On the 18th we left Neiafu to go to the southern anchorage again where we had been before. We picked up some friends there and with 8 people on board we sailed to the Mariner's cave, where 5 of us dove into. That was an awesome experience and certainly more fun than doing that alone. Coming back from our "Alita adventure tour" we anchored for the night same spot, convinced another boat to come with us the next day. So on the 19th, 4 of us sailed from that anchorage to Hunga, where we met 2 additional boats and spent just a wonderful time. Since there is only one shallow spot at the shore, where it's calmer, 4 of us anchored with the bow (Bug) out into the bay and stern to the shore (Heck zur Küste) with a landline out and tied us all together in a big bulk. The two smallest boats then came to the outer sides and did not even put anchor or landline out (at least not "Destarté", who was on our starboard side. Being all tied together of course it was party time.
It's nice when you can just walk over the boats and not having to Dinghy to the other boats. Amongst us, in the middle, was a good size Catamaran ("Summerset"), so we ended up meeting there (most space).
First night with snacks & potluck food (everybody brings a dish) and then homemade music from 4 of us. We had a blast. Jim from Summerset had an electronic drum kit, which gave us a good laugh when we found out that it had, amongst all the other drum sounds, animal sounds on it. We were playing and having fun like little children, laughing at the sounds of a dog, horse, chicken, ape, mouse…The musicians: our lead, Paul, with guitar and singing, Gavin with harmonicas and drums, Jerry with his Ukulele and me singing/harmonica and drums. The rest: talking an back-up choir ;-) The next night was movie night with fingerfood on Summerset again thanks to a huge seating area in the back, a super small beamer and a self-made cloth-screen. 13 adults were sitting there in a blue-water bay in Tonga watching a kid's movie, Madagascar 3. Too funny. If it weren't for the wind blowing the screen away once in a while I would have completely forgotten that we were on a boat in Tonga.
On the 21st, 2 boats (incl. the Catamaran) left back to town to check out. The remaining 4 boats tied up again, a 5th one came in and we had a potluck-BBQ party, this time on State-of-Mind, the then largest boat. It was just another fun evening with good food.
On the 22nd Monkey Fist and we headed down to the first anchorage in Ha'apai (Haano island), where we found the most beautiful snorkeling ever. Clear water and corals as far as you can see. You'll see sea mountains with corals, canyons and caves. Sometimes the huge surface of flat, mushroom like corals allowed a glance through the surface and you could see the sandy ground about 5m beneath that area. Just amazingly beautiful. I especially fell in love with blue, flat corals and corals which look like blossoms of little roses just about to open up. Unfortunately we had no sun shining and I only had a simple underwater camera, so it was hard to capture this unreal scene. You could spend hours snorkeling and still find new formations and fish. Up and down, back and forth, trough channels, into holes, snorkling a labyrinth. Very rarely you'd find sea anemonies with clown fish, my favourites bediesd Dolphins and Whales.
Next morning we went into the main town of Ha'apai (Pangai on the island of Lifuka) and checked in and next morning out again. Hard to call this a town. There is main street, 3 little shops, a small restaurant (run by a lady from South Africa), a school, a Kindergarten, many churches and an old, run down summer residence of the king. This residence looked to old that at first I did not recognize it as such. Typical for Tonga pigs run around everywhere, lots of babies. Lifuka has some nice beaches on the east side (we never got to see them though), but the most beautiful ones are said to be at the island just connected at the north of Lifuka, Foa. People are very nice here. That's why Cook called it the "Friendly islands". Although all the people on the boat, that William Mariner at the age of 15 arrived in, were killed. The Tongans used to kill every possible intruder. Mariner escaped and was not discovered until 4 years later by British sailors. There is lots of history here. The mutiny of the Bounty took place here in the Ha'apai group of islands.
I don't want to bore you more with our stories from here. We are just having an amazing time with our friends, snorkeling, diving, sundowners or potluck or dinner on our boats with friends every night. FUN! On the way to our current anchorage we stopped for a diving /snorkeling at a sea mountain which comes up to 5m beneath the surface. ON the way there with the dinghy Dolphins appeared and swam with the Dinghy (they love that). Sooo cute. I jumped into the water but they left immediately.
We're in Haafeva now and move further south tomorrow, slowly making our way towards Tongatapu group of islands depending on the weather and wind. We should be in Tongatapu by the 30th or latest 31st of October, we'll see what the wind does. We do not want to spend lots of time there as this is the least interesting place of all Tonga. We will pick up crew, stock up and prepare to use the next available weather window to go to New Zealand, our final destination for this year. Also I hope to be able to find a decent internet to upload some more pictures.
Summarizing my experience in the South Pacific this year, Tonga is my #1 of this trip in terms of swimming, snorkeling, anchoring with the boat and enjoying beautiful water nature. #1 island with onland beauty is Samoa followed by Easter Island and Tahiti.
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