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

June 15, 2000-Three Faces of Tonga

Neifau Town

We've stayed in Nuku'alofa, visited Ha'api, and now we are anchored in Va'va'u. These three areas of Tonga are each unique and each in their own way, enjoyable.

Tongatapu, The Sacred Island.

Nuka'alofa is the capitol of the Kingdom of Tonga and is on Tongatapu Island. It is the biggest town, yet hardly a city. It is flat, (not a hill to be seen), and spread out. You take a taxi to go anywhere in Nuka'alofa. We liked Nuka'alofa, its shops and services, the soft tropical air, and the easy going Tongan people. We took tours, went to Tongan feasts, and we got on email every day. This is also where we replaced our riging. Tongatapu and Nuka'alofa are good for provisioning and repairs, but they are not the prime cruising grounds of Tonga. For that you need to go north.

Ha'api, The islands in between.

After Tongatapu we sailed north, on the way to Vava'u, and had a few days at anchor in the Ha'api group. Here the islands are low and are isolated on a large Pacific Ocean, hardly within sight of each other. The anchorages are not sheltered and there are no real towns, just a few villages here and there. We saw no cars and there were no lights on after dark. The water is clear and the beaches pristine, but the Ha'api is pretty primitive-more so than any place we've been to, ever. We had WINGS anchored in crystal clear water at Uoleva Island, off a mile-long beach of white sand backed by coconut palms and other tropicals. The island stopped the SE trades and the point just to the south of us offered a little shelter from the SW winds as well and it was quiet there, no sign of mankind other than one tumbledown lean-to on the beach. We sat in the cockpit and enjoyed the peace. A couple of days later, at Ha'ano Island, we watched a georgeous sunset while anchored off another perfect white sand beach. The sky to the East was purple, brushed with scarlet, overhead a moon of shining guicksilver, and to the West...the sun was setting over Kao volcano, the one high island rising 1000 meters to lord over the rest of the Ha'api. That day we swam to the shore on Ha'ano and sat on the warm sand. Behind us, coconut palms waved gently. Between us and WINGS, riding serenely at anchor, there was a reef filled with tropical fish and colorful coral. In the distance across the bay we could see the church at the village of Ha'ano and panga's pulled up on the beach. Occasionally we heard the crowing of a rooster or saw a small ferry go by with Tongans who waved at us. It was very peaceful in the Ha'api group in Tonga.

Vava'u, Paradise Regained

It was a moonlit voyage that started at 11:00 PM (to time our arrival for daylight) that took us from Ha'api to Vava'u. We arrived there at noon. Vava'u was stunning. It is truly the most beautiful area we have seen in the Pacific. The land forms remind us of the San Juan Islands of Washington State, only there are palm trees instead of Douglas fir and there are way fewer houses. Mostly the islands look untouched. There are sheer rock walls topped by the impenetrable jungle foliage and in there are coves with beaches and there are coral reefs and tiny palm covered islands. The harbors are sheltered and the distances between them are short. The water is clean, clear, and filled with sea life. In the jungles ashore the tropical birds lend their exotic calls to the ambience. Vava'u is Tonga's cruising paradise. Here there are charter boats operating and many private cruising yachts, but it doesn't seem too crowded. The VHF radio however sounds like Mexico; constant social chatter.The main town in Vava'u is Neifau. It is a mix of old wood frame buildings with peeling paint and concrete block shacks, scattered along the hillside looking over a perfect and protected harbor filled with yachts of all sizes. Neifau is what you think of when you image a remote town in a third world cruising location. It is sleepy and primitive. The stores look like 1940's general markets and the goods available there fit right in with that time frame: canned goods and bags of rice. The bread comes from a bakery, not in plastic bread sacks with the ingredients and nutritional infomation on the side. The market has locally grown produce. Fuel is available when the tanker comes, otherwise, you wait. Along the waterfront there are a few bars catering to the yachties where you can buy margaritas,listen to Jimmy Buffet, and pretend that the world beyond the back door of the bar does not exist. It seems like you could stay here the rest of your life. Probably some do. There is a Friday night sailboat race in Neifau. We go out to the islands during the week and go to town on Friday for the race. This is fun.

