Friday 2 November 2018

Letter Home - Tonga - Part 2 of 5

Here is part 2 of Liz's recent letter home describing our time in Tonga.
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One of the big draws for us in coming to Tonga was the opportunity to hone our kite-surfing skills on uncrowded beaches.  I even wondered if I might find somewhere to take another lesson or two to improve both ability and confidence.  We found lots of good spots (especially thanks to our friends who cruised here several years ago on SV Estrellita  who set us up with recommended waypoints.)  



Early in the season, while we were still anchored at Uoleva in the Ha'apai, we dinghied the 2nm to Kitesurf Tonga at the north tip of the island.  The resort is dedicated to kitesurfing, and they were gracious about sharing their beach with visiting yachties; their sheltered playground stretches for miles in either direction behind the barrier reef.  The first day was a windy one, so we executed our high-wind configuration: Max used my kite and I watched!  I was actually grateful for this, as it gave me a chance to ease back into kiting. I spent a long time talking with the owner about being consistently over-powered by my kite; he was supportive and reassuring, even pointing out that my kite was of a shape that was more likely to load up: perhaps I need new equipment :)  I will stick with what I have for now, but it's nice to know that my issues haven't necessarily been 'all in my head'. Over the following days, we both shook off the early-season cobwebs, and Max even graduated to kiting along the big waves at the outer edge of the lagoon where the swell hit the reef.  This proved to be one of our favourite spots in the Ha'apai.
The sand spit between Uonukuhihifo and Uonukuhahaki

The gap between Uonukuhihifo and Uonukuhahaki (aka East and West Lobster Islands) south of Uoleva would have offered an ideal kiting location, if only the wind had cooperated with the forecast!  Somehow the wind didn't hear that the forecast was for picture-perfect SE winds, and instead blew from the NE, which made the anchorage uncomfortable and choppy (pretty miserable, in fact), and the kiting awkward. In the end, we took the whole family to the beach, so that even if the kiting was a no-go, the kids would have a fun afternoon ashore climbing trees for drinking coconuts, building a fire, using a machette, and jumping in the waves.  Even anchoring the dinghy proved challenging, to the point that I had Max's kite inflated and his lines run before the dingy was secure (usually Max pumps up both kites while I run lines, so it only seemed fair to take a turn).  It took Max and Johnathan two anchors and several attempts to keep the dinghy from dragging in the swell around the point.  As you can imagine, I didn't like the conditions, so I declined to kite; ironically, I still went home with an injury, as when we were loading the gear to go back, the swell rolled the dinghy towards my thigh as I was lifting a bag aboard, and it flexed my knee inwards.  I could walk, and nothing seemed torn, but I couldn't bear weight for several days, and it took a few weeks to return to normal.  It was humbling to be off my feet, and frustrating because I wasn't even fit enough to launch Max's kite or to stand watch in the dinghy, which meant no kiting for him either.  I was beyond grateful when my knee went back to normal with no lingering effects! 

On the bright side, Max and the kids found a message in a bottle on one of their non-kiting excursions ashore, but it was written in Tongan, so it took us a while to get it translated.  When I finally asked some ladies in the market in Vava'u write it out in English for me, it turned out to be from someone in NZ, whom we will call at some point.  On one of our early nights at this anchorage, we were given a glimpse of the reason for the name of the islands: some Tongan men from Pangai (the capital of Ha'apai) were camped out for a couple of nights of spear-fishing (yes, nights – they said that the fish were slower and sleepier at night, and therefore easier to catch, and no, there was nothing scary in the water that they were afraid of -- I wasn't convinced that this would be my cup of tea!) and they showed us their coolers of fish that they were taking back to the market. Resting gently on a collection of average-sized fish was the largest lobster I have ever seen! After a few minutes of conversation, during which we learned that they came semi-regularly to this island to spearfish, in true Tongan style, they offered to share their catch with us. There was no refusing their gesture, and so we found ourselves with three fish, which fed us dinner that night and lunch the following day.


The third place we kited in the Ha'apai was also the most social: we had a great time kiting at Matafonua Lodge, where we anchored on the recommendation of our friends on SY Tika. With two resorts within walking distance, both owned by Darren and Nina, a couple of delightful former underwater documentary filmmakers who were very welcoming of yachties (despite what our guidebook said about the previous owner of the more up-scale Sandy Beaches) and whose kids were similar ages to ours, it was easy to spend days that turned into weeks with them! We came in July on our way north to Vava'u, and we returned in August to swim with whales with their guides.    

Matafonua was especially recommended as a kiting/windsurfing location, but ironically there was no wind for the first week. We had to content ourselves with snorkelling and paddleboarding in their beautiful aquarium lagoon, which was certainly not a hardship!  There are up to six leopard sharks resident in the pass north of the resort (we saw two regularly), and a spectacular coral garden just off their beach.  The leopard sharks are nocturnal, so they seemed quite oblivious to us when we swam near where they were sleeping at the bottom of the pass (although they clearly keep their sixth sense active, and darted away when Max swam down to get a close-up photo).  Some of the most beautiful, and shallow, snorkelling that we have seen is in the bay near Matafonua, where a colourful variety of coral and tiny fish could be found in only a few feet of water. Max was the family member who saw the most big fish, as he connected with some staff and guests who enjoyed spear-fishing, and was able to go out a few times on the nearby reefs (we were popular because we had our own dinghy!), although being close to a populated area, the really big fish were few and far between. A number of years ago, a big storm swept the sand from their beach and unearthed petroglyphs that we enjoyed investigating (which may indicate an ancient link between Tonga and Hawaii: http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/docs/Volume118/Volume%20118%20No%203/2%20Triangular%20men.pdf).

Lepoard Shark

Leopard Shark
As I mentioned earlier, we didn't meet a lot of kid boats this year, as we always seemed to be a little out of sync with the general migration: our friends who were doing a loop from NZ through the islands and back again didn't stay in Tonga as long as we did, and the Pacific Puddle Jump fleet arrived in Tonga towards the end of our sojourn (and mostly stayed in Vava'u when we were back in the Ha'apai, and in Tonga when we went on to Fiji), but our kids really enjoyed hanging out with the kids at Matafonua. We had movie nights, shared dinners, fudge-making, and various escapades pretty much every day that we were there. One Sunday afternoon, they invited Victoria and Johnathan to join their family and some guests on a snorkelling trip.  We found out later that most of the guests were expert/professional underwater photographers, and one of them took what has turned out to be one of my favourite photographs of Johnathan, showing him blowing bubble rings as he was taught a couple of years ago in Fiji by our friend Dave's daughter Tessa (SV Rewa).  It was fun to have a sense of reconnection to that Fiji visit after all this time!  (It was also a good reminder that kids have long memories and they are always learning).

Bubble rings !

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Stay tuned for part three shortly ...

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