Buck's Odyssey in the Fall of 2006

Now, where the heck is Fiji and Tonga? Why south of the equator, of course, where it's early summer when it's starting to get cold here! But, the downside is that it is an 11 hour plane ride from the west coast. Sounds like an odyssey to me! I'll share Buck's postcards as I receive them and, when he gets back, we'll post his journal of the trip here. I wish he'd taken a USB cable for his digital camera so he could send me some photos via his laptop computer to share here, but I'll bet we'll see some of those, too, when he returns.

That's "Bougainvillea," Buck, but only because of the miracle of Spellcheck that monitors everything I type on the computer. It's a pretty perennial flower plant, but mine has already been nipped by the autumn chill here in west central Alabama or intoxicated by the overwatering I'm usually guilty of doing.

I know hibiscus, but what does a frangipani tree look like? Fiji must be like Hawaii with flowering weeds vying with the cultivated flowers, shrubs and trees to turn the entire landscape into splashes of color.

I've heard from Buck who was on the West Coast en route to Boston. Here's an interesting interchange that might give you pause if you're thinking about copycatting Buck and Judy:

We are back in the US safe and sound here in Oakland, CA visiting Judy's sister. We go home in three days. Great fun in Fiji and Tonga and we are pleased to report we are still alive. We ran out of air on several dives and Judy was fearful that we would be swept away by the current on several of our dives. There is a spare air line on our regulators called an octopus and I offered mine to Judy so she could breath but she had already inflated her bcd by mouth and didn't need it.

Sailing in Tonga was great with wind gusts up to 46 knots. Most of the time we were motoring along, rocking and rolling, but sometimes got the jib up or the main but not both at the same time! After close quarters with 6 other friends for a week, we are all still speaking to each other.

When I wished you a safe journey, I didn't realize you would need it. I can't imagine running out of air SCUBA diving. I'm looking forward to your journal of the experiences (with bunches of photos). When I got your postcard, I couldn't stand not going ahead and starting your spot on the blog. I will readily swap everything there for your story.

Running out of air underwater is one of those funny/sad stories. Judy uses less air than I and when I start getting low I start moving up in the water column. She still has plenty of air and stays down around 60-80 feet. This time I was about 20 feet and about out but she was about 70 feet looking around for me at that level. I had to go down to let her know that I was going up. When the tank is almost empty you have to really suck to get air and I was sucking hand by the time I was able to catch her and tell her and head for the surface. I didn't have time for a decompression saftey stop but being able to breathe outweighed the risk.

On a subsequent dive Judy ran out of air as well as myself from fighting really swift currents. We got caught in an area with a strong outgoing tidal current and we had to hang onto the coral to keep from being swept out to sea. The other folks in our dive group were down deeper and in the lee of some coral heads and were not caught in the current. This time both of us had to go up without a decompression safety stop. So we were both a little lucky not to have had a meeting with the bends.

To put the above in a little prospective we had a spectacular cave dive in Tonga. The objective of the dive was to see some white-tip reef sharks and the dive leader took us into a cave at about 90 feet. The cave entrance was very large but rapidly got smaller as we went in. After about 50 yards we came to an opening area where about 8 sharks were sleeping! We had our underwater lights and turned them on which caused the sharks to become restless and start to move back and forth. The sharks ranged in size from about 3 to 6 feet. So here we are underwater spelunking and we were blocking the only path for these sharks to get away. What an adrenalin rush! The upshot of this little adventure was we backed out of the cave leaving the sharks to go back to their resting.

I can’t help it, every time a Fijian smiled at me I kept remembering their history of cannibalism. Were they thinking how I would taste? No, they gave that up years ago and now are a very friendly people. With the smile they say, “Bula” which is hello or health in the Fijian language.

Unknown to us when we booked the trip, Fiji is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons. We met couples from Seattle, Palm Springs, and Melbourne at our resort that were on their honeymoon. In the week we stayed at the resort there were two wedding. One wedding had about 40 folk present from Australia.

All of us have dreams of places we want to see. For us it is that once in a lifetime vacation in the South Pacific. James Michener wrote “South Pacific” and Learner and Lowe turned it into a musical for the theater. From there it morphed into a movie and a recent PBS production. So what is the siren song Bali Hai and the call of the South Sea islands? Lagoons, pristine beaches, tropical fish? What makes them different than the Caribbean?

A good starting reference is “Frommer’s South Pacific” which gives information on Fiji as well as other exotic places such as Tahiti and American Samoa. After researching the possibilities we chose Wananavu Resort on the big island of Viti Levu.

Where to go is an individual decision based on many factors. We were looking for someplace off the beaten path. A disconnect from TV, radio, newspapers, cell phones and the world wide web of the internet. A top priority for us was a place with good scuba diving to explore new sea life in the underwater world. Wananavu was our choice and exceeded our expectations.

There are over 300 islands in the nation of Fiji. Fiji has a population of over 825,000 although it may have declined somewhat due to the coups in 1987 and 2000. The unrest is due to a Fijian population in the islands of about 55 percent with the other 45 percent folk descended from East India. The Fijian religion is Christian and the Indians are divided between Muslim and Islam.

Of course no one wants to go to a place where they might be involved in a coup or a war unless they are on assignment for a news organization. Fiji is not on the Watch List for the US State Department. The government has been set up to provide representation to all parties with seats for Fijians, Indio-Fijians and also open seats for elections.

I’ve always heard that it’s a long way to Tipperary. I don’t know where that is but Fiji must be close. We left the Los Angles airport at 11:30 pm for an overnight flight to Nadi which is the Fiji international airport. The flight was about 11 hours. We left on Tuesday night and arrived on Thursday morning. Of course Wednesday never happened as we lost a day. The good news is that we will get our day back when we cross the international dateline coming back.

What a surprise as Pacific Air brought back memories of what it was like to fly US airlines many years ago. On American airline coming from Boston to the west coast a snack box cost $4 and beer and wine were offered at $5. The steward on Pacific Air at midnight gave me a choice of entrées. Then asked what I would like to drink and there was no charge for wine poured from a bottle. Even more surprising he came back through the cabin passing out refills! Another item to note is the utensils passed out with dinner were silverware and not plastic. I had read that the TSA had relaxed some rules but all of this seemed to be a throwback to a time when traveling was pleasurable and not the hassle fear of terrorists has made it. A final amenity which added grace to the service was a warm, wet towelette to clean face and hands. Perhaps all these fine touches are available to those in First Class in the continental US, but they used to be part of the pleasure of travel on all airlines. Ah, I am sad to report in the halcyon days of my youth when airline travel was fun that I complained about airline food.

Hassle is when I take my shoes off, empty my pockets of loose change and then trip the metal detector because it is set so sensitive that my small belt buckle trips the alarm. Going back through the metal detector holding up my pants with my hands seems close to completely losing my dignity. I think the TSA is close to losing my respect.

It is interesting to ponder the effect that about 30 people have made on our country. 19 on 9/11, Richard Reed, and then the group in England. Let’s see before that was the hijacker, B.D. Cooper who bailed out of the rear of a plane with ransom money in 1971.

So a modest number of terrorists have made life much less enjoyable for millions. There is even the constant din over the speaker systems in the airport, “Don’t accept anything for your baggage from strangers”. “ Don’t leave your luggage unattended”. “Report anything unusual to the TSA”. And on and on. It is hard to read or carry on a conversation while waiting at the gate.

