I don't like being that close to jagged rocks, so we are sticking more to the islands with shallows.
Well it is time to anchor again!
Courage
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Anchoring
Tonga has very deep water right up to most of the shoreline. This insures clear water for diving, but makes anchoring challenging when trying to find anchorages at some of the islands. The best way to anchor would be to drop an anchor and then back to the shore and tie off to a tree.
I don't like being that close to jagged rocks, so we are sticking more to the islands with shallows.
Well it is time to anchor again!
Courage
I don't like being that close to jagged rocks, so we are sticking more to the islands with shallows.
Well it is time to anchor again!
Courage
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Nuku Island -
We have another perfect island. But this one has the added advantage that there is no shallow coral near the beach. And the beach has a nice drop off. Therefore every morning we motor over to the beach, kiss the shore with our bows, drop the anchor, and have the boat right at the beach! There is a nice breeze that holds us off the beach, and cools the boat.
Underwater there are these eels that live in holes and let their bodies wave in the current. Shannon thinks they are garden eels. And there are not just a few, there are hundreds. It is like sea grass made of eels.
Of course this is our new favorite beach! It appears that we choose the perfect place to spend cyclone season!!
Courage
Underwater there are these eels that live in holes and let their bodies wave in the current. Shannon thinks they are garden eels. And there are not just a few, there are hundreds. It is like sea grass made of eels.
Of course this is our new favorite beach! It appears that we choose the perfect place to spend cyclone season!!
Courage
Monday, November 24, 2014
Thanksgiving in Tonga
We did Thanksgiving last Thursday, it went great! We found an expensive turkey, had stuffing, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, homemade mashed potatoes, etc. Everything was nice. Turns out, those in the states celebrate it next week, but we had a nice celebration, watched history channel "mayflower" movie for education, etc.
We got $230 of groceries this morning - a lot for around here!! Included some spoils like chips and cookies, and meat, which cost more than our usual fresh fruit, eggs, etc. Since we ate 30 pineapples last time we were out, I got closer to 40 this time. I also bought a whole stalk of bananas, and then there was a second one for $5 Tongan, which is about $2.50 - $3 US. So I had to get it. A whole stock on bananas for $3? So, when they ripen, we are set on bananas too! At the market, I bought a single bundle of yellow ripe bananas for $5 Tongan also; the kids ate it before we even left the store. It was about 15 bananas. So they can do some real damage when it's available and ripe for them.
We are back out at the islands for another week or so. Great island just over an hour from Neiafu- Nuku, has a big white sandy beach on one side with a steep drop off from the shore. You can dive right off the shore into the water. We had a nice walk, great swim, and play on the beach this afternoon. We snorkeled and saw a small coral reef with lots of colorful fish around it, a sea anemone with clown fish around it, and little garden eels all over one little area. Integrity drew many megalodons onshore then, with Valiant's help, they speared them. Intrepid, Innocence, and Vitality made a sand castle intermixed with swimming.
Tomorrow Courage is thinking of going to anchor on the beach since it's all soft sand and a nice drop off. He snorkeled the area to make sure there were no surrounding reefs. He hopes we can pull up onto the beach, drop the front ladder, put the anchor onshore, and let the back hang off. Certainly pictures will follow if it works out. Then we can clean the bottom, a much needed task as we are starting to grow some little muscles on it.
So we are still enjoying our surroundings and finding everything very convenient here.
Cassidy and Wolfie had a great weekend, Friday going on a motorboat with 2 teens, ex-Texans, and a 16-year-old girl from Idaho here on missionary work. They hit 3 islands, lots of swimming, climbing, running and beach play. Then on Saturday, we took our boat for a trip to a nearby island for some surfing behind the boat on the way out, volleyball at the beach, a game of "wipeout" obstacle course for those who dared, some swimming, more volleyball, then home for the evening. Fun weekend, perfect weather, wore ourselves out, enjoyed the teen posse!
Goodnight, off to rest for another big day tomorrow. Tomorrow looks to be busy, active, and mostly outdoors.
Shannon
We got $230 of groceries this morning - a lot for around here!! Included some spoils like chips and cookies, and meat, which cost more than our usual fresh fruit, eggs, etc. Since we ate 30 pineapples last time we were out, I got closer to 40 this time. I also bought a whole stalk of bananas, and then there was a second one for $5 Tongan, which is about $2.50 - $3 US. So I had to get it. A whole stock on bananas for $3? So, when they ripen, we are set on bananas too! At the market, I bought a single bundle of yellow ripe bananas for $5 Tongan also; the kids ate it before we even left the store. It was about 15 bananas. So they can do some real damage when it's available and ripe for them.
We are back out at the islands for another week or so. Great island just over an hour from Neiafu- Nuku, has a big white sandy beach on one side with a steep drop off from the shore. You can dive right off the shore into the water. We had a nice walk, great swim, and play on the beach this afternoon. We snorkeled and saw a small coral reef with lots of colorful fish around it, a sea anemone with clown fish around it, and little garden eels all over one little area. Integrity drew many megalodons onshore then, with Valiant's help, they speared them. Intrepid, Innocence, and Vitality made a sand castle intermixed with swimming.
