Aradonna's blog

What a day we had yesterday! We decided to go for a sail. The waters in the channels around the islands in Vava'u are protected from swell, so are fairly smooth even in the stiff breeze we had, around 25 knots. We were not far out of the harbour when we spotted whales(Humpback)ahead. For almost an hour we watched a mother and her calf playing together on the surface. Gently rolling, turning, shallow diving, breaching, blowing, tail flapping. Just beautiful. A group of snorkelers from one of the whale watch charters were in the water with the whales and this didn't seem to worry Mum or baby at all, they looked quite happy to have humans swimming around. We couldn't join them in the water as it is illegal to swim with whales from a private yacht, you need to be with a licensed operator. But it was fantastic to watch them. An hour later, towards the southern end of the channel we spotted two more whales. Heather managed to get some video of them blowing and diving with their sig nature tail flick before they disappeared. We got the sails up again for the third time that day and within half an hour we had a strike on the fishing line. In the stiff breeze we were getting along at around 7 knots and the fish decided to swim the other way! Karl grabbed the rod and Heather turned the boat around, then hauled in the sails again while Karl fought with the line. The fish just about stripped all the line off the reel before Karl could start getting some of it back in again. While Heather kept watch and steered away from land and rocks, Karl played the fish (or perhaps the fish played Karl?) for over half an hour. Slowly Karl got the fish closer to the boat. And then it jumped up out of the water. It was something very large! Eventually Karl managed to land it. It was a Sailfish, which looks just like a Marlin with a long bill nose and stripes, but also has a large fin on its back like a big sail. At 180cm long this was the biggest fish Karl (or Heather) has ever landed. (In May this year, on the way to Minerva, Karl caught a 96cm Mahi mahi and this had been his biggest catch until now.) Wow! What a thrill - and so unexpected because Sailfish are big game fish and are usually much further offshore. We decided to let him go again, so he lives to fight another day. We finished the day with a swim in the clear azure waters around Nuku Island before celebrating with a gin and tonic. Another magical day!

Did a tour through the coconut oil factory and vanilla production plant the other day. It will be an interesting place if their ambitious vision for the future actually comes together one day. Snorkeled into the famous "Mariners Cave", a little scary going in as the entrance is about 1m under water and you have to stay under for about 3 - 4 meters before coming up inside the cave where it is very very dark! Good fun and much easier going out again because the light coming in from outside shows you where you need to go! Yesterday we caught a tuna, so really enjoyed our fresh tuna steak dinner last night. Back to the market today for more fresh fruit. We love the local passionfruit - yellow in colour and a more intense flavour than our purple ones at home. The pineapples here are not acidic - they are the sweetest we have ever had. Living on fresh papaya, coconuts and the local "lady finger' bananas which have a sweeter, more intense flavour than any other bananas we have had. Life is good.

