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10/11/2006 12:00:00 PM
Tonga
Part 1 of Tonga Report

Tonga - Part 1 of 2

We left in the afternoon of September 23rd from Niue to Tonga and since they are the "unofficial" dateline since 2000 we lost a day which actually was our 12th wedding anniversary.

Hallo everybody,

After Robert's daily passage reports it's about time for me to write again... but before I go on babbling about Tonga I would like to add to pre-statements to his Palmerston and Niue report, also for us to remember later. Oh, and by the way we've got new pictures of the last Society Islands, Palmerston and Niue on the webpage, hopefully we'll be able to download the ones from Tonga in NZ.

1. The slogan in Palmerston was "A smile and a wave - we smile when the tourists come and we wave when they leave." That's exactly what happened and I am almost certain they will not remember many of us, but you've heard about that from Robert already. I just thought the sentence was very funny and made actual sense to me once we left.

2. One morning in Niue a mother humpback whale and his little day old calf were stationed right behind our boats and did not really make a move. Well it didn't take long a Robert was in the water swimming up to them only a boat length away. He did not dare go closer because you never know and those fins are quite huge... Ross from Kabuki joined him and the two had an amazing experience to get so close in open water to these gigantic creatures. The weather was rather cold and all my snorkel stuff was tucked away, but it was also wonderful to watch it from a bit more distance. Pictures of it are on the webpage.

Alright on to the actual report of Tonga with a short intro as usual:

The independent Kingdom of Tonga consists of 171 islands, less than one quarter of which is occupied. Soaring conical volcanoes, coral reefs beset with motus and uplifted islands are all within reach, most just a few hours' sail from another. The islands are split into four basic groups stretching just over 200 nautical miles: the Northern one Niuas, the middle ones Vava'u and Ha'apai and the most southern one Tongatapu with its capital Nuku'alofa. Tongans are very friendly people but at the same time proud and private. They are very religious and a conservative behavior and dress is a must, women always covering their shoulders and men hardly ever wearing shorts. Even for swimming they leave their clothes on! Traditional woven skirts called valas worn by men as Taovala's and kiekies by women are tied around the waist as a sign of respect for one's elders and the royal family. With the king passing away just a few weeks before our arrival everybody was to wear black with their vala skirts for at least 5 weeks. Sundays is the day for God and everything stands still, no working, fishing or even swimming. Patience is a virtue much respected by the leisurely Tongans. You better not be in a hurry and try to pressure a local, it'll just take twice as long. If you are patient you will be rewarded with great service and attitude. Tonga has one of the lowest death rates in the world - so they must be doing something right - slow down, relax and enjoy the peace!

We left in the afternoon of September 23rd from Niue to Tonga and since they are the "unofficial" dateline since 2000 (they wanted to be the first ones to celebrate the Millennium!) we lost a day which actually was our 12th wedding anniversary. We have to admit that we never do very well on passage and so we haven't missed much of a celebration. It took only 1 1/2 days to get there, but the ride was once more bumpy and very windy - just like the last few months... We arrived really early on Tuesday morning in Neiafu, the main town in the Vava'u group. Sebastian could hardly wait and was up at the crack of dawn, since we finally met up with our buddies on Ohana Kai again after 4 months! Bruce welcomed us in the dinghy and before we could even go to the official check in we were invited to breakfast by our friends Rob and Gem on Orinoco Flow (we hadn't seen them since Toau either) - what a service!

Neiafu is a small town with all the amenities a cruiser needs: Frisch vegetable and fruit market, several little grocery stores (not a whole lot of variety but everything one needs), yummy bakeries (one of them run by an Austrian named Joe, who's been living in Tonga for 13 years! He had delicious poppy seed rolls, 8 grain bread and brioche!), several restaurants and cafes. Two years ago a young cruising couple (Ben and Lisa) from Berkley opened their own internet café along with many other helpful services to make it even easier for the rest of us. They also rent out little sailing dinghies, carts for touring the island, and so on - well done!

Getting there was a big gathering of old and new cruising friends, it was amazing, we counted up to 70 boats just in Neiafu alone! Several mooring balls make it very convenient too, as long as there is one available. Tonga is a well liked cruising and sailing ground for its easy access to the close by islands without the big sea chop, perfect to rest up for the jump to New Zealand or on to Fiji and Australia. We met up with many of our cruising friends and therefore were busy almost every day. One only had to go for Happy Hour at the Vava'u Yacht Club "The Mermaid" and you weren't alone anymore... The boys were in 7th heaven since it had been a while to be with that many kid boats. The only hotel in town "Paradise" was kind enough to let non-hotel guests use their pool for a "whooping" donation of $1. Well, you can guess where we spent most of our afternoons... sometimes up to 20 kids! Luckily they had hardly any guests and the kids could roam around and play. One afternoon there was a birthday celebration and it was wonderful to see how this group of children all different ages got along well - they even sang "Happy Birthday" in German, English, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian and Cantonese - amazing!

