Tuesday, August 26, 2008
New pictures posted
We have posted a couple of pictures from our time in Ha'apai and now here in Vavau. Internet is fairly quick, so we will post more later as they come. I'm sure most of you have already figured this out or have our flickr as a saved site, but if not, you just have to copy and paste, http://www.flickr.com/photos/26977831@N04/ and it should bring you right to the spot.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
On the Road Again
We've collected a boat full of coconuts for the journey up north to Vavau which we now open on the boat with our little hand drill. It takes all the tarzan fun from it, but it's a matter of 3 seconds compared to 4 minutes. Also, we learned that the green drinking coconuts produce a red dye that is almost impossible to get off of anything it touches. We learned this the hard way after James opened two coconuts on the white deck, and the next morning it looked like a can of paint had been poured EVERYWHERE.
Island Paradise
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.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
FakaFaka Tongatapu
We're not really sure what Faka means but apparently it connects to a lot of Tongan words and it's the joke for the Tongan parents when their children run around America yelling out Fakafaka without realizing they're yelling out bad words in english:-) Overall our time here in Tongatapu in the big city of Nukalofa has been incredible, throwing surprises at us left and right. The people have definitely lived up to their friendly isle reputation and we're now excited to see the other Tongan island groups. We will be heading to the Haipai group just north of here. It should be about 40-60 miles before our next stop, and after that it's island hopping up to Vavau group. Vavau is very popular in the cruising world and is supposed to have some of the best snorkeling, diving, whale watching, ect...So it's time to move on. The king has been crowned, we're out of here!
(Side note...don't worry parents because we take full precautions when catching rides, or exploring Sri Lanken cargo ships. We know that everyone does not have good intentions no matter how "nice" they may seem).
(Side note...don't worry parents because we take full precautions when catching rides, or exploring Sri Lanken cargo ships. We know that everyone does not have good intentions no matter how "nice" they may seem).
Tongatapu Days
Today is Monday the 4th of August. It's amazing how fast time has flown by. The king's coronation ended this weekend
leaving the town quiet for the first time since we've arrived. Everyday and night there was always a special coronation
event taking place filling the streets with marching bands, consession stands, and hundreds of Tongans dressed in their
villages native tapa wear. We attended as many events as possible while in town including the coronation rugby match.
Tongans vs. THE WORLD. It was our first live witness of this rough and rather frenzy like game but we found while sitting
on the banks of the stadium with the rest of the average locals(the American's "rockpile" equivalent) that it was pretty
similar to America's football or baseball games. You have the couple of loud yelling spectators who the crowds laugh at
and then a half time show with marching band and dancers. However, Tongan style games and festivities replace giant beers with refreshing, cool drinking coconuts. It's
nice to see a crowd of people able to get together for fun events without having to consume alcohol.
In between the many town events, we also were able to explore the outskirts of the island via foot or a hitch with the
locals. We did take the bus once or twice to ensure we made it home back to civilization before dark, but we preferred
hitching with the locals not only because the bus system could be very inconsistant with missing bus drivers,
but we were able to meet alot of interesting and happy people. Or in some cases, it was
fun to ride in the back of trucks with little children down dirt roads while the dad in the front was searching the
bushes for bananas. Although we never had a set route or path we had to take, we saw majority of the islands land marks,
including the blow holes which scattered everywhere on the Southeast shores. With the crashing waves that pounded
with great force against the lime stone cliffs, enormous spouts flew 50ft or more high into the air. This was only
topped by finding a secret beach we named Moments beach, out on the South West shore. After following a dirt path
and hiking through some thick grass up to our heads, we found this little tiny oasis only accessible during low tide,
and only swim friendly right before high tide. We lucked out and hit the right time of the day, leaving this untouched
hidden beach with a limestone cliff overhead for protection against the days heat, all to ourselves. Since the harbor and
surrounding water off of Nukalofa(the city of Tongatapu) is very dirty and trashy, it was great relief to swim freely
in clear waters again.
