Days 22 to 25 - Saturday thru Tuesday, September 16-19
After arriving in Tonga yesterday afternoon Friday, September 15, we found the Faua harbor to be something of a junk yard with numerous vessels disabled or half sinking. All docking facilities for cruising yachts were gone, due to last year's volcano eruption and resulting tsunami. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Hunga_Tonga%E2%80%93Hunga_Ha%CA%BBapai_eruption_and_tsunami
We attempted to tie alongside a 45 ft Ketch but failed when we were blown back into its side mounted solar panel, resulting in the captain becoming very “unimpressed” and ordering us to depart. We had no other place to dock in the harbor so we ended up anchoring in an off limits area outside of the harbor.
From there Xavier was able to take the dinghy back into the harbor and make amends with the captain of the Ketch and find Customs. Our challenge was that it was 1500 (3:00pm) Friday afternoon and Customs was scheduled to close at 1600 (4:00pm). Not only that, the weekend was a national holiday celebrating the eldest Prince’s birthday and customs would not open again until Tuesday the next week.
Xavier found Customs and they agreed to work overtime (for a fee of course ;) in order to process us through Basic Customs & Personal Immigration, allowing us to get off the boat over the weekend and explore Tonga. We did still need to be processed by BioSecurity and Health in order to be fully cleared but that could not happen until 0900 (9:00am) Tuesday. BTW - You have to check out the Tonga Customs “Processing Facility” in the “So You Know You’re in Tonga When…” blogpost.
That evening we stumbled upon a pure locals dockworker pub for dinner called Billfish. It was a blast seeing the Tonga working class in their element and bonding after a grueling day at work. Yes, that’s Mickey and Xavier sitting amongst the locals.
The morning of Saturday September 16 we woke up deciding that we could not stay anchored in the off limits area and succeeded in tying along side the Ketch we damaged the previous day. This was a result of Xavier’s diplomacy and mending any ill feelings from the earlier incident. We now had much more flexibility to visit the town and island without having to use the dinghy. In addition, at our dock the fishing boats had just come in and the Saturday open fish market was in full swing.
We explored the shops and began restocking provisions on the boat immediately. Of course during the day Xavier was just looking at his phone on the sidewalk and someone asked if she could help him find something.
After just 5 minutes Xavier was being driven around town, being shown the best places to purchase groceries, breads, meats and produce. In addition, the benevolent “Debra” offered to take all of us on a private tour of the island on Monday and to attend her yoga class at a nearby hotel that morning as well. Yes that is right, Debra is the only yoga instructor on the island.
After a day of restocking and boat repairs we retreated to a fantastic dinner at the Waterfront Inn & Restaurant.
The next day was Sunday September 17 and the entire island was shut down for church services. Nothing was open and nobody was on the streets. Debra suggested we attend the service at the Royal Church because it had the best music and she was right. The choir included a 21 piece brass ensemble, the main choir of about 75 singers and 150 young adults and teenagers, all filling up every middle section of the entire church.
The entire service was in Tongan and we didn’t understand a word but sat patiently waiting for the next choral performance. Here are a couple pieces:.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ADonGqQvOXYESfEXA06noB0-47ubF-WZ/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AJTsAPD90oS8OQ-ln2fk4bOqzGdmiTnz/view?usp=drivesdk
Additionally the Royal Prince, whose birthday the entire kingdom was celebrating, was in attendance and we were able to spot him and his security leave the church after the service.
After church we headed to the boat to cook and work on items needing attention. Not much else to do when everything is closed. In the early evening we invited our gracious neighbors and owners of the Ketch we were tied up along side, Wilfred and Jean Paul, over for some wine and snacks.
We had a fantastic visit as a very international group - two Belgians, one Frenchman and two Americans all conversing in four different languages, Dutch, French, Spanish and English.