Tomorrow Courage is thinking of going to anchor on the beach since it's all soft sand and a nice drop off. He snorkeled the area to make sure there were no surrounding reefs. He hopes we can pull up onto the beach, drop the front ladder, put the anchor onshore, and let the back hang off. Certainly pictures will follow if it works out. Then we can clean the bottom, a much needed task as we are starting to grow some little muscles on it.
So we are still enjoying our surroundings and finding everything very convenient here.
Cassidy and Wolfie had a great weekend, Friday going on a motorboat with 2 teens, ex-Texans, and a 16-year-old girl from Idaho here on missionary work. They hit 3 islands, lots of swimming, climbing, running and beach play. Then on Saturday, we took our boat for a trip to a nearby island for some surfing behind the boat on the way out, volleyball at the beach, a game of "wipeout" obstacle course for those who dared, some swimming, more volleyball, then home for the evening. Fun weekend, perfect weather, wore ourselves out, enjoyed the teen posse!
Goodnight, off to rest for another big day tomorrow. Tomorrow looks to be busy, active, and mostly outdoors.
Shannon
Monday, November 17, 2014
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Perfect Beach 7 -
How many perfect beaches could there be? We call this beach #7 just because we ran out of cool names for all the great beaches here. This one even has a perfect place for playing volleyball!
We ate all 30 of the pineapples in the last 5 days so we need to head back to the city to "pineapple up!".
We are thinking of taking the main sail off for hurricane season, as we will have to take it off anyway to put the new track on. The Tongan weather forecast (along with the "important" global warming committee") calls for 3 hurricanes this season with at least one over a category 3. So based on that we are thinking that we may get one (1), which would be an increase over the last 7 years when they have had none (0). Maybe they are not just counting Vavau but the whole region. That might make a difference!
Courage
We ate all 30 of the pineapples in the last 5 days so we need to head back to the city to "pineapple up!".
We are thinking of taking the main sail off for hurricane season, as we will have to take it off anyway to put the new track on. The Tongan weather forecast (along with the "important" global warming committee") calls for 3 hurricanes this season with at least one over a category 3. So based on that we are thinking that we may get one (1), which would be an increase over the last 7 years when they have had none (0). Maybe they are not just counting Vavau but the whole region. That might make a difference!
Courage
Cave Diving -
We are at a new island with our own private beach. The other one had houses, vacation homes on islands adjacent to it, which was nice too. This one, like many of them, looks gorgeous! A long stretch of beach that is touted as one of the cruiser's favorites!! Clear water surrounds us and there are lots of places with trees overhanging the beach for plenty of shade, protected anchorage, but a nice gentle breeze to keep things comfortable. Everyone went to shore while I stayed back to make dinner, so it's peaceful quiet around here. I could clean or email while things cook, so here I am.
On the way here, we stopped at Mariner's Cave. Cool place. You get GPS coordinates to a spot along a cliff like island with lots of undercuts and blowholes. We stopped the boat and jumped into the dinghy with our masks and snorkels and a dive light. We motored along the shore until we found a shadowy area underwater. Then we jumped in and it indeed appeared to be a hole underwater going somewhere. Somewhat intimidating, Cassidy, Wolfie and I stared at the hole for a while. It's hard to commit to swimming into a big black mouth of a cave not knowing how deep or how far you were committing to going. So, Courage jumped out of the dinghy, put on his flippers and swam in. He disappeared and was gone. We all looked at each other and had to assume he'd made it. A short time later, he reappeared and indicated that it was much farther than he'd initially anticipated. But it was do-able. This time, after catching his breath, he planned to start right at the mouth of the cave, not before the entrance. Soon, he dove again. This time, I went down and watched how long he swam before he went back up. It was a distance, but certainly a possible distance. Then Cassidy mustered up enough breath and courage to go, and off she went. Just as I was getting my deep breaths to go, Courage popped back out. He was going to swim a safety behind me to make sure I went far enough. I got my air, and went. It went well, I came up with plenty of room to spare. My sinuses almost exploded under water, but other than that, it was great! The cave was large and beautiful! You could see with the light coming in through the underwater entrance, and that was enough. There was lots of room to swim around in there. As the waves came in, the humid air in the cave would compress causing a fog, then as it depressurized, the air would clear. It was very weird and interesting. You could also feel the pressure changes in your ears. They'd plug up and clear all on their own with the waves and changes in pressure. It really was a neat place and I'm very glad we went. The departure wasn't nearly as intimidating as the entrance since you could clearly see the outside and how far you needed to go. That being said, for some reason I didn't feel like I was making ground like I did when I was swimming in, so at one point I reached up and grabbed onto the rock above me and pushed myself along, then Courage dropped down and gave me a final pull out and push to the surface. I was making it, but slower than I'd like to have been so it was nice to get the boost!!