Later in the week after we had our share of parades and exploring the main island, we went over to Paingamotu island just
a 20-30 minute motor trip away. We had run into Tom and Colleen(cruisers we met in Niue) while hitching around the main island
just a couple of days before, and were told of the weekends events on the motu enticing us to leave the city. A woman named Big
Mama runs a resort on the motu and there was going to be a big feast in exchange for helping her make Tongan Tiki torches for
the Kings actual coronation on Friday night. So not only were we going to get to learn how to make a Tongan tiki torch, but they
were going to feed us for free, Not a bad deal:-) We were able to get a preview of the feast to come when Tom and Colleens local
friend who was acting as a tour guide, invited us to join them for the rest of the day after our unexpected encounter. He was related
in some way to a man who owned an incredible resort on the South end of the island so we visited there. THe resort was built into the
limestone cliffs,and it sat right on a white sandy beach. Being kin the owner treated us all to plates and plates of
different sea foods, meats, curries, salads, and all you could eat sweet bananas hanging from above us. The plates were part of the
banana tree, looking like giant pieces of celery and the place mats were huge leaves making clean up after our smorgisborg pretty
simple! We couldn't wait for Big Mama's feast!
In a rush after the rugby match to make it to Paingamotu island before dark and before the tiki torch lessons began that night,
we left the Nukalofa harbor and made it to the motu just at dusk. After barely setting our anchor outside the shore of the motu,
Steve another cruiser, was at Mai Miti with his dinghy insisting to take us ashore to the resort. A bit to our dissapointment we were told that
because of the rain, the tiki torch prep would be postponed till tomorrow, but Big mama still fed us chicken soup and bread fruit:-)
We were also treated with a visit from the captain and officers off of the American navy's destroying vessel, the John. S. McCain.This 560ft
war machine sat outside Nukalofa with flags and lights displayed to show respect for the soon to be Tongan King. The fun and relaxed crew
explained to us that they were basically down here from Japan to "Show face" for the Americans. Their presence couldn't have been better
for us because they invited us over for their big party on the destroyer the following night. After spending the next day swimming in the
clean waters, hiking around the sandy beaches, and making tiki torches with big mama, us cruisers all put on our nicest formal wear, and
caught an island ferry over to the ship that night. Having to climb up a wobbly ladder on the stern of the 25ft high battle ship, we were greeted
by the American, Australian, and
even french navy men and woman all in their uniforms. It was a very classy party with all you can eat gourmet food and drink, ice sculptures
and all. We were even given a short tour through the ship. Around 10:30pm after stuffing ourselves to the brim, we were escorted back to the
motu on one of the navy's own ribs. Unlike the lack of rules and regulations in these south pacific countries, the US made sure we all
had our own life vests and personal lighting gear for the short ride back to the boats. What a night!
leaving the town quiet for the first time since we've arrived. Everyday and night there was always a special coronation
event taking place filling the streets with marching bands, consession stands, and hundreds of Tongans dressed in their
villages native tapa wear. We attended as many events as possible while in town including the coronation rugby match.
Tongans vs. THE WORLD. It was our first live witness of this rough and rather frenzy like game but we found while sitting
on the banks of the stadium with the rest of the average locals(the American's "rockpile" equivalent) that it was pretty
similar to America's football or baseball games. You have the couple of loud yelling spectators who the crowds laugh at
and then a half time show with marching band and dancers. However, Tongan style games and festivities replace giant beers with refreshing, cool drinking coconuts. It's
nice to see a crowd of people able to get together for fun events without having to consume alcohol.
In between the many town events, we also were able to explore the outskirts of the island via foot or a hitch with the
locals. We did take the bus once or twice to ensure we made it home back to civilization before dark, but we preferred
hitching with the locals not only because the bus system could be very inconsistant with missing bus drivers,
but we were able to meet alot of interesting and happy people. Or in some cases, it was
fun to ride in the back of trucks with little children down dirt roads while the dad in the front was searching the
bushes for bananas. Although we never had a set route or path we had to take, we saw majority of the islands land marks,
including the blow holes which scattered everywhere on the Southeast shores. With the crashing waves that pounded
with great force against the lime stone cliffs, enormous spouts flew 50ft or more high into the air. This was only
topped by finding a secret beach we named Moments beach, out on the South West shore. After following a dirt path
and hiking through some thick grass up to our heads, we found this little tiny oasis only accessible during low tide,
and only swim friendly right before high tide. We lucked out and hit the right time of the day, leaving this untouched
hidden beach with a limestone cliff overhead for protection against the days heat, all to ourselves. Since the harbor and
surrounding water off of Nukalofa(the city of Tongatapu) is very dirty and trashy, it was great relief to swim freely
in clear waters again.