Last Monday we had a town day, catching up on emails, laundry, stocking up on fresh fruit and veges, making bread and getting the dive cylinders refilled. Then we set off to explore some of the outer islands - we had very light winds and calm conditions which is the only time it is possible to venture to some of these exposed islands and reefs. We managed a dive on the outer reef north of Faioa Island, nice dive but the current was very strong. A large Turkeyfish was lurking in the rocks. We cut the dive short because we were getting exhausted trying to swim against the current. Then we went for an easy dive at "Little Knob" which is a coral mound about 10m deep, surrounded by deep water of over 80m. Beautiful coral structures, some very delicate. A very large Spotted Eagleray was quite close to us before he swam away. Magnificent creature! A couple of hours south of the main island is the tiny island of Maninita. Surrounded by reefs which are not shown on the chart, this was a tricky area to navigate through, with many spots getting suddenly shallow! We finally found a spot to anchor and enjoyed this dive amongst coral ferns, sea fans, coral bushes and branches. We were thrilled to see a Clown Triggerfish, so colourful with orange and white and black spots. He did look like he was wearing a clown suit. Next stop was a snorkel south of Euakafa Island called "Blue Coral" because here you see an amazing array of bright blue, green blue, pale blue and brilliant purple coral along with the pink and green and grey structures. Beautiful. With no wind all day, the water was like glass. So pretty! One night we went to a traditional Tongan feast at Hinakauea Beach. Great group of boaties at the feast, loads of food, plus singing and traditional Tongan dancing. The performers looked like they were really enjoying themselves - good fun! On Saturday we went to Vaka'eitu Island. Only one family lives here. We met David and Hika on the beach - a very friendly Tongan couple. They have eleven children. Four go to primary school on the next island and three stay in Neiafu to attend High School, only coming home at the end of the school year. A very different way of life. We snorkeled the Coral Gardens - it was hard work getting over the reef to the outside across the pounding waves, but it was very pretty and much easier on the way back in! Also snorkeled the reef by Langito'o Island which was just as pretty. We have now identified 178 different kinds of fish in Tonga. Every time we get in the water we see some new variety. Incredible. Later we visited Matamaka village on the island of Nuapapu. Tidy village with grass pathways. Transport is by walking or by horse, there are no cars here. Horses are used to get the sacks of yams from the plantation to the wharf (then the harvest travels to the Neiafu market by boat). On Sunday we attended church in the village, only 20 adults and 16 children. It was impossible to tell who the kids b elonged to as they all floated from adult to adult during the service. Although the group was small the singing was incredibly loud! As we were leaving we were invited to attend a service from a neighbouring church. We joined in and afterwards were treated to a huge feast. Pigs on a spit, fish, octupus, taro, fruit, cakes, tapioca deserts and much more food then we could imagine. It had all been prepared by the local families and was piled up three or four dishes high on the tables. Later we snorkeled into Swallows Cave, a split in the cliff face opens up inside to a large limestone "cathedral". Quite stunning. Snorkeling beside Kapa Island was fantastic. Dramatic drop off with a rock wall plunging down to 50m. Excellent visibility and plenty of fish on the ledges. And that is how another week flew by!

Last week we spent a couple of days in Old Harbour and walked through Makave Village en route to Neiafu to go to the market and pick up supplies. Very friendly locals kept stopping to offer us a ride into town, but we were eager to do some walking, much to their amusement! Next we explored some more of the eastern barrier reef islands and reefs. By navigating through some unchartered territory we anchored near Faioa Island. Along the way Karl spotted a large sea turtle swimming by. At first we were not impressed with the snorkeling as it was mainly sand and sea grass and algae. Then we took the dinghy over the reef into the "Fork" reef north of Faioa. Wow! Incredible rock formations, abundant with pretty coral and teeming with fish. We will dive this spot next time the wind is right - this reef is very exposed to the prevailing SE winds so we need to wait for a westerly. Next we snorkeled the reef west of Lolo Island - this had a lot of broken coral but still heaps of colourf ul fish. To get some more land based exercise we hiked to the top of Euakafa Island. The trail became unclear and overgrown so we were pushing through tropical jungle and making our own trail half the time. Found some stunning large spiders on the way! Eventually found the ancient tombs at the top. A bit of a let down, just three slabs sticking out of the dirt!! Amazingly we found our way back through the jungle to the beach again somehow. At the NW tip of Euakafa Island there is a reef known as the "Nursery". We went for a dive there and were blown away by the hundreds of coral heads with thousands of teeny tiny fish swimming amongst the coral. It truly is a nursery for baby fish. On Sunday we went diving at "White Patch" which is on the western shore of the main island of Vava'u. Lovely coral garden and dramatic drop off out to deep blue ocean. Excellent visibility and full of colourful coral and fish. A Yellowfin Tuna was lurking around the reef - shame we couldn't grab h im for dinner! In the afternoon we went diving a bit further south, amongst some canyons and rock labyrinths. Great fun swimming through tunnels and caves. To top off the week we spotted a whale. Wow. We live in a wonderful world!