Monday morning September 18 saw Xavier and Carol hustle out of the boat at 5:00am to attend Debra’s 5:30am yoga class at a nearby hotel. They returned and we all immediately left to have coffee by the palace and see if we could catch the parade we kept hearing about.
On the way near the palace we heard a marching band. They came into view in front of us with a full honor drill squadron and established position on the grounds of the palace. It soon became obvious that this was a raising of the flag ceremony in honor of the Prince, complete with a two cannon salute! We had found the parade.
The Friends Coffee shop was just two blocks away so we settled in to watch the band and drill squadron pass one more time. Because Monday was also a holiday nothing was open so back to the boat we went to do a little more work and wait for Debra’s arrival for lunch and a guided tour of the Island. Debra’s friend, Claire, joined us for the tour.
The first stop of our tour was lunch at a small cafe owned by a friend of Debra’s. We had fresh coconut water, salads and fish tacos. All was absolutely delicious.
During lunch we discussed options for the tour. Option 1 was to continue circumnavigating the island to see the various sites. Option 2 was a swim in the fresh water cave. Debra saw another couple whom she knows who had been to the caves. He said that it was crowded, so we opted for Option 1 and continued our tour around the island. We drove past the royal palace where the Prince, who was celebrating his 37th birthday, lives. We stopped at the landing site of Captain Cook. (Not much to see…)
Next we stopped at a beach known for the “fishing pigs”. The pigs on the island roam around free, even though they have owners. We aren’t sure how one knows which pig is there’s, but I guess the locals do. The pigs are known to “fish” for shellfish on the beach during low tide. It was quite the site. And there were litters of piglets in the woods nearby.
Our next stop was the burial site for the ancient rulers. The interesting fact about these sites is how the huge stones were moved and stacked to create the burial site. Also, where did the large stones come from? They do not appear to be native to the land.
Tongatapu has it’s own Stonehenge! The huge boulders are stacked in a monolith same formation, very similar to the stone formations at Stonehenge. Again, the mystery is how they moved the boulders, how they created the rock formation, where the boulders came from and why did they do it? There is another ancient burial site nearby, which might provide some answers. Another theory is that it has to do with the solstice (which does line up exactly with the rock formation.)
After covering the highlights on the east side of the island, we headed to west side, passing the 3-headed coconut tree. This is supposedly the only 3 headed coconut tree on the island and even in Polynesia. Most coconut trees go straight up into the sky on one limb. This anomaly has 3 different branches at the top. Debra said it was much more fun before they added the sign and cleared all the other trees from around it. Part of the mystique was looking for it.
We ended our tour on the west side of the island at the blowholes. We were fortunate that it was low tide, so they were at their boldest. Notice the background of the first photo how the blowholes go the entirety of the coastline, over 5 km.
We returned back to Kanoa for a nice slice of pie that Debra brought and enjoyed talking about our day.
Tuesday morning September 19 arrived, our last day in Nuku’alofa before we head north to visit other Tonga islands. But first we still had to complete our customs clearance processing and obtain a inner island travel document allowing us to visit other islands on our way to Vava’u, the northern most area of Tonga.
The “Processing Office” opened at 9am and after being given five different instructions on where we needed to go we eventually found the BioSecurity agent who got the ball rolling with all the processing we were needing. After 90 minutes we were official.
The rest of the day we shopped for more provisions and enjoyed a fantastic lunch at a small Korean cafe. As the day came to a close we again had an early mixer with our neighbors Wilfred and Jean Paul before Xavier and Carol went to attend another of Debra’s yoga classes. Then it was final preparations for a 6:00am departure to Nomuka in the Ha’apai Island Group.
We plan to be island hopping over the next five days on our way to Vava’u and may or may not have Internet. When we do we will try to provide another blog post. The best news is that all these island hops are day sails and no night sailing will be required. Sleeping through the night is a very good thing!
Note: We had hoped to get this blog posted before leaving Tongatapu for the next group of islands, but Internet didn’t cooperate. We’ll be posting again soon.
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