Later in the week after we had our share of parades and exploring the main island, we went over to Paingamotu island just
a 20-30 minute motor trip away. We had run into Tom and Colleen(cruisers we met in Niue) while hitching around the main island
just a couple of days before, and were told of the weekends events on the motu enticing us to leave the city. A woman named Big
Mama runs a resort on the motu and there was going to be a big feast in exchange for helping her make Tongan Tiki torches for
the Kings actual coronation on Friday night. So not only were we going to get to learn how to make a Tongan tiki torch, but they
were going to feed us for free, Not a bad deal:-) We were able to get a preview of the feast to come when Tom and Colleens local
friend who was acting as a tour guide, invited us to join them for the rest of the day after our unexpected encounter. He was related
in some way to a man who owned an incredible resort on the South end of the island so we visited there. THe resort was built into the
limestone cliffs,and it sat right on a white sandy beach. Being kin the owner treated us all to plates and plates of
different sea foods, meats, curries, salads, and all you could eat sweet bananas hanging from above us. The plates were part of the
banana tree, looking like giant pieces of celery and the place mats were huge leaves making clean up after our smorgisborg pretty
simple! We couldn't wait for Big Mama's feast!
In a rush after the rugby match to make it to Paingamotu island before dark and before the tiki torch lessons began that night,
we left the Nukalofa harbor and made it to the motu just at dusk. After barely setting our anchor outside the shore of the motu,
Steve another cruiser, was at Mai Miti with his dinghy insisting to take us ashore to the resort. A bit to our dissapointment we were told that
because of the rain, the tiki torch prep would be postponed till tomorrow, but Big mama still fed us chicken soup and bread fruit:-)
We were also treated with a visit from the captain and officers off of the American navy's destroying vessel, the John. S. McCain.This 560ft
war machine sat outside Nukalofa with flags and lights displayed to show respect for the soon to be Tongan King. The fun and relaxed crew
explained to us that they were basically down here from Japan to "Show face" for the Americans. Their presence couldn't have been better
for us because they invited us over for their big party on the destroyer the following night. After spending the next day swimming in the
clean waters, hiking around the sandy beaches, and making tiki torches with big mama, us cruisers all put on our nicest formal wear, and
caught an island ferry over to the ship that night. Having to climb up a wobbly ladder on the stern of the 25ft high battle ship, we were greeted
by the American, Australian, and
even french navy men and woman all in their uniforms. It was a very classy party with all you can eat gourmet food and drink, ice sculptures
and all. We were even given a short tour through the ship. Around 10:30pm after stuffing ourselves to the brim, we were escorted back to the
motu on one of the navy's own ribs. Unlike the lack of rules and regulations in these south pacific countries, the US made sure we all
had our own life vests and personal lighting gear for the short ride back to the boats. What a night!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
I am afraid that we are very behind on our blogs and there is too much that has happened in between to recount all
of our adventures, but I will try my best to get the highlights without boring our audience too badly.
Tongatapu, Tonga
Malo e leiei! Fefe hake? Hello and how are you in Tongan! We have a lot to
explore yet on Tongatapu, only one of the many islands that makes up the Tongan nation.
It is now July 27th for us here in Tonga and we have only been here 2 days. Having crossed the International date line, we were cheated out of a day
of life but were welcomed to the island with the biggest festival of the Tongan year!This years Heilala festival, a week
long celebration, is combined this year with your Majesty the king George Topou the fifth's coronation. There are
LONG LIVE THE KING banners strung about everywhere! The day after we arrived
the block parties and parades began full of food, old and very loud American(Madonna/Rap)music, traditional Tongan
dress and dance, as well as a cultural exhibitions from other countries around the world. We have had a blast wondering
around the lively city full of people, pigs, huge elaborate grave yards, small markets with cold refreshments, vegetabel
stands with conveniently cheap produce, and pizza shops with delicious Hawaiian style pizza pies we devoured!Today
being Sunday, everything is closed allowing us to truly relax for the first time for as long as we can remember.We have
actually just sat in the boat extremely content the entire day filling out journals and attempting to update this blog.
