Home and Back and Plans Change

Our next two days out at anchor provide us with two very, very interesting dives. We decided to dive on the bump in the water that we almost ran into on our way to this anchorage days before. Being only 13 feet deep at the shallowest point, it was easy to secure the whaler as we could target the rock we wanted the anchor to hook on by sight from above. A truly amazing world unfolded before us on this little world of it's own. The fish and coral life was so astonishing that we dove the same location the next day and still came up thrilled with what we had found.

In this anchorage there is a small floating art shop and a small Spanish restaurant. We visited the art shop and came away with a cute little painting, lots of local knowledge and the promise of a banana and coconut delivery for the next day. We were getting tired of my cooking and I guess Glen's cooking too as he is the BBQ king so decided that dinner out at La Paella was in order. So we made our reservation by calling on VHF channel 11 and at the appointed time pulled up at the beach with the whaler, took a few minutes to tie it to a tree forward and stern anchor the rear, then headed up the hill for a flavorful and interesting evening. The Spanish family that owns and runs the restaurant have lived in Tonga for 30 years. They have a quaint little restaurant, rustic and charming that overlooks the bay for added ambiance. They keep life simple by offering a set menu which consists of a series of tasty little morsels served tapa style one after the other followed by a flavorful Paella and a locally inspired desert. You can buy wine or beer there or bring your own. The food was both good and satisfying, Mrs. is the cook. The proprietors are diverse and talented, when it came time for the entertainment (live music is featured nightly) Mr. came on stage, flamboyantly dressed with guitar in hand and serenaded us with a spicy collection of Spanish/Cuban/Latin music with a few old rock songs thrown in for measure (he definitely appeared like he had once been part of the "scene"). To our pleasant surprise, when harmony and added percussion were needed for the music, Mrs. and her cook's helper (a local man) came on stage and added their gifts to the mix. We had to leave early as a big rain storm was threatening and since we didn't have our "wet suits" on we decided to go. This meant that we were going to miss the second set of entertainment which was to feature their dancing nanny goat, but the young fellow serving us didn't think the goat would be performing well as she was hiding because of the impending rain. She did make a hasty appearance, trotting through the restaurant, giving us all a "wild eye" and promptly high tailing it again. What a great evening and we did make it back before the waters broke loose from the heavens yet again.

Next it was back to Neiafu harbor. I was scheduled to fly home for seven days (which I did) and Glen had a long list of little items to fix up (which he did) as well as wait for the diesel mechanic to come in from San Diego. Woo Hoo, we will finally be rid of the smoking and soot problems (we sincerely hope anyway). Upon my return, Glen is almost local now. As we walk down the street to the market all kinds of people call out to him and wave, he has stories and more stories to tell of all the things he has involved himself in. It sounds like he had a lot of fun. The parts for the boat did not arrive with the mechanic, Jeff, so the two of them have done the prep work on the boat and Glen has been showing Jeff around.

Here is the change of plans. The parts for the boat have been located in Nuku'alofa on Tongatapu (main city and capital of Tonga) so instead of risking further delay and loss, we have decided to head to Nuku'alofa, a 20 hour run, and pick them up personally. So with Jeff on board we head out. This decision means that we will totally bypass the Ha'apai group of islands in Tonga, which is sad as some very good diving is reported to be there and we really don't want to miss anything. But along with the parts thing, there is some stronger weather coming in and Ha'apai Group doesn't offer much secure/protected anchorage so it is for the best that we bypass this beautiful little piece of the South Pacific. So we'll compensate by exploring Tongatapu Group more extensively. Right now, I am watching a beautiful dawn transform the horizon from night to day.

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Beer on the Beach

Our jaunt to the beach for Happy Hour was a sweet change of pace. Once we figured out how to tie the whaler off so it didn't bash up onto the beach and become high and dry as it was a receding tide, all was calm and peaceful. To our pleasant surprise, the beach turned out to be two sided, beach on the side that we tied up and a very short walk (100 steps) up and over a bump and we were on a beach on the other side of the island. So we had a walk on the sunny side and then a quite beer on the shady side. A small herd of goats joined us in our relaxing.

