Week 11 June 18th - 24th
On Monday the 18th June at 3:30pm we arrived at the first island of Tonga, which is called Nuitopatapu which means sacred coconut in English. As we came in, the pass was extremely well marked which was fortunate because the channel was very narrow. Nuitopatapu is very low lying except for a big hill in the background. The island was covered in greenery and the water was lots of different shades of blue.
The next day some people came aboard to do customs clearance. After the people had left we took the tender ashore and walked into town. The road was unpaved and had potholes in it. There were some amazing old trees which were huge and were covered in dark green leaves. The town was at the other end of the island so we hitched a lift from a local. We first went to the bank to change some dollars into some local Tongan money, which had lots of colourful pictures on it. After we had changed some money we went over to the local bakery to get some bread. The bakery was a small red wooden building with a large oven inside. On the way back to the tender we stopped to do health clearance. We had to walk all the way back this time, because there was noone to give us a lift. When we got back to the boat we left for Vava’u, which is the next island group of Tonga. After we were out of the pass we put the sails up.
The next day at 11:00 we arrived in Vava’u. Unlike the other islands we have been to Vava’u has no reef around it to shelter it from the waves but instead it has lots of small islands scattered around. There are lots of anchorages and bays in all of the islands. Where we anchored at first there were lots of jellyfish in the water so we didn’t go for a swim. After we had arrived we moved anchorages to where there weren’t any jellyfish. Later on we went to the main town and went to a restaurant called Mangoes, we all had a lovely meal and then went back to the boat.
The next day we went to breakfast at the bounty bar and then had a look in town. We went to the pharmacy to get some hair conditioner, and then went an bought an orange shirt. They made the shirt orange by dying it in clay and soaking it in salt water to set it. Later on we went for a snorkel, and the water was a lot colder than it was in Samoa. After coming back from snorkelling we went to Mangoes again.
The next day we went in the tender to have a snorkel. While we were snorkelling we saw some clown fish and a beautiful lion fish. After that we went into two caves. The first cave had very clear water and there was a hole in the top of it. The second cave was completely black so we couldn’t see anything. On the way back we saw lot’s and lot’s of fruit bats hanging upside down in some trees. When we got back we found that Mike’s flight to Sydney had been cancelled.
The next day Mike got another flight to Sydney. At about 9:00 we went to breakfast at a place called the Crows Nest. We all had a yummy breakfast. We also dropped of our laundry and then went and did our websites.
The next day we moved anchorages to one with a big beach. After we arrived we took the canoe to the beach and had a play. We also had a snorkel off the beach.