And now the breakfast tray a delight of eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and a fruit medley. Wow with roll and butter and blueberry muffin. Can I believe my eyes a fruit dish of honeydew and cantaloupe to delight the palate. I am stuffed and leave much of it on my plate. Our stewardess Marie comes by to pick up the trays and it is a joy to see someone happy at work with two orchids in her hair.

Frangipani, hibiscus, and the wonder of bougainvillea provides a world of color and you can tell from the fragrance that you are in the South Pacific. We landed at the Nadi airport in Fiji and set our watches back 5 hours and the day ahead as we lost a day.

I need to note the three Fiji musicians who were there to greet us after we got off the jetway. They were strumming their guitars and singing island songs and it was a different kind of welcome than we’ve ever had. The folk in Hawaii used to give a Lei to visitors but that is a custom that is long gone.

The Wananavu Resort is 2 hours and 20 minute ride in the resort van first on the Queen’s road and then on the King’s road. We pass through lots of sugarcane fields as this is the principle economic activity after tourism. There are three sugar processing factories on the island of Viti Levu. The island is very mountainous but sugarcane is grown on the flat areas and harvested by machines. On the hilly sections the harvest is by hand and in the early morning the field hands were on the hills with their machetes chopping the cane. Along side the road kids in uniforms are waiting for the school bus to pick them up. The kids in the lower grades wear a different uniform than the kids in high school.

We get to the resort and check in at the reception desk. While we are at the desk the staff transports our luggage from the van to our room. All we have to do is sign in and go have our second breakfast of the day. The staff works to make everything easy as they understand jet lagged folk are not at their best on arrival.

The resort has duplex buildings and each room is called a bure. Our bure has a deck with table and chairs with a lovely view of the Bligh Waters. Yes, that Captain Bligh of the Mutiny on the Bounty. After the mutiny Bligh and loyal sailors were set free in a long boat which they used to pass through these waters on their way back to England.

Inside our bure is very nice with pine walls and an open beamed ceiling, a large room with the usual amenities except no TV and no telephone! However the bathroom is a delight. . The bathroom is very large with a double sink, sort of a his and hers arrangement. Ah, but the walk in shower is unique as the outside wall is all glass and you can stand under the water and look out at a living palms in a miniature courtyard walled by bamboo. Very cute and different, sort of like taking a shower outside.

There are bulbul birds with a tuft of feathers on the head, and black body with but under the tail a bright orange spot! They show up at mealtime on the deck of the restaurant and wait for folk to leave food on the table. They are not a nuisance, patiently waiting for their turn after you are done. [I end]

[IIa]The staff men wear a sulu which is a black skirt wraparound. There is a trio of guitar players who perform nightly beginning at 5. I’m not sure when they stop, but it is after we go to bed. The trio performs a mixture of US songs and native Fijian ones. They provide the entertainment for the resort and they also are wrapped in their sulu’s. They play during the cocktail hour, dinner and on into the evening.

The birds wake up early and fill the air with song. Captain Bligh’s straight is calm and the ocean is truly pacific. Beyond the out islands the sea color changes from a slate gray to a deep blue.

We met Julie and Mike yesterday who own the Kai Dive operation. We are all checked out and ready to dive tomorrow.

Last night we sat in the restaurant and listened to the three guitar players and had our first cup of kava. Soni, who is the head waiter, called it “muddy water” and it numbed the tongue but otherwise no ill effects. I will have to try it again. The kava bowl is in front of the band.

We went down to the lovu pit and listened to Soni tell us how they cooked in the old days before westerns came. Stones are heated and they used a special kind of “river stone from the mountains” Meat and vegetables are wrapped in banana leaves and put in the pit. Then more palm leaves are added to cover the packages. Another cover is put over the top of the pit and then more stones are added on top. The cooking process can take from 2 hours to all day as they like their food well done. The result of this process is food to be served at a feast called a Meke..

Yesterday was one of recovery. After checking in we had a second breakfast. Judy had an omelet and I had half a piece of French toast. I also had some ham, papaya and mango but a very light breakfast. After that we tried to take a nap and I was able to dose a little.

We went walking around the complex and found a set of steps going down to the water at the end of a jetty. We thought it might be worth going back to the dive shop to get equipment for snorkeling the following day. I did that and Julie said they would be open as I had misunderstood them when they said the boys would not be in as we were the only divers. I got the snorkel gear anyway. Judy found a nice resting place to enjoy the beach.

Interesting that Julie has mostly given up diving as she has a 5 year old daughter. They lived in southern California and moved here in 1998. They live on the island right in front of the resort. The island has sections of bare brown hills that remind me of the area around Carson City. It appears that a bay is formed in a notch between the hills and a [IIa end] [IIb]number of buildings are down by the waterline. Mike said it is about a 10 minute boat ride over to the island.

Misunderstanding is a universal problem. Last night we asked when the reception would be open and the desk clerk said 7:30. I was feeling the need for a cup of coffee and it occurred to me that that was when the desk clerks came to work. The rest of the staff had to come earlier to get the breakfast going and they would have to go through reception to get to the restaurant. So at 7 I went down and they are open. So what we should have asked was when would the lobby be open. The clerk gave the right answer to my question, but my question was not the right one.

Ah, what a confusing time jet lag leaves us. For lunch yesterday the special was spaghetti and bologna so I thought I would have traditional native food and ordered the special. I was part way through the lunch before it occurred to me that spaghetti is Italian. Judy had a salad. Anyway after lunch we went back to the bure for another nap.

I am setting on the front porch watching the rain sweep toward me. The air freshens and the palm fronds are getting restless as if they have been waiting for a drink. The sky is completely overcast as the rain front approaches. The birds are a twitter in anticipation of a bath.

Yesterday afternoon I watched as a rain line came across right on the other side of the strait. It was special to see the island across the way and a line several hundred yards off shore get swept with the rain.

We have two wooden folding chairs and a wooden folding table on the porch of our bure. We also have two chairs in the bure with a cushion but they are about two inches or so too high for me. There is a round table with glass on the top but it is two small to be used for much more than decoration.

How do ants know how to find us? I have brushed several small ones off my legs. I guess this is their home and they find these objects and want to explore. There might be something good for them.

There are several interesting places to explore. Raymond Burr had an area here for raising orchids. Also, there is the tomb of the last Fiji cannibal that might be interesting. We have the luxury of time to explore but we have the trap of inertia to overcome to leave the resort.

The birds and vegetation are still waiting as the rain moves slowly down the strait. Half of the island on the other side is in rain as it slowly advances. The far end of the island is liminal and the squall covers about ¾ of the island just short of the notch bay with the buildings. Very special to watch like the slow unfolding of a novel’s plot. The sky to the east is bright but like looking through a translucent sheet of plastic.

So much wonder and diversity in paradise. And paradise is all over the world. The rain front approaching so slowly has now arrived and it falls softly and gently on the roof where it aggregates to drip in little rivulets to fall onto my deck and table. The birds are now mostly silent and the palms are swaying slightly as they are nourished by the rain. The rain line now stretches across the strait right in front of our bure. With the rain there is now a coolness to the air as I start to feel a chill.