We moved to a new anchorage off of the beaten track of the Moorings Fleet that plies these waters (charter boats) and were rewarded with a very serene and beautiful setting. The Vava'u Group here in Tonga is a collection of small islands joined by reefs and narrow waterways resulting in nearly 100 cozy anchorages. The landscape is high rocky cliffs next to white sandy beaches, a perfect play ground. The weather was calm and sunny and the water below us reflected the sandy bottom for a swimming pool effect. Only us in the whole bay. We snorkeled the nearby reef and spotted quite a few new fishes and coral species that we haven't encountered before. As divers, our greatest thrill is finding the rare, the unexpected and the new. I am convinced that this is the perfect location to find the elusive "frog fish", it looks like a yellow/orange sponge, so this is my mission while underwater.

We've moved again to another lovely spot. This one is a bit more boat populated. We have our most calm and perfect conditions to date. The water is truly "glass" calm, you can see the star fish on the sandy bottom as clear as day, the sun is shining and there is a "breath" of moving air. When it is like this, you can't imagine being anywhere else and because it is so fleeting, you absorb as much of it as you can. The clouds rolled in for the afternoon while we were out trying to find a suitable dive spot, getting lost in the labyrinth of surface crashing reefs, and the skys opened up and water poured forth. Good thing we had our wet suits on as we certainly got wet. Navigating in these parts, even in a small boat, is best done in high light conditions so that you can see the color variations of the water and therefore the depths. With the dark sky and rough water conditions, we definitely could not tell where the shallow spots were (don't want to run aground), we headed back to the big boat. Today it is still overcast, but we aren't complaining, it is still warm and wonderful. We'll use lat/long coordinates to get to our chosen dive site for today.

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Vava'u, Tonga

The last part of our crossing from Niuatoputapu to Vava'u was some of the smoothest water we have seen since our Mexico/Nuka Hiva trip. As close as you can come to "glass" in this huge undulating body of water, and three to four knots of wind. So we arrived rather fresh and made our way into Neiafu harbor. Not surprisingly, the charts for this area are NOT accurate (go figure, they were charted in the 1800's) so it is good we had good light to enter the narrow, dog leg passage. If we were to go by charts, we drove well over the land all the way in. The big bay was calm and smooth and packed with boats of all kinds. We anchored by Ammonite, dropped the whaler and made ready to go do our customs clearing process. First, find a dingy dock that is kind enough to let us tie up and walk through the small, but busy town to the customs dock. Customs is closed until 1:30 O.K. so we go have lunch and chat with a few lost buddies and go back to customs again. After two different stops and two different desks in one place, we are done. There is nothing hard about this, it just takes the better part of the day to do and the tedious part is that you have to check in and check out of each of these islands.

There are many small restaurants and pubs along the water front, all seem to be owned by different nationalities, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Italy and the U.S. It is however refreshing to be able to go out and mix with all of the other boaters. So this town is not culturally interesting or scenic, but very social. There are a couple of grocery stores, but don't expect to buy much more than canned stuff. The local market is not large, but has a very nice selection of good seasonal fruits and vegetables.

After a couple of days of eating and drinking too much, we head out to see what this group of islands is all about. They are a pretty collection, with little sandy beaches dotting all around and many reef systems that create protection from the elements, but are very tricky to navigate. There are also a million boats here, probably because of all the above. A million sailboats and from what we have counted, three power boats. We are a definite minority and that is one of the things that makes this adventure so special, because we CAN do it!. So we find ourselves a cozy anchorage to call base and set about finding some good diving. Wow!! The diving is actually fantastic! Not a lot of fish, but the coral gardens are amazing. Healthy, large, abundant and on and on. A virtual kaleidoscope of color greets your eyes. There is so much to look at, you don't know where to look first. So the next week is going to be spent underwater, filling our senses with color. We heard the whales on two of our dives, but no sightings yet, I think we are getting close to the end of whale season now.

We have found a tiny, private, sandy beach bordered by turquoise water where we are going to have Happy Hour tonight. We are looking forward to sand in our toes.

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