Category Archives: Information

Information we discovered during our travels.

Tonga Chores, Visitors and Jinxes

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Eric spent the entire day yesterday doing boat chores. He changed the pre-filter on the water maker and cleaned the sea strainer, and changed the generator impellor. He also did some good stuff like secure the toaster oven and dish drainer so they don’t go flying when we get hit by a side wave, re-running wires so we could move some of the computer gear to better locations, general reorganizing, and cleaning.

Yesterday was the last day of SCUBA class for Christi. She took her final exam and did three dives in other parts of the harbor. The other dive sites had more life than the site on Tuesday, but were still mostly dead. There were lots more of both starfish and a couple of sea anenomoies. Christi passed the class with flying colors. After three days of being in the sun with her mask on, she has stylish mask tan lines. Continue reading →

Exploring Neiafu

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When we got up we read a pamphlet on Vava’u that we had picked up in town. The first thing it said was to beware of salesmen that approach your boat when you first arrive. Too bad the customs guys don’t hand out the pamphlets. Clearly, Alofi hangs around the wharf waiting for new arrival boats so he can be the first to get a hold of them. His prices on everything are outrageously expensive. He pushes you hard to buy before you get a chance to price shop. Cruisers, if you are approached by Alofi, just say no.

Minutes after reading that, a guy in a small boat pulled up and Continue reading →

Fools Feast

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continued — While we were waiting for the immigration officer, an older man came by in a small boat with an outboard motor. His name is Alofi and he was selling jewelry. He invited us to a feast he was putting on this evening. We had read about Tongan Feasts and a cruising guide advised us to never turn one down. He promised lots of food and was very pushy about us attending. We were tired from the passage, and said we’d go before we found out the price, which was $30 each USD. It seemed high, but he was so pushy and promised so much that we didn’t bargain on price. He asked for some coke and invited himself inside. He told us he would meet us at the dinghy dock at 17:00. Continue reading →

Welcome to Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga

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18-39 S by 174-00 W The independent nation of Tonga is a Kingdom that consists of 171 islands over an area of 700,000 square kilometers. Tonga is one of the few places in the South Pacific that was never colonialized by Europe, so the locals tend to live a more traditional lifestyle than the islands infiltrated by the Europeans. Tonga is a monarchy, but they have a judicial and legislative process modeled after the west. While colonial powers were rejected, the missionaries were readily accepted. Tonga is a very Christian nation, with all the major sects represented. The local laws require all businesses to close on Sundays and modest dress. Wearing immodest clothing will get you a hefty fine. Continue reading →

Chimney Dive and Niue Departure

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On Sunday we had Keith from the yacht club and his wife, Sue, over for lunch. We had a nice visit with them. They brought us a batch of pineapple muffins, which we were excited about. Muffins make good passage food.

After lunch we went SCUBA diving with Eric and Gisela at a spot Keith told us about. When he first told us about it, we knew we couldn’t go. It is a more advanced dive to 100 feet, through a cave, and totally out of our league. However, Eric and Gisela are certified rescue divers, so when they arrived in port, we asked them to go with us. They also have a nice underwater diver camera. The dive is called “the chimney”. There is a sheer cliff that drops from 30 to 100 feet. Inside the cliff is a vertical cave, which opens up at the bottom. As you go in the cave, you look up a narrow opening 70 feet tall. From the surface, the opening looks like nothing more than a crack in the surface. The mouth of the cave isn’t visible from the surface, but just outside the mouth of the cave is an old jeep that was washed into the water during Heta. Continue reading →