We spent exactly a week in Neiafu to stock up and do a few errands before our friend Frank came to visit from Santa Cruz. You probably remember him joining us for our trip from Santa Cruz to San Diego and last year on to Cabo/Mexico. Well neither trip left enough time for relaxing, swimming, and sightseeing so we thought he might enjoy coming to see us again making up for it in beautiful Tonga and then joining us for the passage to New Zealand. Since we had not been out to the anchorages ourselves we immediately took off after his arrival, none of the anchorages are more than 2 hours apart from each other. We have to admit we did not sail a whole lot while we were there - first of all we are trying to conserve our sails for the passage to NZ, since they are starting to get very bad and rip a whole lot and we also carry a lot of stuff on the bow like snorkeling gear, windsurfing gear, etc. that we would have to pack up for "just" a few hours of sail, not worth it.

Here a overview of the anchorages and things we experienced in our first week, the rest will follow in the next report. For those who should ever come and charter a boat or come with their own, I will refer to the Mooring numbers out of their booklet - and maybe it'll come in handy for us one day again...

VAKAEITU # 16 / 3.-5. October

Together with our friends Katie, Chay and Jamie from "Esprit" we spent a few nights at this very protected bay. The sun finally came out and it didn't take long for Frank to take out his snorkel gear. We explored the beautiful reef called "Corral garden" with lots of live corral and many unique, colorful fish (some we knew and some were new). Sebastian unfortunately was a bit sick and could not come along, but in the afternoon we all played some boggia on the beach and joined a campfire with other cruisers.

BLUE LAGOON # 14 / 5.-6. October

On our approach to this new anchorage it seemed like somebody had turned on the switch for wind and pouring rain - the entrance is only a small and we weren't sure to go in but Bruce (Ohnana Kai was already in( assured us that it is no problem and we managed fine, specially since we were the only two boats in there. The anchor set really well and even though we weren't very happy about the rocking and rolling all night we got rewarded with a gorgeous next morning. Flat, calm, blue waters - like a postcard - a true blue lagoon (only Brooke Shields was missing...!) We did not want to spend another night being rolled around at high tide and after a nice picknick and walk on the beach/reef we all moved on a few miles.

OVALAU # 39 / 6.-7. October

Here we met up with "Sarabi", "Moorea" und "Capaz" for a night and a beach potluck with campfire, songs and all. The six boys had fun gathering woods, play in the high grass and climb trees. Unfortunately Robert and Frank both had caught a really bad cold and with the strong winds we soon bunkered down at Lawur again, for yet another rolly and uncomfortable night...

TAUNGA # 22 / 7.-8. October

Usually we do not like to move around from one anchorage to another every night but with such a big variety it is hard to choose... so we moved once more for a night together with "Ohana Kai". In the afternoon the boys played at the beach (another kid boat "Arctic Fox" came as well) while Robert and I took a long walk. Lisa, Bruce and Frank took an afternoons rest since everybody had caught the nasty cold now.

KENUTU # 30 / 8.-11. October

By far the most beautiful place in the Vava'u Group. Enclosed by a corral reef, a long, white sandy beach and steep cliffs with breaking waves - this is the most eastern anchorage and borders the Pacific Ocean. Originally we wanted to meet up with "Esprit" but could convince two other kids boats ("de Pelikaan" - a Dutch boat with Roxie 8 and River 10 and "Diva" with their 3 boys) join, as well as "Ohana Kai" who had planned to go back to Neiafu. Once again we were a big group with lots of kids, having a wonderful pasta potluck and bonfire, with floating burning rafts! In the afternoon we all walked to a cave with a sweet water pool - even though it was really cold and due to the dark muddy soil immediately more of a mud bath, the kids (total 10!) and some dads had a good time swimming and jumping off the cliffs. I was in heaven finding some beautiful shells on the long beach, one of the best ones on this trip! Hard to believe but I was running out of fresh produce and without eggs and milk I am "lost" - so after 3 days we pulled up anchor again and headed back to Neiafu - Robert also had to do some Internet work and that was only possible there.

Part 2 is already written and will follow in the next few days. So until then lots of greeting and hugs - at the moment on nightwatch at our passage to New Zealand.

Yours The 4 Schmids Niki, Robert, Sebastian and Benjamin

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