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| Kiteboarding at Matafonua |
As
you know, Victoria and Johnathan are always on the lookout for the
opportunity to camp. All they need is a few other kids and some
kind of shelter, and they are happy for days. In this case, the
Matafonua kids (aged 10, 11, and 13) were given permission to use
their family-sized tent, so there was no need to either unearth our
pair of little tents from under the V-Berth or to build palm-frond
shelters. All five big kids (and Benjamin during the day) spent
a lot of time playing and laughing (and sometimes even sleeping) in
that tent. We made sure they got fed, but otherwise we hardly
saw them at Fluenta. Given that in addition to hanging out in the
tent, or playing on the beach, they also had a trampoline and an an
extraordinary tree house play structure, it was not hard for them to
keep busy!
One of the lovely things about travelling with children is that every now and again we meet those really special people who have a unique capacity for connecting with them. Especially in an age when parents can be preoccupied and busy (and who isn't?!), meeting a grownup who makes time for a child is a powerful gift to the whole family. We met such a person in one of the guests at Matafonua. Even now, several months later, Benjamin still talks about his friend Tara, who taught him to count to five in Japanese (ichi, ni, san, shi, go), who let him teach her Minecraft, who played 'airplane' games with him on the huge beanbag chairs, who conversed with him as if he had something important to say, and who even encouraged his goofy 'photo face' when taking selfies together. As a mom watching this friendship blossom, I felt a real sense of gratitude that she would take time on her holiday to pay such joy-filled attention to a very little boy. Since she was a free-diving instructor who was interested in sailing or cruising one day, I really enjoyed getting to know her myself, too! Our paths may take a long time to cross again, but her gift of time and attention lives on in Benjamin, and motivates me to look for my own moments of connection with the children that we meet. From our hearts to yours, we thank you, Tara.
One of the lovely things about travelling with children is that every now and again we meet those really special people who have a unique capacity for connecting with them. Especially in an age when parents can be preoccupied and busy (and who isn't?!), meeting a grownup who makes time for a child is a powerful gift to the whole family. We met such a person in one of the guests at Matafonua. Even now, several months later, Benjamin still talks about his friend Tara, who taught him to count to five in Japanese (ichi, ni, san, shi, go), who let him teach her Minecraft, who played 'airplane' games with him on the huge beanbag chairs, who conversed with him as if he had something important to say, and who even encouraged his goofy 'photo face' when taking selfies together. As a mom watching this friendship blossom, I felt a real sense of gratitude that she would take time on her holiday to pay such joy-filled attention to a very little boy. Since she was a free-diving instructor who was interested in sailing or cruising one day, I really enjoyed getting to know her myself, too! Our paths may take a long time to cross again, but her gift of time and attention lives on in Benjamin, and motivates me to look for my own moments of connection with the children that we meet. From our hearts to yours, we thank you, Tara.
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| Benjamin's special friend, Tara. |
Max
went out for a long paddle on his SUP one morning when the wind was
absolutely still and the water like glass. While he was gone,
the boat made a big shudder, with the rig shaking, as if something
had bumped us. The kids and I wondered what it could have been,
but in the end we shrugged our shoulders at the mystery. As it
turned out, something *had* bumped us: an earthquake had occurred in
Fiji, and we had felt the shock onboard . It was funny to hear
some of the stories when we went ashore that evening - people walking
on the beach had not sensed it, but people sitting 20 ft away on the
patio had felt the earth shake. Max didn't feel a thing on the
paddleboard. Thankfully, there was no tsunami warning
afterwards; I would be just as happy if this was the strongest effect
we ever felt from an earthquake!
In
addition to underwater photography, Darren has a passion for
capturing the beauty of the area around Matafonua with his drones (an
extensive collection that goes back many years). He has some extraordinary footage of the humpbacks which
we loved seeing during the weekly BBQs, and even followed Max on his
kiteboard one lovely afternoon (video which Max has posted to
Facebook: the link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1dmYFQAKZQ). Thank you Darren!
On
our second visit, we arrived in time for the last week of the kiting
school, so I arranged a lesson, which filled in some of the gaps in
my technique/knowledge, and gave me the confidence I was looking
for. This particular afternoon was especially fun, because it
was the first wind we had had in days, and given that it was Sunday,
all the whale guides had the afternoon off, so the beach was full of
kiters (ok, there were maybe half a dozen ...). There is a
strong current near the point at some tides, so I felt quite proud of
myself when I was able to kite upwind (and away from the channel). I
had my best session ever on the kite at the end of that afternoon,
feeling like I was finally getting to the point that I could relax
and enjoy myself. Much of the kiting area is over the shallow
coral gardens, so it was always interesting to look down when I
paused to take my eyes off my kite :) Max spent most of his time at
Matafonua as a tiny speck at the outer reef, playing in the waves,
and practicing jumps in the areas where it was deep enough.
