VAVA'U, TONGA

After our last landfall, the Vava’u archipelago has been a “Land of Plenty." Reminiscent of the Maine coast, the San Juan Islands, and a little of the Caribbean thrown in too-- this really is a cruiser paradise. Vava’u is filled with sandy beaches, extensive coral reefs, caves, and fascinating wildlife. Flying foxes (actually huge fruit bats), poisonous sea snakes, purple sea stars and lots of small fish abound in this area. Several dozen beautiful anchorages tempted us. We ended up visiting a few, including what is probably the most beautiful anchorage we have seen to date, the “Blue Lagoon”.

One afternoon, as we were dingying back to s/v Grace, we saw what seemed to be an eruption of flying fish – quite a common sight. However, before we knew it, we were totally doused with very black and indelible ink from some clearly disturbed squid. This is quite unusual, and while our clothes had to be tossed as the stains simply would not come out, we laughed a lot. Ah, the adventures we have with the ocean as our back yard!

Southern Humpback whales come to Vava’u to mate and to calve during this season. We have been lucky to see many whales, breaching, blowing, and swimming alongside s/v Grace as we meandered around the various anchorages. They really are splendid animals.

In Neiafu, the main town, there is a large central market with quite a bounty of produce. There is also a large expatriate community. These entrepreneurial folk have made nice lives for themselves, and certainly work hard to make live-aboard cruising feel like a vacation, at least for a while. There is an active cruisers’ net on VHF radio every morning with extensive weather information, local events, and many opportunities to buy, sell, trade or get help.

Funnel Effect:

Partially because of geography, and partially because of the warm welcome by both Tongans and expatriots, Neiafu is like a funnel for cruisers. Some, like us, arrive via the Northern route through Suwarrow, the Samoas and Nuietoputapu. Others opt to sail via the Southern Cook Islands, touching on Aitutaki, Palmerston, Rarotonga or Niue. Many of boats from both groups converge in Vava’u. Here, we have met with cruisers that we have not seen since Mexico or since first landfall in French Polynesia. Since we are so far from our family, this has been like “home” week for us.

We even participated in the weekly Friday night sailboat race in the harbor. With 3 friends as crew, we sailed GRACE pretty well, and surprised everyone with a very respectable 4th place out of 12. GRACE is an old boat, but she’s reasonably fast under the right conditions. We were proud of GRACE and of our great crew of Diane, Chuck and Horst.
(racing photo courtesy of s/v Airwego)

Tonga in Conclusion:

In retrospect, both of the places we visited in Tonga are probably a-typical of the South Pacific of today. Niuetoputapu was a throwback of a century or more and gave us a sense of how people lived under pacific island feudalism. Vava’u, is a sort of Disneyland for foreign cruisers, with many of the waterfront businesses run by expats. In the end, we suppose we would have to say that the former was very interesting (sometimes a bit depressing), the latter lots of fun (but artificial). A real study in contrasts.

Niuetoputapu, Tonga:

Imagine a volcano, not yet erupted, plonk in the middle of the ocean; a perfect cone. Geoff’s very accurate description was that it was shaped like a giant Hershey’s Kiss. Well, that was the first sight to meet Sally’s eyes on early morning watch after leaving Apia about 24 hours earlier (and two days ago as we ‘lost’ a day having crossed the date-line). About 4 miles away from the volcano is a smaller island that looks remarkably like the drawing that the “Little Prince” (Antoine de Saint Exupery) made of a boa constrictor eating a hat.

This latter island, with a population of around 1000, is Niuetoputapu. It is in some ways the most remote and primitive inhabited island we have yet visited. As luck would have it, we arrived in the harbor whist the newly crowned King of Tonga was visiting this island outpost, so we were stuck on the boat as we could not clear into the country whilst all the officials were partying with the King. As soon as the king left, the four officials who had to clear us into Tonga, and came aboard s/v Grace. After consuming a gallon of cold Tang fruit drink, and probably a pound of cookies, they stamped our passports, and didn’t bother with any kind of inspection.

