Our days of uninhabited islands with endless sandy beaches and more coconuts than we know what to do with,are coming to an end. We are checking out of the Ha'apai group of Tonga today and will be heading up to Vavau within the week. From what we hear Vavau is on the well worn cruisers track because of it's abundance of beautiful sheltered anchorages, incredible snorkeling and diving spots, and big social sceen. After running around our little islands alone collecting coconuts and playing on sand hills, we're ready for the action.
A couple highlights of our last adventures...On one of the first days alone on an uninhabited island , a giantcharter boat 120ft long with 18 American tourists and 10 Fijian crew showed up and anchored right near us. Spoilingour fantasy of having our OWN island, we grumbled ashore to meet a couple of the palangi's(locals term for non-Tongan) collecting sea shells along the beach. After chatting with the two Californian woman, James being the jungle man heis now, opened us up all a coconut to enjoy while they waited for their skiff to pick them up for return back to thebig boat. Upon meeting the Fijian skiff driver, he told us to wait on shore for him and the rest of the crew to return for a game of rugby. Sure enough 20 minutes later the entire crew, minus the captain, were ashore all friendlyand smiley. After filling their big skiff up with coconuts, they showed us how to open the magical fruit the correctway with much less struggle. Then it was time for their usual game of rugby after a hard days work diving and whalewatching with the guests. James was brave and joined in on the game while I sat watching on the side as these ratherlarge men chased after one another. Without having ever played rugby in his life, James did a great job scrambling between them all and he must have made a good impression because they invited us over for a kava drinking later thatnight. After eating a big pasta dinner, we made our way over to the charter boat, Naia, and of course right away wewere offered a grand steak dinner! Too stuffed from noodles and sauce we settled for a piece of papaya cheesecakefollowed by coconut shell full of kava one after another. For anyone who is unfamiliar with kava, it is a rootthat is ground into powder form and mixed with water. It tastes sort of like a mixture between muddy water and dish soap, leaving your lips and tongue tingly and a little numb. After drinking enough of it, it is an anesthetic, analgesic, mild traquilizer, antibacterial and antifungal agent, a diuretic, soporific, and appetite suppressant. Accompanied by the Fijians guitar playing and harmonized singing, I can believe all the benefits but the last on thelist. After about 5 hours of kava sing along with the other American guests onboard, the captain insisted that Jamesand I eat the steak dinner before we left and with only increased appetites since our arrival, we had no objections.They also sent us away with canned juices and canned tuna fish! The boat left the next morning and we once again hadour own island but now we had a great new experience to share with others. Once again a blessing in disguise. We think that the Fijians, first on the Sri Lanken cargo ship in Niue, and now here in Tonga, have definitely been the friendliest andhappiest group of people we've come across so far.
A couple highlights of our last adventures...On one of the first days alone on an uninhabited island , a giantcharter boat 120ft long with 18 American tourists and 10 Fijian crew showed up and anchored right near us. Spoilingour fantasy of having our OWN island, we grumbled ashore to meet a couple of the palangi's(locals term for non-Tongan) collecting sea shells along the beach. After chatting with the two Californian woman, James being the jungle man heis now, opened us up all a coconut to enjoy while they waited for their skiff to pick them up for return back to thebig boat. Upon meeting the Fijian skiff driver, he told us to wait on shore for him and the rest of the crew to return for a game of rugby. Sure enough 20 minutes later the entire crew, minus the captain, were ashore all friendlyand smiley. After filling their big skiff up with coconuts, they showed us how to open the magical fruit the correctway with much less struggle. Then it was time for their usual game of rugby after a hard days work diving and whalewatching with the guests. James was brave and joined in on the game while I sat watching on the side as these ratherlarge men chased after one another. Without having ever played rugby in his life, James did a great job scrambling between them all and he must have made a good impression because they invited us over for a kava drinking later thatnight. After eating a big pasta dinner, we made our way over to the charter boat, Naia, and of course right away wewere offered a grand steak dinner! Too stuffed from noodles and sauce we settled for a piece of papaya cheesecakefollowed by coconut shell full of kava one after another. For anyone who is unfamiliar with kava, it is a rootthat is ground into powder form and mixed with water. It tastes sort of like a mixture between muddy water and dish soap, leaving your lips and tongue tingly and a little numb. After drinking enough of it, it is an anesthetic, analgesic, mild traquilizer, antibacterial and antifungal agent, a diuretic, soporific, and appetite suppressant. Accompanied by the Fijians guitar playing and harmonized singing, I can believe all the benefits but the last on thelist. After about 5 hours of kava sing along with the other American guests onboard, the captain insisted that Jamesand I eat the steak dinner before we left and with only increased appetites since our arrival, we had no objections.They also sent us away with canned juices and canned tuna fish! The boat left the next morning and we once again hadour own island but now we had a great new experience to share with others. Once again a blessing in disguise. We think that the Fijians, first on the Sri Lanken cargo ship in Niue, and now here in Tonga, have definitely been the friendliest andhappiest group of people we've come across so far.
2 comments:
Bula J&A:
I’m glad that my crew treated you well when you met NAI’A in Ha’apai. And I hope that the rest of your stay in Tonga is equally pleasant. Hopefully you are sheltering from these strong tradewinds somewhere in Vava’u by now!
I sailed small boats around the Pacific for 13 years before I bought a cheap derelict booze-cruiser in the Caribbean and refit her to become NAI’A fifteen years ago. For my first few years aboard I always took a small gift of fish or whatever over to visit the yachties with whom we shared an anchorage, but my visits were generally met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. There is a self-imposed gulf between little self-sufficient yachts and giant charter boats, but in fact the people aboard are very similar to one another. We’re all out there doing it for mainly the same reasons. So thank you for not getting caught up in your first impressions!
Good luck and best fishes,
Rob Barrel
www.naia.com.fj
It sounds like you guys are having an amazing trip. Did you guys like the kava? I remember drinking kava with my tongan buddies when i used to live in Hawaii. Ahhh...those were the days.
Be safe. Keep writing. We enjoyed your stories of your adventure very much.
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