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| Dan teaching Johnathan how to kite. Fluenta and our friends on SV Om in the background |
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| Victoria kiting. |
Having watched the instructors with one of the Matafonua kids, we realized that we had a brief opportunity to arrange lessons for Victoria & Johnathan: we had wind, instructors, kid-sized equipment, and time, so both kids did three lessons with Dan and Leonie before they packed up the school for the season. It was delightful to see how quickly they learned with consistent lessons, the same instructor every day, and long stretch of flat sand under foot (no cockle shells in sight!!) At the end of the week, we even purchased the 4m kite they had been using, so they could continue their progress as we travel. We are now a four-kite, four-kiter family!
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| Victoria and Johnathan with their instructor Dan. |
Once
we both had our kiting gumption back, we felt brave enough to venture
off the beaten path. The forecast of a westerly was our cue to move
from Foa. We had an extraordinary few days anchored off
Nukupule Island, which we chose by looking at satellite imagery and
talking to Darren, rather than by following a guidebook or someone
else's waypoints . Nukupele was uninhabited and sheltered from the
north and west, surrounded by a lagoon created by an atoll-like reef,
and perfect for our purposes (kiting and whale watching). I
didn't exactly kite with whales, but Max and the kids were watching
whales breach behind me as I kited :) I stayed pretty close to the
island, but Max had a great time exploring with the kite the fringing
reef that surrounded it. It was pretty extraordinary to see
whales from the boat and then go kite and see them in the distance!
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| Kiting at Nukupele |
Soon
enough, it was time to move on from the Ha'apai to spend some time in
Vava'u. Choosing anchorages that were ideal for kiting helped us to
narrow the field from amongst dozens of choices :)
Our
favourite spot in Vava'u was Kenutu Island. Kenutu stands out
because it is at the far east of the Group, so on the windward side,
ocean swells break impressively against the steep cliff face and
crash through gaps at the edge of the anchorage, while in the lee,
the beautiful sandy beach offers plenty of room to play.
Nearby, a little disappearing island was pretty much the most perfect
kiting spot we have found yet, with smooth white sand on which to
prepare and launch, surrounded by waist deep water and a sandy bottom
with minimal coral. We could kite in any direction, regardless
of the wind, and with the fringing reef some distance away, there was
a beautiful stretch of flat water on which to play. Even I
liked it, and even before the kids were kiting themselves, we had a
lot of fun as a family, with one parent kiting, one guarding, and the
kids building and digging. Benjamin loved the fact that he
could run around the entire sand bar in about 30 seconds :)
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| The windward side of Kenutu |
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| Playing at the sandbar near Kenutu. |
I
loved the tiny scale of the Kenutu Island: the hike up to the lookout
at the top of the cliffs was only about 10 minutes! We had just
started our new Biology course during our first visit, so Victoria
and Johnathan (with generous help from Benjamin) each took a 2mx2m
section of the beach / tide pools to do a plot study. I suspect
there aren't too many Canadian children counting hermit crabs, sea
stars, urchins, sea slugs and funny snake things (I'm not sure what
they were called) in their backyards.
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| Fluenta at anchor off Kenutu. |
Mid-season,
we had a period of westerly winds in Vava'u so we were able to anchor
in a spot that would usually be untenable because it is exposed to
the trade winds. Gau offered a beautiful beach and sandbar, and
I enjoyed the yoga and the company of Beach Flea, but as it turned
out, I didn't really like the kiting conditions (and my knee was
still dodgy) so Max kited, and I kite-guarded (i.e. took photos from
the beach with the dinghy ready in case he set off for the open
ocean). This was one of the more crowded spots where he kited,
as there was one other kite on the water with a narrow channel and a
sandbar to maneuver across :)
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| Kiting in a westerly at Gau. |
When
we returned to kite at Kenutu for a few days before we headed to
Fiji, the whole family was able to kite. By this time, summer
was over, and Canadian school was back in session, and we actually
anchored about 2nm away, off Mandala Resort, for the internet we
needed to stay in touch with our teachers at SelfDesign. The
kids each had a lesson with Max, progressing to body dragging with
the board under their arm, and then after both grownups had had a
chance to kite near the little sandbar, Max was able to kite downwind
all the way back to Fluenta, while we followed him in the dinghy.
Max
had a little more of an adventure the next afternoon: the wind had
picked up beyond the mid-20's (i.e. high-wind configuration, where he
used my kite, Johnathan and I were ready with the dinghy, and
Victoria was on Fluenta with Benjamin) when my kite bladder blew a
hole and crashed just as the heavens opened. In the midst of a
squall, which limited the visibility to the point we could hardly see
Max 1/4 nm away, Johnathan and I headed out through the choppy seas
for the rescue. This is why we kite one at a time!
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| Rescue ! A still from the chest mounted Go pro as Liz and Johnathan come out to rescue me. |
All
in all, we loved having the opportunity to kite in Tonga, where we
could take advantage of trade-wind conditions, and hardly had to
share the beaches with anyone else :)
Stay tuned for part four to follow ...
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