The rain seems to be slacking as the birds start to chatter among themselves. Are they discussing the weather or planning new adventures. The buzz of an outboard motor boat drowns out the birds and then the boat comes to a stop out in the strait. A lone person prepares for a day of fishing or perhaps just the morning. No he cranks up and it now appears he has dropped a lobster pot. After a short run he stops again out of sight hidden by the palm trees and I can see another lobster pot being dropped.

I’m glad we did not decide to go diving to day as the viz could not be good. However the sky is brightening again to the east. But the steady drip, drip, drip of the rain continues to fall from the roof. My feet are cold. Now 8AM and Judy is awake. The island across the way is beginning to lighten up. Time to get dressed and go for breakfast. I just noticed the tide is out and the beach extends out about a hundred yards. The birds are still making their plans but the palms are satiated and still.

The dining room has a raised platform area for the morning buffet. At the left hand end are pineapple, mango, banana, and papaya framed by a floral array of hibiscus and bougainvillea picked this morning. One has to be careful leaving their table for additional items as the bulbul birds are very aggressive in seeking to eat your food.

Yesterday was overcast with rain off and on throughout the day. Judy called Julie at the dive shop and after discussion decided not to go diving today but to go tomorrow. It is very cool but doesn’t look like it is going to rain and I am cool here in the morning breeze. I put on my long pants but I should have also put on my sweatshirt!

I saw the sunrise this morning and now I know that on our deck facing the ocean that east is to the right! It is good to be oriented.

Last night Soni asked Judy to dance and showed her the Fijian Taralala dance. After he showed her, Judy showed me. It is a shuffle dance side by side holding hands with arms in back and turning outward without turning loose to reverse direction. We did this after yet another kava ceremony of clapping once. Here are Soni and Judy at the kava bowl ceremony!

After a loving start we went for a kayak outing over to the island of Nanu-I-Cake and were unable to get over the coral to the beach due to the tide being out. Nananu-I-Ra is right across from our bure and in the middle of the two islands is Dolphin which is very small. We had a hard time getting over to Nanu-I-Cake as we were going into a stiff wind. It seemed like we were not making any progress but we got there. However coming back was quick with little work as the wind was pushing us. It took about an hour of hard paddling on the outbound and maybe 15 minutes on the return! Both of us were a little sore and could tell we had a workout.

So today Judy went for a massage at the Kai Clinic so I decided to go for another run and ran over past Yakubs house. Now my quads really feel like they had a workout.

Back over to the restaurant for dinner and Judy had a vegetarian dinner and I had the fish fillet. We keep trying to cut down on what we are eating but it is difficult with so much food. We listened to the band of Steno and his brother Pedro with their friend Bossa This was Pedro’s first time with us as he was off the previous two nights. I liked the other fellow better as they had a better harmony.

So tomorrow will be our first dive. It will be interesting to see how things go.

We dove first on Dragon Tales and then on Golden Dream. Lots of new corals one of which was the cabbage with leaves similar to that plant. We saw two varieties of clown fish, some with two blue stripes and some with one white stripe. They were buried down in their anemones. We saw several big clams that would start to close when we got close to them. They had green and black wavy lines across their mantle. Also, Zoro showed us a ghost coral of pale pinkish lavender and when he touched it the coral went white. We also saw a 5-6 foot Black and White Krait (sea snake) which was hunting in the open water. Very interesting to watch it slither through the water. Saw several Regal angelfish in their finery of blue and yellow bands.

First dive was to 60 feet and I used 16 pounds of lead and was a little light at the end of the dive. I added two pounds for the second dive and felt too heavy. I was a little chilled at the end of both dives, but after the first one I had 3 cups of hot cocoa!

An interesting thing about the dive sites is the mooring line is below the surface and the dive leader has to go into the water and search to find it. They use GPS to get them near the right location. The reason they do this is to prevent people coming and stealing their line and float! We guessed that had something to do with the high rate of unemployment and consequently crime in Fiji.

After the dive we made an appointment with Evuloni at the activities desk to learn some of the Fijian culture. We met with him for about and hour and here are the notes from our discussion:

There are 14 provinces and Ra is the province where we are staying. There are 4 districts in Ra one of which is Riki Riki. Each has different customs and in Ra “Yadra” means good morning and is used as a greeting anytime of day. Evuloni spoke for his forefathers and their customs being handed down. The Fijians first came to the Nakau Vadia mountain ranges. There are 90 villages in Ra and each village is composed of 2 to 4 clans. The largest villages are about 200 people but most are smaller. Each village has its own bird, tree and fish. The bird of Ra is the Kula which is a small green bird with a red head.

There is a ceremony or protocol for anyone visiting a village. The visitor stands outside the village and shouts Doea and the chief or head of the village will respond “Oh in to Doea”. This is how one announces they are coming to the village. The visitor also brings a present of kava and in modern times a present of money with which to buy kava. Doea is the announcement of the province the visitor represents. This is for the province of Ra. Sevu Sevu allows the visitor into the village. The shoes and hat come off when entering the village but not the sunglasses as they are a modern western innovation, contrary to the guidebook.

Each village has a chief and there is a process for determining the next chief when the old one passes. There is a group of king makers but we did not determine how one gets to be [?missing end of sentence?][III end]

[IVA]The Meke is the Fijian dance telling legends and stories as they had no written language until the white man came. He told us the Meke tells the story of Fijian travels to England, Germany and Tanganyika. The Fijians are Melanesian as are the Solomon, PNG, New Hebrides as well as two other areas I did not capture. He said some historians say the Fijians came from Tanganyika but the Meke say they went there to visit and returned to Fiji.

With the white man came the white mans religion and now they are Christians mostly Methodist. There are still some in the rural areas that worship the Spirit Gods or Demon worshipers where one presents a bowl of kava as a wireless to the spirit world.

It looks like it is going to be a good morning. When I woke I thought that it sounded like rain on the roof, but it was the wind in the palms. We are going to be diving again today with Seti and Mary but Soro yesterday’s dive leader will be off today. Seti is the captain and Mary so far has helped with the gear and the moorings. Of course I must remember the hot chocolate which was so good after yesterdays dive!

We were both very tired after diving yesterday. Perhaps for Judy it was because of the hard work kayaking to Nunu-I-Cake island the day before into a strong wind that was creating whitecaps on the water. When we tried to go to the beach we could not get across the coral as the tide was out so we came back with the wind. The wind here always comes from the east and it is always blowing however this morning there are no whitecaps. The ocean is silent with no boats to be seen. Actually there is a sailboat but it is at anchor down near Nunu-I-Cake.

So we went off again diving this morning to Canyon and then to Undersea Phantaseas with the first dive being about 70 feet and I almost ran out of air. Got back on boat with about 200 psi. It did not get hard to breath but I was concerned when it got into the red zone. Mary had gotten me a shortie to put on over my 3 mil wetsuit and then I added two pounds to compensate but the whole dive I felt overweighed and was continually putting air in and letting it out of the bcd. The second dive I used the same outfit and it seemed to go much better.

The second dive ended on a coral bommie that was really spectacular. There were coral with blue tipped, white tipped, pink and orange. A veritable paradise of different corals in wonderful condition. Most of the corals here are very healthy due to the lack of divers and the low amount of industry polluting the water.

