More Feasting Farewell to Tonga

MAGGIE at Tapana Island

Dancing girls after our feast!

Hanatele (sp) showing us is botanical garden

We enjoyed the feast more than the pig!

More Feasting

Farewell to Tonga

July 16, 2015

We have been making our preparations to check out tomorrow, Fri, despite the fact that Friday leavings are considered unlucky in the sailing mythology. We have enjoyed the visit here and certainly have been well fed. Last Sat we did some more eye testing on Vaka'eitu, followed by a Tongan feast. Our 5 BPO boats were there as well as a charter boat anchored nearby. There is just one family living on the island but they have 11 children! The parents were good singers with a guitar and some of the girls did some dancing for us. The food was plentiful and delicious and included the usual roasted pig.

We had been in the anchorage near Tapana up to that morning and left again Sun am as we had made reservations for the Sun brunch at the Botanical Gardens. As well as the good food we enjoyed meeting some other cruisers and tourists. The 22 acres of gardens looked interesting enough that we booked a several hour tour for Tues along with Wendy and Dave on Elysium. I think the highlight was the guide, Hanatele (sp?). Before retiring he was the agriculture minister for the government. He had many interesting stories of visits with the king, the pope, and getting protective legislation instituted here. He even had meetings in Ottawa with the AGO. He had owned the first 8 acres since age 8 and had his father garden for him during his working years. It is the only place in the country where a variety of plants and trees are being cultivated and protected.

I mentioned that last week we visited an anchorage off Tapana island. There is a good Spanish restaurant on the island but was not open while we were there. The Ark Gallery features the art of owner, Sherri. She and her husband live on the floating houseboat. We finally took the bikes in the dinghy to shore. From there you could ride all the way to town. It was a bit of a challenge as many of the moving parts are well rusted. Also one of the pedals wouldn't stay on. But it was fun to cover more ground.

Last night, Wed, there was a fundraiser at Aquarium Restaurant to raise funds to buy the local police a VHF radio. Up until now if there is a marine emergency it has been the cruisers that use their radios for contact. They showed a short video of a large square rigger sailboat rounding Cape Horn in 1929. The filming was amazing considering when it was done. That,  plus a silent auction of donated boat parts,  raised the necessary funds. We parted with a few things like the dinghy pumps for our past 2 dinghies.

Depending on the weather, it will be about a 3 day trip to Fiji. We have spent some time here tracking down enough info and charts to travel through the country. After the first stop in Savusavu, it will still take 3 or 4 more days to reach the west coast. We need to leave about a week to get to Vanuatu after that. Dan arrives there Aug 6 so time to get moving.