We are glad we came to Tonga. It is the paradise we wanted it to be.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Neiafu

Tonga-The Friendly Isles

On the east coast of Nuka a'lofa is a place called "The Blowholes" where the power of tradewind driven waves comes up thorugh holes in the overlying coral shelf.
wingssail-Fredrick Roswold

May 27, 2000, Tonga, The Friendly Isles

Nuka a'lofa Mooring

Tonight we drink our wine to a quiet island night. Evita plays on the stereo, and believe it or not, the Three Stooges are on TV, silent, but we aren't watching. We have been on deck watching the sun go down and the Nikon camera is hanging from my neck: we love the light in the Tongan sky tonight, it is good for photos, and we have snapped a few shots as the sun slowly faded in the gentle sky.

The air in Tonga is so soft. It washes over us and we are glad to be back in the tropics. We spent a week adjusting to island time and doing preliminary work prior to ordering new rigging components. Now the new parts have arrived from New Zealand, we have a lot of work to do, but just being in the tropics is so relaxing. The pace in the town of Nuku'alofa is slow...sleepy even. The people here have friendly smiles and are so willing to help, but things move a little more slowly. We are actually enjoying it immensely. The boat work is beside the point. Maybe we will work at their pace and enjoy the island time for a while.

Nuka a'lofa Waterfront
Main Street
King's Palace
Church
King of Tonga

On Saturday night there are many distractions in Nuku'alofa, the capitol of the Kingdom of Tonga: We took a taxi ride to the Sea View restaurant but it was closed. On the way we passed a nice old house surrounded with barbed wire and soldiers. "The King's Palace," said the cab driver, from Palo Alto. He went to the States in '74, came back last year, liked it back in Tonga, decided to stay.

He took us to the Billfish Restaurant. A nice "middle of the road" place. A few Palangi (us), a Royal party (the princess's niece and her entourage), and quite a few Tongan party goers. We loved the place. Great seafood and then we went to the bar for after-dinner drinks and talked to locals while the Royals sang karaoke to old Righteous Brothers and Eagles tunes. Some could sing, not many. Some patrons of the bar that night were transvestites who have a special place in Polynesian culture, here just like in Tahiti. Nick, the Australian owner confided that while you could dress the transvestites in women's clothes, that didn't mean they could sing like women.

Aloe

Going Visiting

Town Square

Nuka a'lofa Market

On the next Friday night, in the Nukau'alofa grandstand, we leapt to our feet as we watched the Tongan rugby team dash toward the end zone to lead Fiji by 22 to 15. Penalty kicks and a missed field goal gave the game to Fiji; no surprise to the pessimistic Tongans, but we were disappointed. We wanted to see our home team, Tonga, win the game. Yes, at this time, Tonga is our home team. Maybe we are capricious or fickle, but while we make our home in Tonga, Tonga is our home, and we love it.

Rugby in Tonga

On the boat parts front, the Tongan shipping agents have been extremely helpful. Our parts were coming, and if we had to get the customs officer out of bed Saturday morning to clear them, they would do it. No problem. During waits I talked to them about world politics and economics. Many Tongans travel overseas, they are educated, and they bring back to Tonga the attitudes and views of USA, Britain, or Australia, shaped by the traditions and religious views prevalent in Tonga. We are impressed by the sophisticated Tongans, even if they prefer their island time to the Wall Street pace of the USA, at least it seems to be an educated choice.

In the next few days we will finish our work and set sail again. Our next destination is Vava'u, also in Tonga, but in the North. We will stop in the Hap'ai Group first then we expect to make it to Vava'u before the end of June. Maybe email will work there, if so we will send a note to you, If not...well you'll hear from us from somewhere.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Tonga