Blogs from Tonga, Oceania - page 7

CHANGE IN WEATHER The weather has been awful since I arrived in South Pacific - in Tonga wet cold and windy - wet, warm and wind on the trip here. In Wallis Island it is still wet windy and warm very unusually for this time of year. Sunday there were blue skies!!! It is really beautiful and I have to keep pinching myself to realize this is real and not a dream. Brian and I went for a dive Sunday morning; for me to check out my gear and he wanted to check the anchor was secure with all the wind. It was great. Later morning we took the dinghy over and did some snorkel diving near the Island - to see if it would be good for a night dive i.e. good possibility of shells. ... read more

June 22nd TONGA The 3hr flight to Tonga was uneventful - which is what I like. I arrived in Tonga and it was raining, windy and cold. My flight to Vava’u in Northern Tonga was cancelled and I had to wait for the later flight. I sat in the domestic airport - the equivalent of large shed - the only saving grace was the restaurant which sold hot and cold drinks and food. I had numerous cups of tea to keep me warm. While in the airport I struck up a conversation with an American girl work for VPO in Tonga. She explained some of the traditions and customs of Tonga. One of which was the grass skirts that a few men and women wore over their dresses or skirts (yes men as well as women ... read more

We crossed the International Dateline so we are now (I think) 18 hours ahead of you at home. We lost Tuesday completely, but are making it up one hour at a time as we move westward around the globe. Always nice to get that extra hour a couple of times a week. Yesterday we were in Tonga, the first flat island we have visited. Unlike the others which were volcanic and, therefore, mountainous, Tonga is a huge coral reef and flat as a pancake. It is extremely lush and beautiful, but a terrible mess. Rusted out cars all over the place as well as rusted out boats littering the bay. Garbage everywhere and almost every house looked like it was ready to fall down. It is more of a case of not caring than being poor. ... read more

Tonga I am still unable to include pictures: in the interim I will plublish some commentary and add the pictures once we return home. The original schedule was one day of sailing to Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. The captain informed us that a large storm was battering the Cook Islands and that we would be detouring away from that area and that our next port of call would be Vavau, Tonga. What he didn’t mention is that this is the typhoon season in the South Pacific. Well after 3!/2 days we finally arrived. The seas were definitely choppy and we found out that Mare has a stronger stomach than yours truly. At night I would try to imagine that we were being rocked to sleep. The only difference being ... read more

We arrived in Tonga, the Vava’u island group to blue skies and lush green islands. The topography was different to what we both expected but not disappointing. We docked next to the main wharf and watched the procession of local bureaucrats…quarantine, customs, immigration and health come on board for us to fill out their paper work and a chat. They where all very sweet as Si had sustained a burn (cup of hot coffee) on route and needed to get it checked by the doctor. The health guy drove us to the hospital, the bank and back to the hospital rather than us having to catch a taxi. The people of Neiafu are friendly & the village had good facilities for visiting yachts. We caught up with the Palmerston Island gang for a number of reunions. ... read more