The King

King Siaosi (George) Tupou V is quite a character. He has spent most of his life living in London as a bon vivant and only recently returned to Tonga to take-up his duties as king. One can just imagine the phone conversation preceding the King’s return to Tonga: “So prince, you know that allowance we’ve been sending you all these years – well, its payback time…”. In all seriousness, however, the king really does appear to have started-out as a mixed blessing for his people. He is visiting all of the islands in his kingdom and, upon his arrival at each; the typically poor locals seem to be required to slaughter much of their livestock to supply a great feast celebrating the king’s coronation. This leaves everyone even poorer than before. We understand that the king speaks with none of the locals, neither individually nor as a group, during his visits, and spends a fair amount of time indulging his passion for drinking wine. (The king has gout, surprise, surprise). Although we did not experience any problems, many other cruisers commented on the corruption of the officials who visited their boats to clear them into Tonga (mainly in Neiafu). (Photo of king's meal from Sylvie s/v 2nd Wind)

Local Economy

The three villages on the island are apparently owned by three “nobles”. This would leave everyone else as tenants of some sort. The entire arrangement is very medieval. Niuetoputapu is such a primitive place that it has primarily a barter economy, with hand-to-mouth existence for most. The residents practice subsistence farming and fishing for the most part. Export of pandanus weavings and kava are among the very few sources of hard currency. There is a monthly supply ship (sometimes bi-monthly) that arrives to supply the few small “stores” that individual families have set-up on their family compounds. The Tonga Development Bank makes micro loans to individuals in an effort to expand family fishing and handcraft (weaving) activities. We suspect that life in Niuetoputapu is little different now that it was a century or two ago. Our visit is a rare opportunity for us to understand what life in Old Polynesia was really like.

Church

We were met at the wharf early Sunday morning by “Ma’a’ma”, a young, enthusiastic woman who is the head of the primary school. With cropped hair, black blouse and full enclosure in raffia matting, she was dressed as many Tongan seem to be-- in formal clothing for mourning. The custom here is for women to crop their hair, and both men and women to wear mourning clothes, for a full year following the death of a family member or close friend. As you would imagine, there are lots of people sporting black and what sometimes looks like burlap sacks, but is actually woven mat that has probably been passed down for generations – holes and all just make them more cherished.

The Church service was in a simple church, surrounded by the local farms. So, sitting in a back pew, we could see the pigs, horses, chickens and dogs foraging outside. Shoes off when entering a church here. While we waited for the minister, the lead singer in the congregation suddenly burst out in song and was met with voices from all of the other 50 parishioners. Harmony and special parts seemed to come naturally and without effort from all there. The music is just mesmerizing, and all a-capella. Good thing we didn’t understand a word of the sermon, as the minister broke out into what sounded like fire-and-brimstone – positively yelling at the congregation. Old ladies, attired as our young hostess was, leaned against the walls during the songs to keep their balance, and gave us vigorous handshakes and toothless smiles upon our departure.

Kids/Families

After church we were invited by a family to participate in their traditional Tongan Sunday lunch. We ate local produce cooked in an umu (underground oven). Fish wrapped in taro leaves, taro soaked in coconut milk and wrapped with leaves, roasted breadfruit, oysters, and papaya. All the food was freshly caught or harvested, and very tasty; mostly, there is no refrigeration, and those who do have it don’t really count on it. The food was simple and the atmosphere convivial.

Families live in traditional compounds: the married couple has their own little hut, where they sleep with their small children. There is a separate hut for the “kitchen”, another for the ‘garage’, one for the daughters and unmarried sisters, and another for the men. It is not acceptable for sisters and brothers to sleep under the same roof here.

Every time we brought our dinghy to shore we were met by hoards of children smiling widely and asking “Where’s my lolly [candy]?” We teased them that it was a funny way to say “hello”. They were very pleasant and all the boys clamored to help us with our dock line, scrambling over the rocks to make our disembarkation a bit easier. Geoff was wonderful teaching them how to tie proper knots.

Isolation

Niuetoputapu is a very isolated place. We found ourselves walking miles and miles on dusty paths/roads. Everyone we passed greeted us, but we were just as likely to share the route with wild pigs or horses or goats.
Watching the pigs foraging in the low tide was quite a sight. This island reminds us of what Feudal Europe must have been like! We feel quite privileged to have visited.

WESTERN SAMOA

Boy did it feel good to leave Pago Pago, American Samoa. The harbor in American Samoa is a working port with a large fish processing plant situated along the north shore. After ten days in Pago Pago spent enjoying the Pacific Arts Festival, we felt like we had had been swimming around in a can of over-ripe tuna fish for much too long. So, on a breezy afternoon at 1600, we weighed anchor and made our way towards the country at the heart the Polynesian culture, Western Samoa.

