We spent two months in Tonga and could have spent even more time here. There is so much to see and do that we plan to return next season before continuing on to new locales.
Niuatoputapu – A friendly welcome into the Kingdom of Tonga!
Our first stop in Tonga was Niutoputapu. We’d had such a great experience in Samoa that we were a bit skeptical as to how Tonga would compare. We were presently surprised.
Niuatoputapu is a small island with an anchorage inside a protected reef. We had the most informal and interesting check-in here, as compared with our previous check-ins to other countries.
A local Nobleman, immigration representative, and local physician each visited our boat, then the Nobleman took us on a tour of the island in his truck, giving us fresh vegetables, watermelon and taking us to the store and customs areas where we needed to complete the check-in. He even took us to a nearby fresh water swimming hole where other friendly locals offered us fresh papaya. We were amazed by this friendly welcome to Tonga!
The Nobleman even arranged for a local guide to take us on a hike across the ridge of the island the next day. When the guide showed up, we were happy to see him accompanied by 8 local boys who all happily escorted ourselves, SV Flocerfida and SV Seahawk along the hard to find trail. We were impressed to see them effortlessly climb straight up the steep terrain in flip flops and some in barefeet. Our kids all loved it as they followed the local kids up and down the trail, harvesting coconuts and finding the best viewpoints. We invited the kids back to the boat afterwards and they had a blast zooming in the dinghy’s.
Our first Volcano Summit!
The anchorage in Niuatoputapu looks out towards a nearby dormant Volcano. We’d heard that you could climb it and of course we wanted to try ourselves. We picked a low wind day and the crews of two of our friend boats – Flocerfida and Seahawk – each jumped aboard Slingshot early one morning. We motored the 3 miles across and anchored in the lee of the island – sandy bottom and clear water – perfect!
The locals who live on the Volcano – three families – did not have anyone that we could hire to take us to the top (they were already busy having hiked into their plantations earlier that morning). So we set off not knowing where the trail was, but knowing we needed to go up. With a few false starts and some bush-wacking, we made it. It was about 2.5 hours to the top and we were rewarded with gorgeous views of Niuatoputapu. We even saw whales breaching in the clear water far below.
After a quick climb back to the bottom, we had a pleasant motor sail back to the anchorage and were lucky to spot breaching humpbacks with moms and babies as we made our way back in the setting sun. Then we continued with dinner aboard Slingshot to end a perfect day. Hiking, friends, whales and gorgeous tropical weather and views – what could be better?
Many cruisers miss this magical spot as it is a bit off the beaten track, but in our opinion, well worth a visit. It had a different feel than other islands we visited in Tonga, and the Volcano hike is worth the trip on its own!
Vavau’u Island Group
After a week in Niuatoputapu it was off to the renowned Vavau’u Island group.
World cruisers that we’d met in the Sea of Cortez, Mexcio, last season, had told us that the fishing was good in Tonga. We’ve remembered this and of course had our lines out as we approached Vavau’u. The sun was setting into our overnight passage and we heard the fishing reel zing.
I’ll never forget Nathan and Julia excitedly squealing with delight and pointing as they saw the brilliant blue colouring of our first Mahi Mahi dart into view. We hauled it aboard with some difficulty (strong fighters!) and were all excited with catching this majestic fish. It was the first of several Mahi we were to catch in Tonga and we never cease to be impressed and awed by landing one of these. Our largest Mahi was 57 inches long – measuring taller than Nathan!
We spent a week catching up with friends and exploring some of the many fine anchorages in Vavau’u. With family arriving in a few weeks we wanted to ensure that we visited the Hapai group before leaving Tonga.
Hapai’i Island Group
We picked our weather and had a nice day sail of 87 miles to the Hapai group. We’d heard that Hapai’i has some of the best kiting with flat water and our first priority was to find some good kiting.
Well, we found it! The trade winds filled in blowing across the reef and low lying land to deliver strong wind with flat water. We were lucky to meet up with other cruising families who also kited and had a great few weeks seeing old friends, making new friends and solidifying our kiting skills.
It was here that both Nathan and I were first able to return to the same point on the beach that we started – (a milestone in kiteboarding meaning that we were able to stay upwind), and we even started trying jumps and transition skills.
We met up with our friends on Knot Home who we’d spent Christmas with in Mexico last year and had fun reconnecting and enjoying days of snorkeling and swimming.
Vavau’u Group Again – Fun Cruising with Family!
We were lucky to have Papa join us for our Leg from Tonga to New Zealand (subject of a future blog post!). We suggested he come a bit earlier and bring Grandma so we could all cruise together before Grandma and Julia flew to New Zealand.
Despite some cloudy and windy weather, we had a great week cruising and exploring Vavau’u before Julia and Grandma boarded the plane south.
We had some great hiking, delicious meals, good fishing and Papa and Grandma got to see us kiting up close right off the boat, which was fun too.
A highlight of our time together was when we left Hongahaven anchorage in late afternoon and saw humpback whales, then caught two fish (Rainbow Runner and Gulf Sierra) which we then fried up for dinner. Delicious!
It was great to spend some good quality family time together which seemed harder (ironically?) to do when surrounded by the business with life at home.
Our two months in Tonga flew by and we look forward to returning here to do some more kiting and snorkeling before heading to Fiji next season.
