Vavau, Kingdom of Tonga

Hi Hi My Friends,

Trying to recall what has transpired since the last time I wrote is always interesting, I usually realize it has been longer than I thought, time sees to fly by even though for the most part my life is simple and does not consist of doing much. There was a Halloween party the other night which caught my totally off guard, how can it be Halloween? Halloween is at the end of October in the fall, it is too hot to not still be August, and there is no way Christmas can ever happen here. I think I am missing the seasons a little, I can do nothing but persevere I suppose.

My intention on leaving Aitutaki was to visit Palmerston Atoll, not everything happens as planned when your mode of transportation depends entirely on the weather and sea state. Ideally when planning a passage you want to make landfall, (sight it,) early in the morning, then hopefully arrive around midday when the sun is overhead. The wind was very light the first day out of Aitutaki and I was not able to make up the lost time and arrived at dusk the next day. As I came around the south end of the island to the leeward side where the mooring buoys are I noticed some of the biggest reef break waves I have seen, this seemed strange because it meant the swell was not coming from the same direction as the wind. A sailboat cannot enter the reef at Palmerston as there is no pass through the reef. There is a small shelf just outside the reef shallow enough for the islanders to provide mooring buoys for visiting yachts. An islander saw my lights, called on the VHF and told me where the mooring buoys where, I told him I thought it was too dark and he said use a flashlight but be careful because the swell is really big right now. No thanks, not big in taking easily avoidable risks, I decided to head out and return in the morning. During the night while staying a safe distance away I ended up being blown further than planned west of the island and spent hours beating back in heavy winds in the morning, not fun. After finally arriving and very cautiously catching a mooring I thought, you have to be kidding me. The moorings where very close to the reef, right before where the swell would do its big dip before crashing into the reef. There are supposed to be three small boat passes into the reef where the islanders would come out and pick you up as it was not advisable to try this in your own dinghy. Looking along the reef I could not see anywhere where a boat could make it out. Perhaps I was being over cautious but I did not feel comfortable at all and after much deliberation decided on leaving Palmerston to my stern. Palmerston has some interesting history and is extremely remote and rarely visited, they choose not to have an airport, these where some of the reasons I really wanted to visit. It is a general rule that the more remote the island the friendlier the islanders are, I feel I missed some of this on my pacific crossing so far. Dave on Lightspeed said he felt that on their second crossing of the pacific they almost got it right on but it would probably take three to perfect it. It was the first time I thought about doing it again and decided it is probably a good idea.

Visiting Niue, a small country consisting of one island, was an option which would have broken up the trip to Tonga. I decided I could not afford the port fees and daily anchoring fees and headed straight to the Kingdom of Tonga, maybe next time. After many more days at sea than expected I arrived at Neiafu on the island of Vavau. The geography here is very different than the islands I have visited, there is no encircling reef and pass to negotiate, once in the islands the bays and inlets are a little reminiscent of BC. I have been here about a week and have stayed at the main harbour next to town, it is time to go visit some anchorages but I will tell you about a couple of my experiences so far as I think I will stay here for a few more weeks before heading to Fiji.

After checking in at the customs dock, I thought it was Sunday and would have to wait until the next day to check in but because I had crossed the date line somehow it was Monday, I headed to the anchorage and grabbed a mooring. I was happy to see Shackles and Magic from Aitutaki and a few other familiar boats. After settling in I went in to town for a much needed good meal and a few cold beers then headed back to the boat for even more needed sleep. The next day Joe came by and invited me to the Poolside Café for a drink. An excellent opportunity to gain some local knowledge. Joe’s girlfriend has been here for over a month already and Carl and Steve, a couple from Ottawa, who run the café obviously know what goes on here. After finding out as much as I could and having a few drinks, they had Canadian Club, the first Rye Whiskey I have seen in the south pacific and something I have really been missing, Carl and Steve asked if I wanted to go drink Kava. Drinking Kava has been on my list for a long time and I was grateful for the opportunity. We headed to the fire hall where some of the men drink Kava every night. At first I thought it was a little strange it was outside the fire hall then remembered my days volunteering. Drinking Kava is an ancient tradition and women are not allowed to participate except to serve. A couple men were playing guitars and everybody would sing along. In between each song a round of the drink was served in coconut shell. You are to drink the whole thing then shake out the shell so it can be passed to the next person. The drink is made from Kava root ground to a fine powder and mixed with water. It has the consistency, taste and odour of well used dishwater. After drinking it I found my tongue and lips got a little numb but other than that could not really tell any obvious narcotic effects, I did have a very good sleep that night. It was very cool that the Tongan men welcomed me to participate in their tradition and invited me back anytime, Tongans are easily the friendliest people I have met so far.

Another interesting tradition is the Fakka Ladies. They would seem at first to be the equivalent to drag queens but with a little more cultural significance. I have heard a few different things about the origins of Fakka Ladies and it seems they have been around as long as the Tongans. One story is that long ago the different islands where always at war and all men where warriors. In order to ensure the continuation of a family bloodline the youngest son would be raised as a girl in case all the other men were killed. Another story is that if there were not enough women to carry out all the work required of them a son would be raised as a girl. The tradition carries on today not for any reason that I can tell. Wednesday nights at Tonga Bob’s is Fakka Lady night and they put on a great dance show much to the crowd’s delight and earned a significant amount of money in tips from the tourists. After the show Tonga Bob’s is a fun night club and me and some cruisers I went with after having dinner on their boat stayed and had a great time hanging out and dancing. I met a pretty Tongan girl and after the club closed a bunch of us including some Fakka Ladies went back to my friend’s boat for some more beers and music. It did not take me long to realize this girl was a bit of a scammer and after she started calling me her boyfriend I decided it was time for me take my leave. Unfortunately this story does not end here. It seems my new friend was fairly resourceful and some other cruisers with a bit of a sense of humour decided it would be funny to drop her and a couple Fakka Ladies off on my boat a couple days later. I was still taking it easy from too much partying and I don’t think they had stopped. When in Rome. I decided to be a polite host and figured at best I would get some funny photos. I provided a bottle of Vodka and we hung out for an afternoon. For the first time my ipod spun Lady Gaga and well I basically had my own personal drag show on the confines of my little boat. For the most part it was good fun but at one point I had to jump into the water to protect my personal space. After the vodka ran out and politely declining the offers for me to buy another bottle I brought everybody back to shore and once again had to give my persistent friend the slip.

So far Tonga is probably my favourite place, there are many cruisers here waiting to go to New Zealand, many of which I have met along the way. I have met many more people from all over the world and there are quite a few options of things to do just in this one harbour, different places to eat and shop. They have a farmers market every day that is definitely the least expensive shopping I have seen so far. I can get a bag of around nine mangos for $1.50 and if souvenirs where in my budget or I had space for them the hand woven baskets, jewellery, etc. are absolutely beautiful and inexpensive. There are many different anchorages and caves close by which I have heard great things about. I am looking forward to exploring more and sharing my experiences and photos with you.

Happy Halloween!

Jonathan