After a rolly and fairly unpleasant passage, we arrived at the island of Upolo and the capital city of Apia, Western Samoa early the next morning. Here, we were met by a small boat and escorted to the new, clean and very pleasant marina. (No anchoring allowed here). We felt as if we were royalty. We were met on board our boat by representatives of Customs, Immigration, Agriculture and Health. The usual clearance procedures were completed in less than thirty minutes with the added benefit of chatting-up the locals who were willing to tell us a lot about their city over a glass of lemonade and some cookies. Later, the Port Captain’s representative came and brought us a transformer (s/v GRACE uses either 110 or 12 volt power, and much of the world is based on 220-24 volt). Free potable water and electricity were added bonuses. We really were warmly welcomed in Apia.

Reflections on Western Samoa:

Western Samoa is a land of clean air, waterfalls, thoughtful and pretty landscaping, reverence for ancestors displayed via ornate above-ground graves in every front yard, and churches everywhere. Beaches, waterfalls, and mountainous geography make the place quite idyllic. Transvestite sons are often brought up that way when there were not enough girls to do women’s work. Interesting.

Everyone in Samoa smiles at you. Everyone waves at you. It is a clean and very pleasant place. We rented a car with another couple and drove around the island. Families still live traditionally in “compounds” made up of several ‘fales’ or open sided platform houses, with an outhouse and an open “meeting room”. We were astounded at how many people waved to us as we went by in our car from inside their homes.

Pigs and dogs and chickens roam freely around, but there is no litter on the ground. Within every couple of compounds you will find a little family-run ‘storefront’ selling this and that small food item or necessity. (Mostly tins of corned beef, mackerel, powered milk, soap, etc) There are no big shops anywhere but in the capital city of Apia, and even those are very low key.

This country must have the highest per-capita number of churches anywhere we have ever been. It seemed that every third village had a Mormon temple; there were also Nazarene churches, Methodist churches, Catholic churches, and one of only 8 Ba’hai temples in the world. It is noteworthy that the Mormons, more than any other sect, seem to give back to their local communities. For example, the Robert Louis Stevenson home in Apia was restored by a U.S. Mormon benefactor. Theirs were the cleanest and most affluent-seeming churches.

Men of all ages wear ‘lava lavas’ (skirts). Even the teens wear them. They are practical and easy to wear, yet Sally could not convince Geoff to make the transition from trousers.

On Sunday morning, we dressed up and went into the first church we could find. (We are still not sure which it was, although it was definitely protestant.) All the women, old and young, were dressed from head to toe in pure white. Even their hats, replete with frou-frous and embellishments worthy of a day at the races in Ascot, were pure white. The men wore pure white skirts and either black or white suit jackets and ties. The service itself was interminable – lasting at least two hours. Since all the spoken parts were in Samoan, we did not understand anything, but the music-- the wonderful singing was totally mesmerizing.

In Apia, we spoke to Filipinas brought in on four year contracts to work in the many sewing “sweat shops’, Chinese, who seem to be the local entrepreneurs, and Samoans, who are so interesting in finding out why there are so few American tourists here, and wanted to know if we personally knew any movie stars.

Between the size and scale, the ambiance, the people and the culture, we found Apia to be one of our favorite places thus far.

In the marina at Apia, we encountered a number of our cruising friends, some of whom we had not seen since French Polynesia months before. We continued our conversations with these folks as though we had last spoken only the day before. In fact, between the beauty of Upolu, the charms of Apia and the number of new and old friends in the marina, we remained in Apia for two weeks, easily twice as long as we had anticipated.

As we left the harbor, we were touched by the warm, honest outpouring of affectionate goodbyes and waves from fellow sailors from Holland, Germany, Italy, Australia, France and the Bahamas.

Friends Afloat

It is a little difficult to describe friendships made while afloat. They are both quickly made and yet surprisingly durable for all that. To some extent, the speed is forced by the mobility of cruisers: hesitate and the opportunity may be lost. Of course, we all have something significant in common, too: we have set-aside our prior lives and gone-off to cross oceans. At a minimum, we all have this commonality to discuss and it does make for a good ice-breaker.

