Even though it is just feet from the ocean, the water is brackish.

Many of the mountains, streams, beaches and caves have legends about their origins, Veimumuni Cave included.

On July 12 we pulled anchor and headed out of Tonga. But first, we had to fuel up and check out of the country. We had setup a time with the fuel company but, as so often happens in the islands, the fuel truck was about 2 hours late. So we sat and waited at the dock, with more boats coming in behind us. We had all been waiting for a good weather window so 10 or 12 boats where leaving the same day.

After fueling up, we could start the check out process. I went to the first desk, filled out a few forms, paid $14 and they said I was all done. Great! While walking to the dock, I ran into a friend and found out that I was only done with the first step. I had to go back to two more desks, fill out more papers and get things stamped. I am lucky I found this out because a partial check-out would have caused problems when checking in at Fiji, our next stop.

In the end, I got it all done and we left the dock about 2pm.

We have nice following seas, good wind, the spinnaker is up and we are doing 8 to 10 knots, on our way to Fiji!