The "cruising" life is much more social than we both had anticipated, being invited over for cocktails or dinner almost every night.
Yesterday after the float parade and pizza with another cruising couple, we thought we'd get to enjoy a quiet movie night on Mai Miti,
but as soon as we returned to the boat, the couple next door insisted we come over for appetizers and drinks. No
complaining because it is always a very nice treat, but we were definitely not expecting so much of it!
Niue"No-way"
After a long 20 day passage from Palmyra atoll, we managed to find our way into the security of Alofi bay. Due
to unfavorable conditions with howling winds and large seas, the last 100 miles of our trip took us over 3 days
to conquer. The crystal clear blue waters with 140+ft visiblity and secure mooring balls of the island made the fight
worth it. The first day and night in Alofi, the largest village of Niue, we enjoyed the simple things in life like,
walking on solid ground, fresh baked bread, cold soda, and a "sausage sizzle" as they call it in New Zealand, with
hot sausage and onion sandwiches, and cold New Zealand beer. This special thurday night sizzle put on by the Niue
yacht club(a family run business at their home tucked away in the palm trees) allowed us to meet the other
cruisers and to get the scoop on the best island hikes, snorkels, ect. We were fotunate to arrive when we had because
the upcoming Saturday morning the south village of Alofi would be putting on their village festival. It took place
at the primary school grass field with tons of food and crafts. We tried the coconut porridge which was half a coconut
filled with gelatinous but mushy pudding like substance. There was a hint of sweetness to it but not much. It was good
but what really got our taste buds rolling was the Roti, a homemade tortilla stuffed with corned beef, potatoes, and
a yellow curry. Mmm.mmm...After much eating occurred for the Niuians, the village put on their dance show with various
groups performing dances similar to the hula but with different dress. One custom we were not used to was the spectators
would get up at any point in the dance and stuff money down the dancers shirt, skirt, ect..., if they liked what they
saw. It was funny to watch the dancers try to keep the beat during all of this. Forgot our camera, whoops! we also forgot
the camera for the big Niuian dance performance later that week, full of elaborate costumes and even a fashion show.Being a
country of only 1000 people, events like this are huge and everyone shows up. We soon started recognizing faces where ever
we went.
In between snorkeling through underwater caverns with white tip reef sharks and 1 of the top ten most poisonous sea
snakes that were everywhere(don't worry moms and dads, their mouths are too small to cause any harm even if they
were to bite you), we went on humpback whale chasing expeditions succeeding twice in our mission. The first one being Jmz'
closest encounter, being only 5 ft from the enourmous creature. The second was for Amber's birthday present where we
both swam with two of them before they gracefully dove into the deep blue and out of sight. Not such a bad b-day especially
since Jmz played me happy bday with his violin, cooked me reeces pancakes,treated me to shakes at the incredible Frosty Boy
and took me to dinner at Falalafa restaurant that night:-) Besides our aquatic explorations,Our land adventures consisted of
rugged hikes through thick bush before winding up at protected natural pools, lime stone caves full of stallactites and stallagmites,
and underwater swimways leading to hidden dark caverns in the coral.
We could have stayed on Niue exploring much longer with endless sea tracks,torquise water holes, and beautiful sea life,
but with paying $10 a day for mooring fees and many more new landfalls ahead before hurrican season began, we departed the island
after 10 days full of amazing experiences. One experience worth pointing out was our cargo ship buddies.