The durability of cruising friendships is a bit more difficult to explain. In truth, we don’t spend all that much time together as we are often separated by time and distance. Yet, there is little doubt that many of the people we have met in the past 14 months will remain friends for life.

Still, away from the boats and the sea, we can and do still assume in cruisers the same set of attitudes, energy, and the appetite for calculated risk, that make it interesting to cross oceans in small boats. In the end, it seems likely that it is these personality attributes that actually draw cruisers together as a group regardless of nationality. The boats, the passages, the islands are just vehicles for the expression of these character traits. One’s occupation or past/land life often never enters conversations. It just doesn’t matter out here. We are all subordinates to Mother Nature.

People who live on or travel by sailboat are ‘doers’. If something is broken one tries to mend it afloat. Other cruisers, whether friends or unknowns, come to the rescue with parts, expertise, ideas or just a welcome cup of tea or a bunch of bananas. We have also found most cruisers to be generous with their findings about anchorages, customs and visa issues country by country, radio nets, local supplies or produce and recipies. Information is not a commodity afloat. It is freely and openly shared . What a novel contrast to some of our land based friends. Music, DVD’s, and books continue to be a currency amongst us.

AMERICAN SAMOA:

We did not expect much when we came to Pago Pago harbor in American Samoa. It is a well protected natural harbor (an ancient caldera), surrounded by gorgeous mountains and scenery. Unfortunately, “Starkist”, “Chicken of the Sea”, and blatant neglect have made the harbor quite unpleasant. If one is not suffocating from the smells of cooking and canning tuna from the packing plants on the north side of the harbor, then one must navigate carefully to avoid all the sunken wrecks of small and larger boats in and around the docks.

But again, we were lucky. We arrived in American Samoa just in time for the beginning of the Pacific Arts Festival – an event held every four years to bring together Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian countries to share and spotlight the traditional culture of each of 27 Pacific nations. This was not a tourist event. This was a spectacular display of all the dance, music, costumes, arts, crafts, cuisines, etc. of each nation. Delegations came from all over to show the best of the best.

We were able to partake of all the festivities for free. At any other time, one would have to travel far and wide to be able to observe and enjoy such variety. In our view the best were performances were from Papua New Guinea (several tribes), the Solomon Islands, Fiji, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Tahiti. We talked to people all week long from all over the Pacific. The effect of Christian missionaries was palpable as some groups were quite modest in their attire, while others adhered to their pre-Christian traditions. This event was almost worth crossing an ocean for in and of itself. We will let the photographs speak for themselves.

A TALE OF TWO PASSAGES:

So, here you are, reading our blog, thinking how lovely and romantic and lucky we are. Well, you are correct, we are lucky, and we don’t take a moment of our good fortune for granted. However, if your notion of cruising runs along the lines of sailing off into the sunset whist drinking fruity cocktails with flowers and lazing about on deck, you are imagining a fantasy.

We work really hard, every day, all day, to keep things moving along on s/v Grace. We did, however, have one of our most enjoyable long sails as we left Bora Bora in French Polynesia and headed towards the Cook Islands. We had five days and nights of steady breezes from the East and we were on a deep broad reach with both genoa and the staysail poled-out. The motion of the boat was not unpleasant, and we were quite alone out there. Each of us took turns sleeping and keeping watch at night and during the day we both stayed on deck together. We were able to cook, eat, read, and even converse.

On the other hand, we had quite a different passage of (thankfully only) three days and three nights when coming from Suwarrow to American Samoa. The winds were brisk from the “get go”. It was turbulent, messy, jerky, and a bit scary. We had everything from a beam reach to a broad reach. We started with a double reefed main and the staysail, then struck the staysail and sailed with only the double reefed main, and then were down to the staysail alone by the first night. We did not cook. One of us did not eat. We each took our watches and then hurried down below to hot bunk in the sea berth. We each huddled under the dodger while on watch, trying desperately not to get too wet from the two sets of swells; one 8-12 feet quartering, the second set hitting us on the beam every few minutes. These waves were not small. On a couple of occasions, the gunwale was in the water as we were rolled over about 45 degrees. By the time we arrived in Pago Pago, we were exhausted, wet, salty, and ready to take a long nap and then a break ashore.

And we were the lucky ones. Other boats suffered damage to their masts, furling gear, electronics and more during this stormy period. (You will notice that we are not able to take photos during these conditions)