Blogs from Ha'apai, Tonga, Oceania

On Lifuka, in the Ha’apai island group, a chance encounter led to the semi-mothballed arts and craft centre being opened for us. An elderly Tongan lady showed us how to weave with strips of dried tree bark. Her birth-marked arm and crooked arthritic finger worked faster than we could comprehend, creating a patterned mat. It was getting late, and she had to be persuaded to let Mina finish the job another day. Which she did, with admirable patience and skill. Although Ha’apai is now a relative backwater in Tongan terms, it was the site of two notable pieces of British naval history. The mutiny on the Bounty took place in these Tongan waters, in 1789. Almost twenty years later, the privateer ship Port-au-Prince was ransacked, burnt and sunk, just in the bay by where we stayed. ... read more

Well, it's not the Cat Knapp... let me assure you that it was totally worth my while. I didn’t think that I was going to be able to dive again in Tonga but timing worked out perfectly for a small group to go out with Brian and Sabine’s dive shop, Fins -N- Flukes. Sabine is originally from Germany and Brian from Ireland, how the two of them ended up in Pangai is beyond me, but I met them earlier at Mariner’s Cafe. They have the cutest little puppy and great attitudes, just good people to hang around. Jay and Thomae had made friends with them early too, so it was easy enough to get additional divers (Me, Derrick, and James) together. Though a bit of a cloudy day, we left the ship early and met on ... read more

Okay, so this consists of going to Mariner’s Cafe and having Aussie beer (or American beer if we buy some from MWR) and getting Magda to make a pizza for us. Kyle, Brittany and I hang out with some of the ADVON (Advanced something, pretty much the advanced party). Here are some photos of everyone but me getting crazy. :) We hung out with some Australians from the HMAS WEWAK as well, a LCH... their oldest actually, that has a stag crew (that’s what they call it anyway, all guys). Funny thing happens, it’s a pretty good story if I can tell it right. I need to get a little background first. Right now, the BYRD consists of Ship’s Company MILDET, Civilian Mariners, PHIBRON 1 and all the personnel embarked to them. PHIBRON is somewhat ... read more

Don't worry, me either until this trip... Anchoring at Pangai, Tonga was a little bit of a nail biting experience. The water is incredibly clear and the reef system is very intricate. Making the evolution a little more difficult, there was a storm front that blew through the entire day with lots of fog and rain. As I stood watch on the bridge, Kyle looked at me and told me to come out on the bridge wing. He saw two whales breaching, but I didn’t see a thing! What a bummer... oh well, I’ll keep my eyes peeled around the ship. Apparently in Tonga from June to September is the humpback whale calving season, the archipelago’s only real tourist attraction. There are about 150 or so whales that come to these waters every year. I finally ... read more