Two green headed moray ells with a brown reticulated body. Two sea slugs with blue eyes in yellow bodies. We saw two white tip reef sharks. Nice putffers. The was lots of beautiful coral and some reindeer coral with white tips and others with blue tips. Beautiful pastels of the deep. Saw a number of parrot fish. A black bared pink jelly fish and another with long black streamers off of his tail.. We saw a shark laying on the bottom which I thought was a nurse shark but it took off and moved about 10 yards so I couldn’t see it very well. Someone on the dive said it was a white tip. I saw a black bar butterfly fish with a black spot so it was a teardrop butterfly. The dive leader found an anemone crab that I had to wait for the anemone tendrils to sway with the surge before I could see it. We saw lots of clowns with two blue strips and some with one white strip. They are very protective of their anemones and will bite anyone who ventures too close.

The first dive was at Breath Taker and at the end of the dive a remora was following me around. He was still there at the second dive as they called it Golden dream and went around a different set of coral bommies. I saw some 2 bar groupers or maybe sweetlips. On both dives we saw Moorish Idols.

Seti has been the boat captain and he was the dive leader on Golden Dream. He found a Hinge Beak Shrimp for me in the rubble as well as a Fire Dart fish latter in the dive. One of the most interesting things of the dive was the sponge crab who was so camouflaged that after he was pointed out to me I turned around to show Judy where he was and he blended in so well that it took me a while to find him again.

Oh yes, the ghost coral! Some call it the magic coral for when it is natural state was kind of purplish, but when it was touched it turned white in the area. We touched several areas and they would change color and after a few minutes of being left alone would revert to their natural state.

So yesterday was a dry day. It was a great choice as it poured down rain. We had planned a morning of being together and it was wonderful. We started out with splitting an omelet , toast and fruit. Of course one of the unique things about Wananavu Resort is that there was an umbrella in the closet. We had also noticed that there was a big pot in reception lobby with a number of[IVb end] [Va] umbrellas in it. Humm you think it must really rain here during the rainy season that starts next month. Since it has rained everyday except one for the past week, I can only imagine what it is like in the rainy season.

We took care of some business like getting the airline flight reconfirmed. We also got the desk person, Tito to get the driver to take us back to the airport early so we could stop off at the “Garden of the Sleeping Giant”. So we will leave at 8:30 next week to have two hours there.

We had lunch with Lisa and Larry and were joined by Christie and Cameron for an afternoon trip to Raki Raki and then a village tour. Evolonie was our tour guide and he met us in the lobby at 2. The first thing was to give us each a salu-salu which is the Fiji equivalent of a Hawaiian lei.

At Raki Raki we had 30 minutes to tour the town by ourselves. Judy was looking for Tee shirts and I was looking for magnets. Most of the shops in town are owned and run by the Indians! The people in the shops were helpful but not pushy and we didn’t buy anything. We did walk through the farmer’s market building and it was filled with fruits and vegetables. Since this was a Wednesday I wonder if it is like this everyday. Outside was also individual stands where additional produce was displayed, like some of our farmer’s markets.. I noticed a sign “Coffins for Sale” which Judy thought were the stands, but they were really coffins! There were lots of people on the streets. One businessman had on shirt and tie and dress coat and was wearing the sulu dress and sandals! Very professional and he stood out in the street crowd. Larry reported lots of the guys were giving Lisa the eye but I suggested that it was because we six were the only Caucasians in town. All in all the people were friendly. Larry also reported that he went to the men’s room where you pee against the wall. I was sorry to have missed this experience.

After the tour we went the tomb of Udre Udre who was the last cannibal chief. He died late in the eighteenth century. It is said that with the coming of Christianity they gave up cannibalism. Another factor is Fiji came under British control as a colony in 1874. The new governor outlawed tribal warfare. There are two different viewpoints to cannibalism. First, it was the greatest insult to your enemy to eat them after you killed them. Second, it was an honor to be chosen to be eaten if a rival chief came to visit your village. So it was special to be the invited to [Va end] [Vb] the meal even though you were not alive to enjoy it.

I need to also write-up the Meke at the village and also to get the name of the village. Nakorokula and Evuloni cried Doea and the villagers answered. However Soni was telling us the story of the twins and how their grandfather Dengai – the spirit god had a favorite rooster and one of the twins accidently killed it with a bow and arrow. Dengai was so angry that the twins fled Fiji and went to Germany and England and Tanganyika.

Dengai sent several groups of warriors after them but they were all killed. When the twins left they took all the luck and that is how cannibalism started. Dakwando – the god of the ocean helped the twins escape. “deli means drifting” “tilo means excuse me”.

So in the village we take off our shoes and go in the community center and sit cross-legged on the floor. Judy had told Evuloni before that she could not do this and he brought her a chair. 4 women (matrons) started dancing an introductory Meke. They were wearing leaves around their wrists and waist. There were 3 different lengths of cane which were pounded on the floor for a percussion section. One fellow was pounding on a log and another had a guitar.

There were over 8 children off to the side and they were having the grandest time clapping to the beat and laughing and singing. While the women were dancing the men were singing like a Greek chorus. It is easy to see how they used the Meke of singing and dancing to pass down the history of their people as the kids were really enjoying it and 15 years from now or so would be performing the Meke. Seems like a fun way to learn your history and culture! Next the women did a sitting dance where they swayed back and forth and occasionally seemed to be hitting each other. This was the Baca Meloa for the boys spirit God and longhair, long beards and 2 horns. This was simulated by the God wearing leaves on his head and face and tree branches for horns. This was the demon Veres – dance.

The center was covered with woven mats. After the Meke we were offered local products as souvenirs. We got 4 necklaces and a small bowl for nuts. The bowl was Fiji 15 and each of the necklaces was 10 Fiji.

[VI]Now for today's dives. We did a 3 tank dive but did not go out to the Bligh waters because it was too rough. The first dive site was Neptune’s Rapture with black coral, sea cucumber, clowns, big green moray with head about 6 inches across. Semicircle Queen angel, 5 arm starfish about 9 inches across, Pacific double-saddle butterfly, puffer, blue and white tipped corals. The corals here are perhaps the best that we have ever seen. Perhaps due to the small population and the difficulty of getting here and the small number of divers. Day before yesterday we had two other dive boats with maybe a total of 10 divers on one of the sites.

The second dive site was Golden Crown and started with a big puffer about two feet long. Black bared yellow puffer, several electric blue spots from the Caribbean. Squirrel fish which was the first we have seen in Fiji. I saw a giant Sweetlips about 18 inches long up in a coral crevice. Brook found a baby shark resting under a coral head on the bottom not moving at all.

And the third dive I had no more room on the slate so I just had fun on Dream Maker site. Actually I was cold the whole dive as we were all cold after the second dive. Lisa was so cold after two that she did not make the third dive! Seti, Bola, and Mary have been on the boat every day except the first when we had Zerro. Seti led the third dive and he also did the second dive two days ago, but the rest of the time he is the captain of the ship.

For several days now I have been helping Judy get out of the water. Mary has been taking her weight belt and tank and I have been taking her fins off. This makes it much easier for her to get back on the boat.

Another afternoon another nap after the mornings two tank dives. We went to Pinnacles and to the Bolo Maker. Ah, to start the day we had breakfast with Larry and Lisa and said goodbye to them as the left for Teviona to the north.

