Oct. 24th: signal fires and volcanoes

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19 44.09 S
175 06.22 W

At anchor

Comments: Some people head to glassy lagoons, white sand beaches and calm anchorages. In this case, we heard of a volcano that has a lake on it that is 'worth a stop' on the way South. No one we met had been here and we were given the wrong name of the island, but fear not, we decide we have figured out which could be this mysterious volcano island that no local seemed to recognize, and no one had been there. We find two. One volcano island is the perfect shape of that crayon volcano drawing you did as a child. The perfect triangle with deep ridges creasing it where lava flowed. The other has a flatter top, and we see steam and ash billowing out. This is the island. We also notice that one of our charts does not have one of the islands on it and the other is listed as being 85 feet tall. Wrong. But we continue on. The seas have built and the wind is strong, we are almost there, slicing Volpaia between these two volcanoes right before sunset, hoping to find enough shallow water to anchor in on the other side. We have heard people have done this.. someone. at some point.. probably this island. These islands look NOTHING like the rest of Tonga we have seen thus far with forests and cliffs, mountains rising thousands of feet and water even deeper we are sailing in. We feel like explorers, adventurers, alone sailors pushing open that door of discovery. Then we spot the signal fire.

We are not alone. It is still daylight when a fire erupts on the rocky shore. What have we here? We see a makeshift palm frond hut set back into a palm grove. 2 humans are waving on the shore. We decide they are either geologists warning us not to go near the Volcano or to give us information.. but wouldn't they have a radio or a boat? How about castaways that have been stranded on the island? Locals? But two? No boat? No radio? One appears to be wearing a bright yellow hat. odd. So without a small bit of effort, we do what we must do... go to the rescue, answer the call, if nothing else, discover.. something. And we drop the sails in the big seas and big wind (which we normally would do in the shadow of the island where it is calm). Brett and Colby leap into the dinghy and charge to shore... to find.. wait for it .. wait for it.

Two Tongan men saying "hello". Yes, "hello". No need for help, no urgent message. Just sayin' hi. One lives full time on the island.. he says he is a fisherman. maybe he fishes with a net? The other arrived today he says. ok. Thanks! They also say that we may have been looking for him. (no we weren't) but that he knew a trail to the top of the Volcano. But we cannot anchor anywhere near him, his hut and his trail head. He explains another German boat anchored there before. Well, yes, maybe in different weather conditions. He doesn't seem to understand that. Colby returns and we see the amazed look on his face. He says, "I have never experienced that. I feel like I just traveled a hundred years in one dinghy trip" The yellow hat was a woven palm leaf hat and their grounds was primitive at best. Talk about living on the land. This island is an outpost. They hunt and fish. They did not say what they hunt. We immediately have ideas. Probably Goat or pig.. but recently we were at a cruiser's (people who live on boats) bon fire and were told of two cruisers last week in Nuka Hiva, Marquesas who wanted to go on a pig or goat hunt and the guide who took them ended up killing and eating the man, assaulting the woman, who later escaped and alerted officials. The word in the cruiser world is that it is the first report of cannibalism since some event in 1989. According to news and officials, of course they say there was no cannibalism and that hasn't happened in a bajillion years and so on.. they did find the charred human remains by a fire, but are quite certain he wasn't consumed. The cruisers seem to believe otherwise. Needless to say, the man who offered to take us on a 'hunt' or guide us to the top of the volcano has no idea the first thought that flashes in our minds. We later come up with various theories, but of course, I am sure they are kind and lovely locals living on a very remote island and probably have no intention in eating us, though all agree that Peter would taste the best. Peter agrees.

We find a proper anchorage at sunset after Cyrus had a few sarcastic words on the signal fire and his thoughts on how they used it like a phone call. 😊 My thought: It is traditional communication.. and it worked, so kudos to them.

We are now sitting below the red and orange glow of the volcano. The light pulses like the Southern lights, turning the ash and steam into a late night sunset expanding and contrating over us... We are lying in the cockpit watching Mother Nature's Show. An hour ago, Mac is on deck by himself while we clean up dinner.. "WHALE!" he screams in a tone that sounded like "FIRE!". We could also hear the rush of air from the giants lungs. We couldn't stop laughing at Mac's reaction (it was right next to him and scared him to death). We listened to that magical sound of three large whales breathing in the dark next to us. We hear splashing and more breathing.. dolphins?? Or sea serpents.. could be either. Green flecks of light sparkle in the water, phosphorescence, glowing jelly's, flashing fishes.. the stars are bright and shivering above the volcano, they are watching the show from above.... It is awe inspiring.

We found a magic island.

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