Blogs from Vava'u, Tonga, Oceania

Our next destination, Neiafu on the island of Vava’u was still within the Kingdom of Tonga. This island lies only 162 nautical miles north of Nuku’Alofa. To get there we crossed the second deepest section of the Pacific Ocean after the Mariana Trench. Known as The Tonga Trench, it averages a depth of 6,900 metres with the deepest part, the Horizon Deep, almost double the average at just over 10km to the seabed. The smaller Holland America ships are trying to steer away from traditional on-board entertainment and are now being marketed as an innovative approach to cruising for travellers who are looking for thoughtful and immersive ways to see the world. The ‘seeing’ bit was provided by the nine Zodiacs that the Maasdam carries. In selective areas, the Zodiacs are launched and, for a price ... read more

RealTonga had rescheduled our flight to Va'vau four times, so we set off for our noon departure with low expectations. It was immediately clear our fears were well founded. RealTonga’s only plane, was running late. Our flight was now scheduled to take off at six p.m. Probably. Over the next ten hours, we watched the plane arrive and leave four times, flying to and from various Tongan islands. Eventually, 7½ hours late, our turn came. In the dark, we flew to Vava'u, as far East as we will get on this trip. Vava'u is a small irregular island. The north has high cliffs and small sandy coves but the rest of the island is a maze, fingers of land winding between deep-water bays and lagoons. Beyond the main island, more than 50 smaller island are scattered. ... read more

Distance – 1505 nm in 12 days at an average of 5.2 knots. Longest day’s run was 151 nm, and the shortest run was 91 nm. Crew Adam Rollo and Anna Hankin I am now sitting in the Aquarium Café on the waterfront in Neiafu. The same place where I posted several of the earlier blogs (2010) during Hakura’s previous visit. I have mixed feelings, joy at having piloted Hakura and the crew across the ocean to Tonga, pleasure at being in the warmth of the tropics, sadness as the crew have gone off for a few days on another yacht and frustration as the motor on Hakura is broken again. Two days before arriving here we found water mixed into the engine oil. This meant we were unable to use the motor from then onwards. ... read more

For a group of islands in the South Pacific, Tonga is not as popular as Hawaii, nor as spectacular as Tahiti or Fiji. But if you want to experience authentic Polynesian culture, there is nothing like Tonga. It's a unique place that is not easy to get to or even find on a map. In 2004, I went to Tonga to swim with humpback whales. (I already posted about whale swimming, so I'll just focus on describing Tonga.) Tonga is a collection of more than 175 islands, most of them small. To get to Tonga from the U.S., I flew from San Francisco -->Hawaii-->Samoa-->to the main island on Tonga. Still, it took another flight and a boat ride to get to tiny Mounu island, where I stayed. Less than 5 people live on that island. Tonga ... read more

Tonga, Tonga, Tonga. Almost 3 weeks were spent in the Vava'u Group of Islands in the Kingdom of Tonga. We sailed with Go Beyond for the three day trip across from Niue without incident apart from having to go up the mast and play around with some rig fittings, and motored into the harbour about 8.00am to tie up near the Customs Wharf. The clearing in process was a bit time consuming but you learn just to be patient and be nice and ride the time out. We had customs officers, health officers, immigration officers and quarrantine officers all pay us a visit and take our fees before we were cleared out to go and get ready to explore somewhere we had all been busting to get to. Tonga did not dissappoint in any way shape ... read more