King's 70th birthday

Here are the first pix of this interesting happening taking place just in front of the king's house. No real security needed, I stood really close to where he sat. There ar delegations from surrounding states here (NZ, Australia, New Caledonia/France, Vanuatu...) and we heard the german hymn in church which sounded amazing! I'll write more about this happening.

Good night Neiafu

Neiafu

The sail up to Vava'u from Ha'apais was nice, quick and eventless except for me getting fever that got worse and worse over the day. By night I was only shivering and felt really bad. Since customs are closed on Sunday we sailed into Port Morelle instead of Neiafu to meet with our friends from Kupere and to relax. Our friends were so kind to greet us and treat us with dinner since they knew I was not feeling well. We all went to bed early. Then yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day except that I was trying to recover from my fever and bring it down (which I managed within 24hrs thanks to Homeopathic globoli and my all time favorite Propolis extract) while Marcus also started on fever. So we M&Ms stayed on board while Alex went for a 2 hr walk through bushes and villages with Sean from Kupere. After that he took the kajak and went to the beach to hang out and swim. He really enjoyed that calm bay. It was a gorgeous day. Just as I thought I am getting over my fever and we went for a short sundowner my stomach started aching. I got distracted shortly when a whale came into the bay and breached in front of us, maybe 200m away. We were in front row with our boats. But everybody on all the boats at anchor started screaming from excitement when we saw the jumping, splashing and breathing. So amazingly beautiful especially in the sunset.
We went quickly back on board because M&M did not feel well, I cooked but hardly ate and went to bed at 8. that night was not really comfortable- I ended up with diarrhea and vomiting. Lovely. In the morning I was week but fine. Still have diarrhea (not constantly though) and not at 100% my strength but hanging in there.
This morning we drove over to Neiafu, the capitol of Vava'u. It is nice to be at anchor and hear the birds sing and chickens scream. It was a beautiful day today with a peaceful beautiful sunset which is just taking place. If it weren't for that one palm tree on top of the hill I could think I am on a boat on Starnberger See.
We checked in with customs here, bought veggies and fruit (yes I dragged myself to the market) and then later sat in the waterfront cafe to do some internet, eat a Pizza (it was the only thing I could think of eating) and chatted with the new owners of a boat (Duende) we had known for a long time. The previous owners are friends of ours and we sailed through the pacific together in 2013. The new owner, Steve, and his dad are super nice people as well. Kiwis.
Tomorrow is a big day here. They are celebrating the kings birthday. He will be here, there is a big military parade going on tomorrow. All of Tonga's navy ships (i.e. All 3 of them) are here as well as a french navy ship.
Then I think on the next day there is a regatta here where the king will hand over the prizes at the price giving ceremony dinner in the evening. On Saturday there is an agricultural show running through the streets, so I will get some interesting photo opportunities I guess. Something we don't see everyday. In between we'll be heading over to the islands in the east of Vava'u. It won't be boring here....
In the first picture you can see the place they are decorating for the king's reception...
The rest of the pix are just some snapshots of Neiafu- small craft marina, market, room with a view, my favourite church, teenagers jumping from a pier, Neiafu harbour and the marvellous sunset.
More after the parade tomorrow. Hope we're well enough...