Blogs from Tonga, Oceania - page 6

To all my english friends, here´s a brief recap - life´s good. I swam with whales. Look at the pictures! Nine o´clock, female and a calf! Båten kränger till när alla ombord unisont kastar sig mot babord sida på den lilla båten. Valspanaren på båttaket pekar ut mot en till synes oändlig horisont och spänt låter jag blicken fara fram och tillbaka över havet. Spänningen stiger. Plötsligt bryts den azurblå vattenytan av en liten ryggfena och jag hinner tänka - Jaså, bara en delfin - innan den lilla ryggfenan lyfts upp av enorm rygg som liksom rullar fram över havet. Jag hör ett enormt frustande och en vattenstråle skjuts upp flera meter i luften. Det är inte längre något snack om saken, rakt framför mig har jag en av Tongas ungefär 700 knölvalar. Nu är det ... read more

I was lucky enough to fall into a group going on a dive trip on Sunday. In the Tongan constitution, the law states that no one is allowed to do any kind of work on Sundays. So, most establishments are not allowed to offer any services of any kind. Luckily, this place, Happy Ha’apai Divers got permission from the village elder and 7 of us left for Foa to experience some Tongan diving. I persuaded Brittany to come out with me, Kyle ditched us, but we left on the 8am RHIB. Twenty minutes after getting ashore, we arrive at Happy Ha’apai Divers, walking our gear down to the beach where another RHIB awaited us. As I looked out at the boats, I imagined that we would be on the small dive charter boat. Lucky us, ... read more

15JUL As usual, I digress... let’s see if I can keep on task to describe the day’s events. I went on a COMREL to one of the elementary schools (Pangai Primary School) with Lauren Rago and Rick Parry (the two Aussie Public Affairs types), Todd (the Chaplain), Beav (the TACRON, or air operations guy), the musicians and a few other CivMars from the ship. It was so much fun, the kids, faculty and parents all came to have a program involving all of us. We really didn’t know what to expect, but we came away rejuvenated, elated and feeling like we had just had a vacation. We danced, drank coconut milk, played frisbee with the kids and just had a great time together. What an amazing day! To begin, the group arrived at the Primary School ... read more

We have been diving (night and days), snorkeling, touring the island with Ann and François - generally having a great time. The past two evening we have been doing night diving - 2 days after the full moon is the best time to find some of the shells Brian and Carl are looking for. It has been good to conquer my fear of the ocean at night. We did a fast drift dive thru a narrow passage from the outer reef inward where there was lots of current - scary exhilarating and fun all at the same time. The weather has settled to SE trades blowing 15-25k gusts to 30k and sunny. Last Saturday, Ann and François came out on the boat. Unfortunately that day it was cloudy & rain. We experience a severe thunder ... read more

Sorry about the lack of pictures on the last couple of blogs. On Friday, we waited for the customs and immigration people to come out to the boat. They never arrive so we went in and were able to do all the custom and immigration on land. It was late but I wanted to check my emails and put something on my blog before they closed. I had 10 mins. - not long when things are slow. I will put some pics up today. Wallis Island, French territory, currency = Polynesia francs. June 26th. We motored over to the port Mata Utu capital of Wallis Island and cleared customs and immigration late Friday afternoon. The people of Wallis Island are very friendly - André - the Custom official was extremely helpful in telling us where to ... read more