It reminds me that this is a honeymoon destination as Rette and Denise from Melbourne, Cameron and Christi from Seattle, as well as Larry and Lisa are here on their honeymoon. Also the Resort has been all abuzz for the past week with the couple from New Zealand holding their wedding here. The wedding took place yesterday on the beach while we were out diving.

Tomorrow is boat maintenance day so we will have a day to dry out. Soni wants me to go with him on his early morning walk at 6:30 am. I took him up on this as did about 10 others staying at the resort. It was about a three mile walk and at the end the bus brought us back to the resort! Along the way Soni pointed out the cane fields and we stopped at one where they were loading sugar cane on truck. They had metal bands across the truck that they tightened down across the cane to keep the stalks from blowing off. We also walked in some fields to watch as they cut the cane with machetes. Hard backbreaking work! They cut in a pattern to allow the trucks to come in and load the product.

So both of today’s dives were very beautiful. Spectacular corals with the first dive being led by Seti and the second by Bola. Seems like every time with Bolo leading I run low on air but this time I ran completely out. When it is difficult to suck air you know that you are running out and there is not much time left to get to the surface. I tried to signal Judy I was out and headed up. I was just able to make it to the line trailing off the back of the dive boat before dropping the regulator. I timed the waves to grab a gulp of air and would pull myself along the rope for several yards before grabbing another gulp of air. I was so tired at the ladder that I was having trouble getting my fins off. Mary on board saw my distress and lifted my tank off while I was struggling to breathe. After she got the tank off, I was able to get the fins off and hand them up. I got on board and spent several minutes enjoying breathing fresh air. By the time Judy made it to the boat she was also out of air.

We both were first in the water and spent 5 minutes or so at 60 feet waiting for the other divers to get in the water. We were on the boat for about that long before Steve and Brook came up. Now to give Bola credit he lead us through a labyrinth of caverns and swim-throughs. It was a spectacular array of corals and schools of fish all around us. It was not so special as to die for!

I went running this afternoon and looked at the corrugated tin houses painted yellow, orange, bright blue, pink, garish green. The houses had outhouses of tin. I saw little children laughing and playing in the yards and thought again of the meaning of happiness and love as opposed to material positions and the McMansions of our place and time back home. Interesting juxtaposition!

So we pack for the trip back to Nadi to meet our friends to continue our adventure in Tonga.

After we arrived back home we read that there was another coup in Fiji which we missed by about two weeks. [VI]

Oh to be on the open sea with the islands outlined against an azure sky. Turquoise waters and way off the beaten track. A 45 foot catamaran with three other couples we go into the dreamland of a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. This is a bareboat charter with no crew to support us. Our hardy crew is John and Nancy Halloran, Mark and Joyce Halloran, Lane Brown and his girlfriend Dyonne. Lane is Nancy’s son. John has his captain’s license and is nominally in charge!

Time not only seems to stand still but is warped as the international dateline takes a jog around Tonga making the kingdom the first in the world to welcome in a new day. Going to Tonga caused us to lose a day when we crossed the dateline. We were reassured we would get it back on our return.

To get to Tonga is almost an epic adventure in itself beginning with an overnight flight from Los Angles to Fiji and then to Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga where we stayed in the capital of Nuku’alofa before going to Neiafu in the Vava’u island group.

We were in for a unique cultural experience as His Majesty Taufa’ahau Tupou IV passed away on Sept. 10. The Tongans then began a month long public mourning period and we arrived on the last day of this period. Buildings, fences, utility poles and other objects were draped in black and purple banners of mourning. Arriving at the airport we noticed that all the employees were dressed in black mourning attire. Our taxi/tour driver was in black wearing his vala which is a wrap around skirt.

History junkies would appreciate standing on the spot where Captain James Cook landed in 1777 with his Sailing Master William Bligh. While in Tonga Cook was feted by his hosts to the extent he called them “The Friendly Islands”. He sailed away before discovering the Tongans were quarreling among themselves on how and when to kill him.

It was on a subsequent voyage in 1789 that William Bligh now the captain of the Bounty had the famous mutiny in the Tongan islands of Hai’X. Fletcher Christian and the mutiny is part of our culture with many books and five motion pictures.

Malo a leilei is welcome in the Tongan language and we felt welcomed. Tourism is very important to this island kingdom, however the king had sought to preserve the Tongan culture. There are no McDonalds or Hiltons as they wanted to keep large corporations out and encouraged small foreign investments in companies that are majority owned by the Tongans.

There are also a number of activists who want to move to a complete democracy from a limited constitutional monarchy. Tonga is the only one like this in the Pacific. Our guide, Tom expressed the viewpoint that it would be ok to move to a democracy when they had a highly educated citizenry. The Tongans have a compulsory school system that puts parents in jail if the child misses school. They have a 99% literacy rate. Not a bad idea for U.S..

Let’s see yesterday we got our wakeup call at 4:30 for our 5 am start to the airport with Tom. We had stayed at the Black Pearl a hotel with a restaurant, which is about a 30 minute drive from the airport. Of course we were in Tongatapu and the plane then brought us to Vava’u. Vava’u is the self proclaimed sailing capital of the Pacific. The population of Tonga is about 100,000 and they are scattered over hundreds of islands but most of the folk live on Tongatapu.

Our boat, the Tonga Moon, was a 45 foot catamaran which had four cabins as well as four heads. We had a briefing of the boat and the sailing in the area before boarding. All of the sailing is by line of sight and the anchorages are numbered.

We got underway from Moorings base at about 2. We had made several trips to town to get change for travelers checks and to investigate the diving opportunities. The de’angue which is the Tongan currency is about 1 US for 2 Tongan. We had the mainsail up but motored all the way to Port Maurelle which is anchorage #7. It looks like we have about 150 feet of chain with ribbon markings but we could not tell where it was so watched to make sure we didn’t run of chain before setting the bridle.

Mark set up the grill but all of us were unhappy with the way it worked. There was no way of adjusting the temperature. Mark complained about the difficulty of cooking the hamburgers. Joyce had cut up peppers and wrapped them in tin foil and put them on the grille for about 15 minutes. It was good with Victoria Bitter. But then I should note that Joyce had made rum punch with some fruit juice. We enjoyed our evening repast and everyone was ready for an early night to bed.

Next morning Nancy just led us in a 20 minute yoga class up on the trampoline. Everyone but Joyce who was down getting the breakfast ready. In a moment of inspiration I went downstairs to get my camera to get some pictures of the class. John has now started the motor to start charging the batteries which we are supposed to do for two hours.

Nancy leads us every morning to keep us fit and limber and entertain us with different yoga positions. Also it entertains the other boats in the area who are amused at the sight of these folks on the bow of the cat.

In this anchorage there are 3 other boats with us, all monohull. It was a quiet night with no noise from the other boats. We had scrambled eggs for breakfast with Danish and pineapple all prepared by Joyce. Now Nancy is doing the dishes and I will dry and put them away.

It was very cloudy when I got up this morning but there is lots of blue now with a lot of cumulus clouds all drifting toward the north.

Lane and Dyonne went over to the little beach last night and brought back a frangipani shoot which added to the décor of the boat, along with a small black and white shell

We have decided to go to a Tongan feast tonight at anchorage #11. I think we are going to bring our own drinks and eat with our fingers. Hope they furnish napkins. Off the back of the boat we see lots of little blue fish but they don’t like our table scraps.