The first night in the bay, we were alone with only 4 other cruising boats. That night Jmz wondered if he should put on
the anchor light as none of the other boats had theirs. Following the crowd, we thought, "no boat will be coming in
here at night". Just with our luck, in the morning we awoke to a huge container ship fearfully close to us unloading
cargo on the wharf(we learned our lesson about lighting). To our dissapointment we found they would be there for over
five days with their loud engines, generators, and smelly fumes. However, we were soon to learn our lesson about grumbling
as blessings can come from the most unusual places, quotes Jmz. One afternoon on our dinghy ride back to Mai Miti, a man aboard the
large ship motioned for us to come over. It was a crew member who had helped us the day before with loading our dinghy on shore.
With broken English we had only chatted with him briefly following his help, but for some reason he must have liked us because now he
was inviting us to dinner that night on the ship. We would never turn down free food so we accepted rather nervously, and headed
over around 6pm. To our surprise the small crew of 10 all greeted us with huge smiles and big hang shakes.Majority of them were from
sri lanka and we learned it was a part of their culture to make us feel welcomed which they did a grrrrreat job of! They fed us drink
after drink and then food until we were about to burst with icecream on top of that. At one point during dinner they asked if we
liked Indian curry to which we responded that we did, and we were then informed that we had to come back to the ship for lunch that next
day. When we were leavng they handed us a heavy black trash bag that was filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, can goods, chocolates,
coffee, and teas. We fell asleep that night wondering if we were dreaming and wondering what we had done to make them like us so much.
The next days lunch was filled with the same unbelievable hospitality with addition of two bottles of wine from the captain and a
picture print out of us and the crew made especially by the jolly Fijian welder. It was like we'd died and gone to heaven! Their early
departure later that night due to finishing their offload sooner than expected was actually kind of sad now that we'd made such good
friends with them. The Fijian captain who gifted us with the wines, gave us his contact info for when we arrive in Fiji. He is also
a pilot, so who knows the possiblities:-)
of our adventures, but I will try my best to get the highlights without boring our audience too badly.
Tongatapu, Tonga
Malo e leiei! Fefe hake? Hello and how are you in Tongan! We have a lot to
explore yet on Tongatapu, only one of the many islands that makes up the Tongan nation.
It is now July 27th for us here in Tonga and we have only been here 2 days. Having crossed the International date line, we were cheated out of a day
of life but were welcomed to the island with the biggest festival of the Tongan year!This years Heilala festival, a week
long celebration, is combined this year with your Majesty the king George Topou the fifth's coronation. There are
LONG LIVE THE KING banners strung about everywhere! The day after we arrived
the block parties and parades began full of food, old and very loud American(Madonna/Rap)music, traditional Tongan
dress and dance, as well as a cultural exhibitions from other countries around the world. We have had a blast wondering
around the lively city full of people, pigs, huge elaborate grave yards, small markets with cold refreshments, vegetabel
stands with conveniently cheap produce, and pizza shops with delicious Hawaiian style pizza pies we devoured!Today
being Sunday, everything is closed allowing us to truly relax for the first time for as long as we can remember.We have
actually just sat in the boat extremely content the entire day filling out journals and attempting to update this blog.
The "cruising" life is much more social than we both had anticipated, being invited over for cocktails or dinner almost every night.
Yesterday after the float parade and pizza with another cruising couple, we thought we'd get to enjoy a quiet movie night on Mai Miti,
but as soon as we returned to the boat, the couple next door insisted we come over for appetizers and drinks. No
complaining because it is always a very nice treat, but we were definitely not expecting so much of it!