We are down to our final 4 pineapples. Probably heading back to Neiafu Sunday night or Monday. The market is closed tomorrow anyway, so no rush and we're only an hour away. We could probably dinghy there and back if we wanted to leave the big boat here. But it's so easy with our own mooring, a motorcycle onshore, and a restaurant with $3 for rice and chicken curry that I think we'll take the big boat. Not to mention, we need to return the library books before the library closes for the season. We've read them all and have enjoyed having a new set of books to look at. We will certainly donate some old school books when we are done with them.
OK, someone has to make dinner. . .
Shannon
On the way here, we stopped at Mariner's Cave. Cool place. You get GPS coordinates to a spot along a cliff like island with lots of undercuts and blowholes. We stopped the boat and jumped into the dinghy with our masks and snorkels and a dive light. We motored along the shore until we found a shadowy area underwater. Then we jumped in and it indeed appeared to be a hole underwater going somewhere. Somewhat intimidating, Cassidy, Wolfie and I stared at the hole for a while. It's hard to commit to swimming into a big black mouth of a cave not knowing how deep or how far you were committing to going. So, Courage jumped out of the dinghy, put on his flippers and swam in. He disappeared and was gone. We all looked at each other and had to assume he'd made it. A short time later, he reappeared and indicated that it was much farther than he'd initially anticipated. But it was do-able. This time, after catching his breath, he planned to start right at the mouth of the cave, not before the entrance. Soon, he dove again. This time, I went down and watched how long he swam before he went back up. It was a distance, but certainly a possible distance. Then Cassidy mustered up enough breath and courage to go, and off she went. Just as I was getting my deep breaths to go, Courage popped back out. He was going to swim a safety behind me to make sure I went far enough. I got my air, and went. It went well, I came up with plenty of room to spare. My sinuses almost exploded under water, but other than that, it was great! The cave was large and beautiful! You could see with the light coming in through the underwater entrance, and that was enough. There was lots of room to swim around in there. As the waves came in, the humid air in the cave would compress causing a fog, then as it depressurized, the air would clear. It was very weird and interesting. You could also feel the pressure changes in your ears. They'd plug up and clear all on their own with the waves and changes in pressure. It really was a neat place and I'm very glad we went. The departure wasn't nearly as intimidating as the entrance since you could clearly see the outside and how far you needed to go. That being said, for some reason I didn't feel like I was making ground like I did when I was swimming in, so at one point I reached up and grabbed onto the rock above me and pushed myself along, then Courage dropped down and gave me a final pull out and push to the surface. I was making it, but slower than I'd like to have been so it was nice to get the boost!!
We are down to our final 4 pineapples. Probably heading back to Neiafu Sunday night or Monday. The market is closed tomorrow anyway, so no rush and we're only an hour away. We could probably dinghy there and back if we wanted to leave the big boat here. But it's so easy with our own mooring, a motorcycle onshore, and a restaurant with $3 for rice and chicken curry that I think we'll take the big boat. Not to mention, we need to return the library books before the library closes for the season. We've read them all and have enjoyed having a new set of books to look at. We will certainly donate some old school books when we are done with them.
OK, someone has to make dinner. . .
Shannon
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Blue Lagoon
We are at the blue lagoon, and the weather is perfect. We have our very own deserted island, with a soft white beach, caves, and a bon-fire that just never goes out. The children don't even come home for lunch. And even when we send them to shore dressed, within an hour they have found the simplicity of nudity. The water is clear and warm, and the sunrises and sunsets are beautiful.
All of Tonga has turned out to be very nice. The people are wonderful; the food is super fresh and tastes so good. (It has been a while since we have had this much fresh food). And to top it all off there is virtually no crime. I think we found a great place to spend our cyclone season. There is a different plan for next year every time I think about it. Shannon is always surprised how fluid my plans are. (Drawn in sand at low tide - below the tide line!)
Intrepid and Integrity are reading every day now, Innocence is getting it figured out, Vitality is still trying to figure out how she sun-burned her bum, and Valiant is always looking for a buddy to go swimming with him. And that is pretty much a detailed report on the young ones. Cassidy and Wolf are doing great and falling in love with the freedom of the cruising lifestyle.
All is super here!
Courage
All of Tonga has turned out to be very nice. The people are wonderful; the food is super fresh and tastes so good. (It has been a while since we have had this much fresh food). And to top it all off there is virtually no crime. I think we found a great place to spend our cyclone season. There is a different plan for next year every time I think about it. Shannon is always surprised how fluid my plans are. (Drawn in sand at low tide - below the tide line!)
Intrepid and Integrity are reading every day now, Innocence is getting it figured out, Vitality is still trying to figure out how she sun-burned her bum, and Valiant is always looking for a buddy to go swimming with him. And that is pretty much a detailed report on the young ones. Cassidy and Wolf are doing great and falling in love with the freedom of the cruising lifestyle.
All is super here!
Courage
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