We are 18 degrees latitude and 174 longitude and about 9:30 John spied the spume of a whale and all hands got on deck. We saw it blow several times but before we could get the harpooner in the dingy the whale sounded. So on with the sail.

We are getting 32 knots of wind. And pretty good waves rocking and rolling. As we went along the wind hit a peak of 41 knots. We got into some 8 foot swells before getting back into the shelter of islands on the way to #8. We are making a long loop this morning and ending about a mile from where we started at #7! We will anchor there for lunch and some snorkeling.

John said the water temp is holding constant at 71F or 22C. We are still doing some rocking and had to put towels around the liquor supply. I went down and got Judy her rain jacket as it is a little nippy in the wind. Nancy has on a long sleeve shirt and Mark has his red sweatshirt on.

Interesting the islands with tall coconut trees over the other trees and vegetation. So many islands and few signs of habitation.

The Tongan Feast was at anchorage #11. Before we went to the feast we had time for a snorkel. Saw lots of long spine sea urchins, baby clown fish, trigger fish, butterflies that may have been Bennetts. Lot of fat standard issue star fish and some skinny blue ones. Small coral heads and I had trouble diving down as I kept popping up like a cork as I was wearing my wetsuit.

We spent the night at the Tongan feast. We got everyone in the dingy and pulled it up onto the beach and walked down to a building where boards were set up on sawhorses and then covered it with banana leaves. The food was served on banana stalks that were split and there were a multitude of different dishes of chicken, fish, and lobster. There was tapioca and taro and papaya chopped in small pieces. There was also seasoned spaghetti which I ate a lot of since I was concerned about shellfish.

Before the food we found out that they had prepared a number of tables with necklaces shells and carving. They were all set up for us but we had already done our shopping in Fiji. We all felt guilty as they went to all this trouble and we were not interested. We were glad when another 6 tourists came to join us as it relieved the pressure for us to purchase something.

The band consisted of two young boys playing ukuleles who were the sons of the banjo player. The guitar player was the cousin of the banjo player so this was a family affair.. The sons had to have their instruments tuned by their father. They had a large plastic drum that they mixed the kava in. Then a boy strained the first portion of juice into a smaller dish pan sized plastic bowl with a coconut shell floating in it.

After a short time playing we went outside the dining hall and sat on benches for the evening entertainment. The band went outside to play and the kids put on a show. There were several little girls dancing in their grass skirts. Then they had boys in grass skirts and then older performers. The grandmother and mother were singing island songs right along with the band as they provided the chorus for the dancers. It was impressive the amount of energy and enthusiasm that the kids brought to occasion. They had a coconut shell out front of the dancers on the woven mat and the tourists put money in the shell which was collected after each performance.

Judy felt sorry for the kids being exploited to raise money for their village. I thought this was another way of the elders passing along their culture to their children. The Tongan feast and the handicrafts provided a way for the village to bring in a little money.

After the performance we went back into the dining hut. Several folk had coconut surprise that was rum and juices in a coconut. I tried a sip and it tasted kind of milky. Linda at the Moorings base had told us to bring own drinks. She had not told us or warned us about the drinks or the handicrafts.

After eating we had kava rounds and listened to the band play. Most of the tourists sat around on woven mats and drank kava to the music. The hit song of the night was “You Are My Sunshine” as everyone joined in singing multiple choruses.

After the feast we had problems. First getting back to the dingy in the dark was an issue as only Lane had brought his headlamp. We followed carefully down the dirt road in the dark. It was much easier to navigate in the daylight, but Lane got us safely back to the dingy.

So then on to one of the highlights of the trip. In our excitement at counting beers for the trip over for the festival at Ano Beach on the island of Pangaimotu, we forgot to turn on any lights on the boat. Actually Mark said he had turned on the anchor light, but John knew it did not work. So we found our way back in the dark. Lane used his headlamp to keep us from running into the coral off the beach, but the light was not that powerful to pick out the Tonga Moon. We were all impressed at John’s navigational skill as he was able to find the boat in a dark night among about a dozen lighted cruisers. Mark sat up front in the dingy to protect us all from the spray. We think that we also saw the Southern Cross as the night was full of stars.

We got into this discussion of the “Moron of the Month” tee shirt that I brought. Bike, run, canoe carry on land, canoeing on water, and the final event was party till you drop. John was most Moron. Nancy was the secretary and they had a mailing list of 135. Quarterly meeting and Nancy put out a quarterly newsletter and had a calendar for activities which she passed over to Bill Hoyt but he thought it cut into the party time and it just fizzled out. I had forgotten that Judy had made the tee shirt for me!

“You are the only one responsible for your own happiness” Nancy told son Lane. This was such a wonderful line that I used it is my mantra for three or four days. Now it is back to Judy caring for me!

Now we just finished our morning yoga class and everyone showed up except Joyce. Joyce is doing pancakes for breakfast this morning. Time for breakfast. Overcast day but now the sun is breaking through. 3 pancakes per person and some orange drink to start the day. We started a conference for the day’s sailing. The highlight of the day is

the 8:30 weather report. Seems to be the same as yesterday and we decided to stay in the shelter of the islands to be out of the wind.

Dyonne, Lane, Judy and I went into Swallows cave off the tip of Kapa. We took the dingy and stopped at a boat that was at the entrance and asked how many folk he had in the water - 1 snorkeler and 10 divers. We motored into the cave and then came back to the boat. They wanted to wait for the sunlight to come into the cave so we motored down to anchorage #6 at Mala. This is a small island off the coast of Kapa.

One of the more interesting sights that I saw was in the channel between Mala and Pagaimotu which is shallow water between 3 to 6 feet deep and was a bright turquoise ribbon that was very lovely and then all of sudden the sun came through the clouds and it became a luminous shimmering beautiful bond between the two islands.

The islands here are much different from Fiji as they are covered by trees and vegetation The whole sailing grounds are about 25 by 15 miles and all sailing is by line of sight as you never get out of sight of any of the islands. Inside the cruising area there are 34 islands counting Vava’u. Only 22 of he islands are inhibited and those not by many folk as perhaps 10,000 people live on these islands.

We went to #8 for lunch at Mourille and then came around by Swallow cave and made a quick run in and decided to go on and wait for an hour or so to let the sun get in position. We took dive lights but they were too dim and we saw the graffiti and swallows but no way to get out up to the top of the cave. A good question was how they got the graffiti so high on the cave walls. The colors were very good on the walls red and orange must be due to iron in the limestone.

We came back a second time and let Dyonne and Lane go over the side of the dingy to snorkel. Then back to the boat for the second group to go to the cave. I liked the water temp so I put on fins, mask, and snorkel to go from the boat to the cave. The lip of the cave was about 10 feet under the surface and the water dropped off to 50-60 feet in the cave. The lip of the cave was the dividing point for I saw no fish in the cave and schools of fish outside the cave. Lots of sergeant majors with their black and white bars. The lighting inside the cave was spectacular underwater. The sun split into multiple rays of electric blue lighting up underwater.

We have now come over to #5 Lotuma Bay. We pulled in an anchored but the anchor slipped several times before taking hold. We had drifted earlier in the day and Joyce had noticed we were getting close to a boat so we had pulled out. John said the anchor site was about 20 feet deep. I needed a fresh water shower so I got in snorkel gear to check the anchor. I think I was about 20 feet down following the anchor chain before I could not equalize my ears. I could not see the anchor as the chain went down into poor viz.