Niue"No-way"
After a long 20 day passage from Palmyra atoll, we managed to find our way into the security of Alofi bay. Due
to unfavorable conditions with howling winds and large seas, the last 100 miles of our trip took us over 3 days
to conquer. The crystal clear blue waters with 140+ft visiblity and secure mooring balls of the island made the fight
worth it. The first day and night in Alofi, the largest village of Niue, we enjoyed the simple things in life like,
walking on solid ground, fresh baked bread, cold soda, and a "sausage sizzle" as they call it in New Zealand, with
hot sausage and onion sandwiches, and cold New Zealand beer. This special thurday night sizzle put on by the Niue
yacht club(a family run business at their home tucked away in the palm trees) allowed us to meet the other
cruisers and to get the scoop on the best island hikes, snorkels, ect. We were fotunate to arrive when we had because
the upcoming Saturday morning the south village of Alofi would be putting on their village festival. It took place
at the primary school grass field with tons of food and crafts. We tried the coconut porridge which was half a coconut
filled with gelatinous but mushy pudding like substance. There was a hint of sweetness to it but not much. It was good
but what really got our taste buds rolling was the Roti, a homemade tortilla stuffed with corned beef, potatoes, and
a yellow curry. Mmm.mmm...After much eating occurred for the Niuians, the village put on their dance show with various
groups performing dances similar to the hula but with different dress. One custom we were not used to was the spectators
would get up at any point in the dance and stuff money down the dancers shirt, skirt, ect..., if they liked what they
saw. It was funny to watch the dancers try to keep the beat during all of this. Forgot our camera, whoops! we also forgot
the camera for the big Niuian dance performance later that week, full of elaborate costumes and even a fashion show.Being a
country of only 1000 people, events like this are huge and everyone shows up. We soon started recognizing faces where ever
we went.
In between snorkeling through underwater caverns with white tip reef sharks and 1 of the top ten most poisonous sea
snakes that were everywhere(don't worry moms and dads, their mouths are too small to cause any harm even if they
were to bite you), we went on humpback whale chasing expeditions succeeding twice in our mission. The first one being Jmz'
closest encounter, being only 5 ft from the enourmous creature. The second was for Amber's birthday present where we
both swam with two of them before they gracefully dove into the deep blue and out of sight. Not such a bad b-day especially
since Jmz played me happy bday with his violin, cooked me reeces pancakes,treated me to shakes at the incredible Frosty Boy
and took me to dinner at Falalafa restaurant that night:-) Besides our aquatic explorations,Our land adventures consisted of
rugged hikes through thick bush before winding up at protected natural pools, lime stone caves full of stallactites and stallagmites,
and underwater swimways leading to hidden dark caverns in the coral.
We could have stayed on Niue exploring much longer with endless sea tracks,torquise water holes, and beautiful sea life,
but with paying $10 a day for mooring fees and many more new landfalls ahead before hurrican season began, we departed the island
after 10 days full of amazing experiences. One experience worth pointing out was our cargo ship buddies.
The first night in the bay, we were alone with only 4 other cruising boats. That night Jmz wondered if he should put on
the anchor light as none of the other boats had theirs. Following the crowd, we thought, "no boat will be coming in
here at night". Just with our luck, in the morning we awoke to a huge container ship fearfully close to us unloading
cargo on the wharf(we learned our lesson about lighting). To our dissapointment we found they would be there for over
five days with their loud engines, generators, and smelly fumes. However, we were soon to learn our lesson about grumbling
as blessings can come from the most unusual places, quotes Jmz. One afternoon on our dinghy ride back to Mai Miti, a man aboard the
large ship motioned for us to come over. It was a crew member who had helped us the day before with loading our dinghy on shore.
With broken English we had only chatted with him briefly following his help, but for some reason he must have liked us because now he
was inviting us to dinner that night on the ship. We would never turn down free food so we accepted rather nervously, and headed
over around 6pm. To our surprise the small crew of 10 all greeted us with huge smiles and big hang shakes.Majority of them were from
sri lanka and we learned it was a part of their culture to make us feel welcomed which they did a grrrrreat job of! They fed us drink
after drink and then food until we were about to burst with icecream on top of that. At one point during dinner they asked if we
liked Indian curry to which we responded that we did, and we were then informed that we had to come back to the ship for lunch that next
day. When we were leavng they handed us a heavy black trash bag that was filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, can goods, chocolates,
coffee, and teas. We fell asleep that night wondering if we were dreaming and wondering what we had done to make them like us so much.
The next days lunch was filled with the same unbelievable hospitality with addition of two bottles of wine from the captain and a
picture print out of us and the crew made especially by the jolly Fijian welder. It was like we'd died and gone to heaven! Their early
departure later that night due to finishing their offload sooner than expected was actually kind of sad now that we'd made such good
friends with them. The Fijian captain who gifted us with the wines, gave us his contact info for when we arrive in Fiji. He is also
a pilot, so who knows the possiblities:-)
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