Neiafu is the main town of the Vava’u island group which is a stunning archipelago in the Kingdom of Tonga, renowned for its dramatic limestone cliffs, crystal-clear turquoise waters, and coral reefs. It consists of one large island (Utu Vava’u) surrounded by 40+ smaller islands. It is a small town of 5000 people and its harbour is in a sheltered bay somewhat reminiscent of Salcombe (but without the tourists!).

The Kingdom has a total population of only about 100,000 and is the only monarchy in the South Pacific. Although some reforms have been made in the last 20 years (it’s now a constitutional monarchy with more government representation), it is feels almost feudal at times with a stratified society of royals, nobility and commoners. The country is not friendly to foreign investment, land ownership is restricted to Tongan’s and even then it seems that people we met had been allowed to lease land only by the gift of the king. That said the people are gentle, friendly and welcoming.

We spent a couple of days on a mooring in the town, replenishing stocks in the market and welcoming the first few arrivals from the fleet, Most of the lead group arrived within 2 days and plenty of time was spent catching up in the Kraken Bar, a modern open bar/restaurant on the waterfront with a massive new dinghy dock which is a magnet for the yachties.

There are over 30 numbered anchorages in the the Vava’u group. Many have “Special Management Areas” with restrictions on fishing and these are managed by each village and were put in place to protect the villages from overfishing by their neighbours. Jamie was super keen to go spear fishing, so on the third day we went to the Blue Lagoon at Foeata Island in the Hunga group. This was by arrangement by the Australian owner of Kraken. It turned out the three brothers who run the “resort” on the lagoon had helped build his bar a few years earlier. As they are the local residents they can let anyone fish with their permission.

It was a short 90 minute sail to the lagoon and Gordon and Sharon came with us from Take Two. The anchorage was tight, with only room for a couple of boats but fortunately was empty. The season is dominated by tourists coming to go whale watching between 1st July and 30th October so the resort hadn’t yet opened. The brothers (ranging from early 20’s to mid 30’s) were incredibly hospitable and two of them took Jamie out to the reef but didn’t catch anything.

They had already decided to invite us for our first Tongan Feast when they returned. Traditional Tongan feasts, typically cooked in an underground oven known as an Umu, are a vibrant spread of island staples. They oven was started before the left. A hole in the ground with a wood and coconut husk fire covered with volcanic stones which absorbed the heat, after the fire had burned out the food was placed on top to cook whilst the oven was covered. 2 hours later on their return the meal was ready. One of the staples is Lu Pulu: Taro leaves cooked with canned corned beef, coconut milk, and onions, traditionally wrapped in banana leaves and wrapped in tin foil to be cooked in the Umu. They did three different versions and some root vegetables, this was all washed down with Otai: A fruity traditional beverage made by blending watermelon with coconut milk and juice. This was to be the first of about 5 feasts with the locals that we would have during our nearly 3 weeks in Tonga and was such a genuine first experience.

With such a long sail from Bora Bora and the fleet being so spread out we had nearly a week of independent cruising before the whole group reassembled. This included trips to several anchorages including the Swallows’ Cave: A sea cave accessible by boat or snorkel, famous for the way the afternoon sun hits the water and the thousands of swallows nesting inside (although they weren’t in residence the day we went!) and Mariner’s Cave: A underwater cave where you have to dive beneath a rock face to emerge into a hidden cavern. The air turns to mist and then instantly clear again as the waves compress the air. Jamie went in, Anne-Laure watched from another boat, while I stayed with Offbeat which was in a rather dodgy anchorage nearby.

As the group finally reassembled Rob and Rachel on Ægle had organised another feast at the beautiful anchorage at Vaka-eitu we have both been to a couple of days earlier. I put together a little “promo” video to encourage everyone to come over and then edited it after the event as a souvenir for the fleet….

For the next 10 days we alternated between cruising the islands and returning to Neiafu for provisions and events. In the end we anchored in 8 different places with several twice. This included further time with various villages where we were invited into their home or small hostels, had more feasts and saw how the economy worked, including the making of local handicrafts and clothing, these are all actually used locally and not just tourist tat.

As the group got more adventurous some of us started exploring the eastern anchorages which involved rather tricky passages through reefs. All unmarked of course but satellite imagery has make this much easier for the bold! With 2 days to go a group of about 5 boats made their way to “Anchorage 30” , this is outside the SMA’s so spearfishing allowed and surrounded by reefs. An absolutely stunning venue for a last get-together and impromptu BBQ on the beach of the deserted island of Kenutu (see the map at the top).



The group assembled on the beach for sundowners and just as it was getting dark a rather triumphant Jamie reappeared in our dinghy with the lads from Ruaj. Two massive fish in his hand which he had caught just he was giving up hope for the evening. He had an amazing welcome.

For our final day we returned to Neiafu and were taken on an excursion to a botanical garden and were taken round in person by the Chief administrator for the Ministry for Everything (well Tourism, Commerce and Meterology) who Anne-Laure got on with like a house on fire. Unfortunately the nature tour took rather too long, she doesn’t normally do the excursion but the feast (another one) was excellent as was another demonstration of local skills.

Our last night was the usual skippers briefing and prizegiving. As there was effectively no multihull competition we were placed with the monohulls and given second overall (it’s not a race of course) but Rachel and I were given a special awards for the “difficult middle” leg from Bora Bora; mine was for helping the less experienced crew with routing and heavy weather sailing advice and Rachel’s for jury rigging and repair advice to the damaged boats. The bonus is that the awards were presented by the current Miss Tonga (with help from the Minister for Tourism).

We were also given a lesson on Sevu-sevu, the traditional Fijian welcoming ceremony where visitors present a gift of kava root to the village chief. It acts as a formal introduction, seeking permission to enter or stay on the village’s land. It then usually involves drinking the kava afterwards. More of that in the Fiji blog to come.

The party over, everyone retired for a relatively early night. We had spent a wonderful 18 days in Tonga, unfortunately the weather for the short leg to Fiji was looking challenging, yet again!