Mark cooked excellent steaks and Joyce made garlic mashed potatoes and green peas for side dishes. It went great with the rum punch we had started earlier. We were all in a jolly mood before it was discovered that we had drifted back from the shore and our orientation was not the same as the other boats at anchor. They were all pointing into the wind and we were nearly broadside to it. In the dark using our flashlights and the lights on the other boats as a reference we motored slowly up to be in line with the other cruisers and dropped anchor again.

The king of Tonga died one month before we arrived in Tongatapu which is the largest island of Tonga. We got there on the last official day of mourning and the Tom our driver told us that there had been nothing but religious music in Tonga for the time of mourning. Also, at the airport all the workers were wearing black for this time of national grief. Along the roads to the hotel where we stayed black and purple cloth was hung on fences, homes, trees and shops. The new king will be crowned in a year and he is the son of the deceased. This is to allow for a full year of mourning before the coronation ceremonies.

Interestingly the king owns all the land in Tonga but the people seem to have liked him and were sad at his parting. There has been unrest as various activists have pushed for democracy. Our driver told us the king had stressed education and they had a 99.9 graduation rate from high school. He told us that was because there was a law in Tonga that if a kid missed school the parents went to jail! This has been very motivational. He also stated that it was important that the people be educated before moving to democracy.

The Tongans are Polynesian and comprise about 95% of the population with small numbers of Chinese and Japanese. They do not have the racial tensions that they have in Fiji. The Fiji islands have 60% Fijians and 40% East Indians and they had a coup shortly after we left.

We go back to Neiafu to reprovision and went to two supermarkets to pick up snacks and various other sundries. We talked to Haub at Beluga Divers and he will pick us up in the morning at #7. We signed up for 4 divers as he was willing to take Lane along as he had been diving one time before. Nancy and Dyonne are going to go snorkeling while we are diving.

We came back from shopping and had hotdogs for lunch. After a short time it started to rain and we got started to go on down to #7 where we will meet Haub in the morning. We had to be careful at #1 coming and going to avoid the dingy mooring ball.

We go over to Nuapapu looking for Mariners’s cave but we are unable to find it after 4 times of cruising up and down the northwestern cliffs.

So this morning Haub and Moah came to pick us up with Chris. Turns out Chris was our dive leader and Haub went with Lane. Our location for the first dive was on Vava’o near the Port of Refuge. The first dive was Fingers which was very good as we went through 3 swim-throughs that were very tight. John got his regulator hung on the rock in the narrow exit of one of them. I thought about the number of earthquakes they have when we were in the tight places and how it would be to spend eternity in Tonga. Lots of squirrelfish under ledges and in the swim-throughs.

When we first went in, Judy found she could not inflate her BCD either by tank or manually. So instead of aborting the dive, Chris and her exchanged BCDs. I lay on the bottom waiting for the exchange to take place.

Chris found the pipefish, longnose butterflies, ghost coral, nudibrank about ¼ inch long, John molested a clam. We saw pyramid butterflies, a black and white sea krate, Moorish idol. Barracuda. Maori Wrasse. Emperor Angelfish. Stripped Surgeon fish. Bright yellow Puffer and a brown speckled Puffer. Big groupers as well speckled Sweetlips.

The second dive was China Town on the island of Tu’ungasika and we saw a very large red sea anemone that had lots of clown fish of different species. We also saw a sea turtle. Unicorn fish were special.

When we got back to the boat we wanted to settle up with Haub and he told us to do it when we got back to town.

We had lunch tuna and chicken chips. Ah, there was brouhaha as Lane left the top off of Dyonne’s shampoo and it all drained away. After a lengthy discussion of where to go we are now at #16 Vaca Eitu island. So another discussion of how to get the anchors out it was decided to raise the bow first and then the stern. The bow came up fine, but we had a struggle getting the stern free as it had lodged under a coral. We finally got free.

Judy is now making a fruit salad while Joyce is preparing the fish that has been marinating in tinfoil packages. Judy has put in bananas, oranges, and pears into the salad. Mark was the Barbie boy again. Along with rice and cooked carrots we had another great meal. So tonight Lane did all the dishes.

We wake up to a tragic scene with John and Nancy swapping out the propane tanks. Neither one would drive the stove in the cabin. Everyone is in a snit and Joyce has a headache. We were destined to have Rice Krispies for breakfast. Further investigation is that the backup tank will run the grill.

Mark says the day is ruined. The Polynesians never had to worry about running out of propane. Nancy has suggested that she would have tea since the coffee making process yields two cups per cycle. “It’s better than it was!” is an aphorism of Nancy which also came from her father.

We are in a panic! Do we take the boat back to the Mooring base for repair? Do we call on the radio for them to send a repair crew? Do we spend lots of effort getting the grill set up and then stowing it away? Despondency settles over the Tonga moon.

Ah, but Mark is an engineer and he knows the propane cylinder has fuel. He knows that we have to throw a switch on the control panel to allow the propane to go to the stove. The switch activates a solenoid to allow the propane to go to the stove. He and Lane find the solenoid and Lane sees a broken wire. Lane strips the wires and twists them together. The solenoid clicks the gas flows the stove lights and happiness returns to our world.

While waiting patiently for the water to boil we have a discussion of the challenge of Sudokus which John thinks are a waste of time. He has no logical mind. The only good thing to start the day is that the sun is shining in our little local area.

The French press is an awkward and long process to make coffee. We have mastered the procedure but boiling the water, then putting it into the pot with the coffee at the bottom and then putting the press in on the top and waiting about 6 minutes for it to steep. This is a lengthy process which yields only 2 cups.

Position yourself in dinghy with bathing suit on person. In left hand hold husked drinking nut “beard” end down in palm of hand. Apply winch handle smartly to shell about 2 inches (50 mm) down from the top. Turn nut slightly on same plane. Apply winch handle to new area. Continue process until a crack appears around nut at the 2 inch level. Pry top off carefully, add rum if desired and imbibe! (Reasons for bathing suit etc. will by now have become clear. (Reverse instructions if left handed).

We wanted to try the Fanua Tapu Pass which is a Z shaped channel from Lautala around Fanua Tapu on the way to Ofu. The pass goes through lots of coral and we could see a long band of coral turned into a white necklace as far as the eye could see to the east of Ofu running in a north south direction. Our chart lists “Foul Ground” full of patches of coral on either side of the channel. Beautiful green water out by the coral reef. John was able to navigate the Z with lots of help from the rest of the crew. There were supposed to be 3 channel markers but we found only a red and a green. It is interesting to note that the red and green markers are reversed from those in the US.

We anchored off of Ofu for about an hour and I went in for a snorkel and saw my first stingray on this trip. He was flying slowly across a sand patch and then settled out of sight in the coral. John was also able to see it. I also saw a school of fusiliers out by the coral but hardly any fish over the sand near the shore. Some scattered fat and skinny starfish.

We retraced our route over to anchorage #8 so we could meet the dive boat and the whale boat in the morning. Joyce and others saw a whale but I missed it. When we got here the church bell was ringing although it was Monday evening. It was suggested that perhaps there was a funeral. It was noted that we have run out of cokes and now need to focus on tonic water!

