Snorkeling in Pt. Maurell

We awoke to gray skies, on again off again rain, and winds screaming at 10 27 knots. But, as promised, the water was relatively calm. It is probably rocky in some other anchorages, and rough in the ocean. Needless to say, it was a lazy day. We spent the majority of the day reading and playing “name that tune”. There are some hilarious quotes from the game, including “This is that girl band, Hansen!” and “I don’t recognize this song. Oh wait”¦ wasn’t this our first dance at our wedding?” The crew of Far Niente, Eric and Gisela, had arrived in the anchorage the day before, so in the evening we went over to their boat and hung out with them.

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Yesterday the sun came out. We were thrilled to see the sun after more than a week of gloomy days in a row. We went snorkeling in Point Maurell bay. The snorkeling wasn’t all that spectacular since a lot of the coral has died, but we still saw some cool stuff. There are a few pretty coral formations, and a lot of mauve coral that almost looks like antlers. There is a plant that tends to grow near the mauve coral that is light brown and fuzzy looking. Continue reading

Exploring Point Maurell and Banana Frenzy

Over the last few days we have made banana-papaya-yogurt smoothies and banana-peanut butter smoothies for breakfast with the early ripening bananas. Today all the bananas are finally fully ripe and it is time for the banana fest to begin. Christi and Adrienne made banana-pineapple pancakes for breakfast. They baked a batch of papaya-banana-pineapple muffins and a large pan of banana chocolate chip cookie bars.

Unfortunately, it is yet another day of gray skies, cool temperatures and strong winds. The only days we have had good weather were the day we arrived and the three days Christi was in SCUBA class. While we have been eager to visit the anchorages around the Vava’u island group, we haven’t wanted to leave the highly protected mooring in Neiafu harbor to go to a more exposed anchorage. We were told Point Maurell was one of the most protected anchorages and that we wouldn’t be blown around there, so we took a break from cooking and moved to Point Maurell for a change of scenery. Point Maurell is near Neiafu harbor, so it was a short ride and we didn’t get blown too badly in the 25 knot winds. Here are the views from the front and back of Kosmos. Don’t ask why Adrienne was hanging out in the dingy. Continue reading

A Real Tongan Feast

Yesterday, continued After showers and a short nap, we were off again for a Tongan feast. This time we booked a reputable feast through a booking agent and we were hoping this one was better than the last one at Alofi’s. We were told that feast quality varies from location to location as families put on these feasts. The one we went to is put in every Saturday night and we were told it was good. It was still raining, cold and gloomy.

We needed to stop at the ATM for cash before getting in the taxi to Ano Bay. In the few minutes that it took to go to the ATM, we were soaked all the way through. In the cab, we asked if the feast was indoors. The driver told us no. This was looking like it could be a wet night. Continue reading

Swimming with the Humpback Whales in Tonga

Today we woke up to gray skies. The weather forecast was for 11 foot seas at 8 second intervals and 25 knots of wind. We were supposed to go whale watching and we were wondering if it was such a good plan. We had been told that the whales head out of Vava’u when the weather is bad, returning when it is better. We also have been told the whales leave during the full moon.

Tonga and Niue both are visited every winter by humpback whales that come here to mate and bear their young. Both countries allow you to swim with the whales when you go with a licensed professional whale watch company. Both Niue and Tonga strictly prohibit boaters from chasing after the whales themselves. In Niue it is easy to control the boaters since there are so few visitors, but much harder here in Tonga. Since we haven’t had any luck seeing whales on our own, we decided to go out with the professionals. We would have done it in Niue, but they weren’t seeing any whales while we were there.

Our whale watch boat picked us up from Kosmos. We headed through the maze of islands towards the sea. Here we are leaving Neiafu harbor. You can see all the big commercial buildings along the waterfront in the background.

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Kart Tour of Vava’u Island

Today we went on a kart tour around the island. The karts look almost like dune buggies and are fun to drive.

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We drove for quite a ways along paved roads, getting a good look at some of the villages around the island. The towns we passed through consisted of a shop or two, a large church or two or three, several homes, some large, most small, most needing work. Most of the land along the road was cleared, with little wild vegetation. Continue reading