July 7, 2000-More Tongan Adventures

Tongan Girl

Tonga is wonderful. The people are a delight, and the anchorage's are second to none, the water is clear, and diving is superb.

Nieafu Anchorage


We ended our Tongan stay at Nieafu Harbor. On Saturday night I sat out in the cockpit with soft music on the stereo and a rum and pineapple drink watching the lights of the harbor. It was my night for dishes, and Judy was sleeping on the couch, so I couldn't get too relaxed when the dishes were waiting, but I did enjoy myself.

The night before we had sailed in the Vava'u Friday night sailboat race, our second one there, and we won handily. In the previous race we were second but this time we smoked the whole fleet. Of course we had the advantage of using racing sails instead of the normal roller furling sails the cruisers use. Our crew of other cruisers and some folks we picked up at the bar were all terrific. Vava'u has the best Friday night racing anywhere; we love it.

Saturday we had a photo shoot arranged for the Tongan staff of one of the restaurants. The Tongans are Polynesians, with beautiful features. The owner agreed to have his entire staff there at 4:00 so we could photograph everybody, plus their brothers and husbands, babies and grandmothers, and we had a lot of fun with them. What we really wanted was a cross section of Tongans, and that is what we got. They were shy at the start but after a half hour of formal poses they finally loosened up and we got some good shots. We promised to send back prints, which we will do. Anyhow it was fun and we exposed a few roles of film and we'll see how they turn out.

Sunday night we were waiting at the town wharf for a bread delivery (which never showed) and we watched a couple of families of Tongans, still dressed in their church best, load themselves into small skiffs to head back to their villages. What a scene: In the last colors of sunset, with the women perfectly groomed and made up, dressed in colorful dresses, and the men in either suits and ties or sulu skirts with a shirt and tie, at least eight adults and four children carefully and slowly seated themselves into a 10 foot aluminum boat, leaving no more than two inches of freeboard. Their 4hp Yanmar had a broken starter so they took the cover off and started it with a knotted rope. How they managed to pull on that rope hard enough to start the motor without upsetting themselves impressed me, and then they sedately motored off into the twilight. Another family loaded into a slightly larger, but tippier, wooden boat with a small cabin, and they too motored off, this time with grandpa seated on the cabin top like member of the royal family.

Next we sailed to Fiji. On Monday the weather forecasts were for light or no winds, and that is what most of the boats experienced. Some motored all the way or delayed their departure waiting for wind. We took a look outside the harbor at Vava'u and saw a little breeze, so we set out. We took a longer route to the North, kept our breeze, and had a delightful sail of three days. We had perfect winds, flat seas, and we arrived in Savu Savu Fiji rested and happy on Thursday.

We really love Fiji but the political situation here is sad. It is hitting the poorest people the most, and we feel for them. There are lost jobs in government and in the sugar industry and other upsetting happenings. Recently the army and some of the rebels at the parliament building had a confrontation and shots were fired, putting four people in the hospital with gunshot wounds, and yesterday there were large crowds gathered outside some of the military bases, plus a power outage resulting from some landowners who turned off the flow of water to the hydroelectric dam. What this is all about is that the military, who have been keeping order, have stopped negotiating with the rebels still holding the previous government hostage and are proceeding with setting up a new government. A few Fijians around the country are making small disturbances to show support for the rebels while most people who really just want a sense of normalcy returned are simply worried. As we sat with a group of other cruisers eating pizza and drinking beer in the Savu Savu Yacht Club we noticed the Fijian kitchen staff crowded around a TV to watch the news from Suva. The impact on us foreigners is minimal, and if there was any, we'd just move on to the next country, but for the people that live here, it is a worrisome time.


Fred & Judy SV Wings, Savu Savu