I should make a note about Joyce taking over all the cooking. She is the galley queen as she plans and produces all the meals. We are all worshipful in her presence

There is a lot of material over these intervening days that is covered in the “Voyage of the Tonga Moon” poem which I wrote using some of these notes.

We had to leave the Tonga Moon at noon and we went to the restaurant that is next to the dock that is run by Moorings. Halloran’s left on the early flight and we stayed behind with Lane and Dyonne. Judy stayed on the boat and I went for a walk in town and ran into them. We walked to the end of town and I gave a roll of lifesavers to a little girl that came to talk with us. She seemed to be slightly retarded and had a major problem with her left eye. She almost broke my heart. Her mother across the street waved her back home.

One thing I noticed on a number of cars in Neiafu was they had flowers across the dashboard. A touch of elegance. We found a shop and bought some postcards. I asked where the post office was and the woman told me it was down by the Police station. I could not find it and went into the front of the police station and asked for directions. The officer guided me out the back of the police station and pointed out the orange roof of the post office. I got 10 stamps for me and 5 for Lane.

We also walked in the hardware store comparison shopping and it seems like the cost of living in Tonga is about what it is in the US. Seems very expensive for a place for a folk without a good economy. The tourist estimates run from 4,000 in Vava’u to 40,000 in Tongatapu.

When we got to Tongatapu the others went to a Tongan Feast at the Dateline Hotel and Judy and I went to our room. Judy went down for ice for her migraine and they offered to fix us a little something. A little something turned out to be bacon and noodles, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and mystery meat. Having heard discussions of the Tongans eating dogs, I was afraid to ask what our hosts had prepared. The taste was indistinct so this will be one of life’s little mysteries. We stayed at the Maka Paradiso bed and breadfast and it was a very nice place. It was the home of a person who appeared to be well connected and he lived there some of the time and had plenty of guest rooms that he turned into a B&B. He had his study next to our room. And especially nice living rooms arranged both upstairs and downstairs. A very big kitchen and dining room. One of the nicest, if not the nicest places we have stayed. Rosie and her daughter Tina took good care of us.

We got up this morning and had a slow start till Thomas came to get us at noon for an island tour. We read out on the deck upstairs and Mark was studying the book of Mormon and Nancy was reading “Sexuality of Wild Things” and regaled us with little known facts of sexual frequency and the size of animal organs.

Thomas came to pick us up at noon and took us on an island tour. We started out by going to an area of blowholes and it was really dramatic as the rollers came in and shot water up into the air. Beautiful spray all along the coast for over a mile.

From there we went into Neolufa for lunch at the Friendly Tourist where Judy had a $15 hamberger and I had a $7 ham and cheese sandwich. Also I had a chance to have my last Royal Bitter which is good beer. Ah, Joyce found a slice of chocolate cake to her liking and she split it with Mark.

After lunch we had a walk around Neolufa and Mark found a Tongan birdbook. We also had a chat with Bruce from the Hai’pai islands whose every other word was “fucking” this and that. He has been there for 5 years and likes the quiet and thinks Neolufa is a stink hole. Very odd chap as he said he was there building churches. He had red hair and looked to be in his 50s and a strange rolling gait from too much to drink. He also took a fancy to my hat. He was from Christ Church, New Zealand.

The bunting of black and purple is still up and many folk are still wearing black in mourning for the king. After lunch we went to the Peace Corps facility in Naku a’ lofa and met Soraya Bilbao who is the Peace Corps Volunteer, PCV, leader from 2005-2008. Soraya has been there two years and has extended for another year. She said there are 40 volunteers in Tonga.

There was a woman, Tessa Horan from New Mexico was bitten by a shark in Feb and died. Soraya said to goggle her and the family has a web site. I did and here is the address of a fine young woman: http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/38933.html. Soraya is from Connecticut about 50 miles from Hartford. Soraya was an excellent spokesperson for the Peace Corp. .

So Thomas continued to take us on our island tour. What was most impressive the Trilithon or the Onahulu Cave? The Trilithon was formed by three stones in the shape of an arch. Thomas showed us that one view lined up the shortest day of the year and the other the longest day of the year. He said there were markings on the top of the center stone that showed the directions. It would be a huge engineering problem to figure out how to mount those stones. Thomas thinks it could have been erected by Samoans.

We walked on farther and there were two other signs that we could not read. Also Thomas said that it did not make that much difference since they were just guesses as to what the stones really meant! There was more information to be had at the visitors bureau but we did not get there.

Now for the Onahulu Beach Cave. Thomas got his flashlight out and led us down into this cave. It started out with cinder block steps but then got into feeling along the rocks for footing as the light faded. Thomas was lighting candles as we went along but I had to keep feeling in the dark for firm footing. John thought that I was doing a dance. Thomas must have lit about 10 candles but they did not have enough light to give me firm footing. So at the end of this he shined the light into a pool of water about 15 feet below us and said this was were the locals came to swim! We also saw the cave swallows hanging upside down in the cave. There was this beeping sound as they also must have sonar like the bats to navigate in the dark. Thomas called the birds pica picas.

We also went to the King’s summer palace on the way to the cave. Before that we had stopped at the kings palace and took pictures through the fence and were not hassled by the soldier. We took pictures of the King’s burial site and the funeral directors are around the grave for 100 days. The rest of the population official grieving is over but Soraya is still wearing a black skirt and today was the first day that she had put on a blouse with color.

We stopped along the way and saw women and children working on a tapa mat that was about 40 by 15 feet. Thomas estimated the value at $3000 as it was stained black with the dye from the mulberry tree. The orange colors for the design were from papaya.

Along the way we also saw pigs out in the bay fishing. Also there were people tending the fish weirs. Also a big square swimming pool beside the bay.

We saw the plaque that was set where Captain James Cook landed in 1777 and queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip came in 1977 for the bicentennial. Lots of history.

We got a glimpse of the long canoes that the Tongans used to go on voyages but they were covered. It is supposed that they were long enough to bring the stone back to make the pyramid grave sites. One of which was where a prince and princess was recently buried as they had been killed in a traffic accident in California while on a tour to investigate what they could do to make life better in Tonga. Finally we saw the beer bottle cemetery where the bottles were inverted around the graves.

But what about the sadness when we drove outside of town past the landfill with the trash blowing around. Beyond the dump there are people living in terrible straits. I looked at the children and thought that this is all they have ever known. What is it like for them? Can they ever know happiness or are they happy in their world? Are they like the fish and the others of God’s creation that live their lives and not give a thought to happy or unhappy? Or do they feel that life is a brutish struggle to survive? How much what we have in life is determined by where we start.

Thomas showed us lots of churches of Methodists on the island as they comprise about 55% of the population. But then the church of Tonga was a break-a-way church from the Methodist and then there were other break-a-ways. The schisms in the church were political over control.

The Mormon Church is very prominent in Tonga as funds are coming from Salt Lake City to fund the growth of the church. The Mormon areas are very well kept and orderly. But there are Seventh Day Adventists and other churches are established here.

The missionaries were and are coming to spread the word of God as they see it and to save souls. There is the missionary zeal to have other people see things just the way you do. But the way we see things is continually evolving causing break-a-ways and creating new denominations and sects.