A Tongan Feast on Lape Island

A Lape Island house with very old solar panels wired up (by visiting yachtsmen) to power the island's only refrigerator

 

We left the mooring at Neiafu yesterday for a lovely sail between the islands and anchored off the tiny island of Lape (18 degrees 43 minutes south, 174 degrees 05 minutes west). The enterprising and very friendly villagers invite yachties to a Saturday afternoon tour of the village followed by a Tongan Feast.

 

Lape has a tiny village of just 7 families and a school which currently has 11 children attending. The villagers are pretty self-sufficient, growing sweet potatoes, bananas and taro roots as well as coconuts and they produce traditional craft work such as tapa (a stiff fabric made from the beaten fibres of the hiapo tree bark which is then decorated with ink), woven baskets and mats made of pandanus leaves, dried in the sun. The mats are used on the floor for eating and sleeping upon but a finely-woven version is made as a ta'ovala, wrapped around the waist as a decorative skirt (worn by both men and women); it signifies respect to 'God, King and Country'.

 

The Tongan feast was quite an event.  It involves an 'umu which is an underground earth oven – a fire is built in a pit lined with stones and, when the fire dies down, the hot stones slowly bake vegetables and meat, which are wrapped in banana leaves, with earth piled on top. We also had a pig roasted above an open fire and all the delicious food was served on 'plates' made of the bark of banana trees, after a Tongan prayer led by the minister and a wonderful unaccompanied hymn sung by half a dozen locals.

 

The donations they receive in return are used for village projects - for example an impressive new landing jetty was completed recently - and they are looking to start a little kitchen producing taro and sweet potato crisps to sell in the Neiafu market. Very enterprising for a village of just 7 families and 28 people!

 

Our brief time in Tonga so far has given us a better insight into the country and its people. The Vava'u group of islands (the apostrophe features frequently in Tongan – it signifies a brief pause, so Vava'u is pronounced vah-VAH-  oo) are beautiful and in most other parts of the world would have lots of expensive resorts and hotels, with rooms perched on metal stilts above the clear waters, just as we saw in Bora Bora. However in Tonga all land belongs to the crown so land can only be leased for limited terms. Add to this the slightly random nature of internal flights from the international airport at the capital Nuku'alofa 150 miles to the south and it becomes clear why the tourist facilities are pretty low key. Visiting yachts constitute a major portion of the palangi  (westerner) visitors and the rest are mostly back-packers and eco-tourists.

 

The Tongans themselves lead pretty simple lives. To our eyes their homes are pretty impoverished, with open floors devoid of furniture and cooking is often done outside on open fires. Most houses have pigs running around the gardens. On our first night in Neiafu we were taken to a local house in the village for a traditional meal, served in multiple dishes on floor mats whilst we sat, uncomfortably crossed-legged, and tried to ignore the flies (at least each dish was covered in cling film as it was brought in). It was quite a culture shock and our western eyes struggled to adjust to the scruffy surroundings and worrying standards of food hygiene. However the family were charming and it was explained to us that social etiquette, personal dignity and respect are valued in Tonga before material wealth. There are very low crime rates, virtually no begging and no homelessness here – no one goes hungry as goods or money earned are often shared with the wider community and the churches play a very central role. On Sundays work is forbidden and no sporting events take place and Tongans act and dress very conservatively at all times – men will be fined if seen without a shirt in a public place and women are expected to cover their shoulders and wear long skirts or trousers.

 

We're looking forward to learning more about the place – at last we've found a part of the Pacific where western standards and values are tolerated but not necessarily adopted.

Sailing a traditional Vaka

We're certainly enjoying some unusual experiences here in Neiafu (18  degrees 44 minutes south,  174  degrees 00 minutes west, if you'd like to locate it on Google Earth). A meal with a family in their house on Tuesday was quite something (more in another blog) but yesterday we went sailing in a Vaka.

A Vaka is a traitional Polynesian voyaging canoe - a catamaran - and these vessels once roamed all across the Pacific, trading and exploring. Over more recent years the ancient navigational skills had been all but lost as people remained on their own islands and relied on commercial shipping for trade, so in 2010 a philanthropic foundation had seven Vakas built in New Zealand, crewed by Polynesians from different islands. The fleet sailed to the Tuamotos (in 29 days) and up to Hawaii, the western seaboard of the USA and back down to the islands. There's an excellent website http://pacificvoyagers.org/the-voyage if you'd like to read more.

The new Vakas are pretty high-tech, beneath their traditional rigs. The hulls are fibreglass (and have comfy, if slighly cramped, bunks for up to 16 crew) with retractable centreboards. The wooden decks (lashed to the hulls with modern synthetic rope) have intricate carvings but a clever deckhouse containing a small galley and navigation station (with GPS and VHF radio) and support a large 2kW solar panel array which provides power to two very funky retractable 10kW electric motor pods to drive the boat in harbour. However they are still steered using a long and very heavy steering oar (which needs up to 4 people to hold it in a blow) and the deck at the helmsman's feet is carved with an ancient star compass; during the voyages the crew learnt to use this to keep a proper course. The vessels are pretty big - 72' long, 21' in the beam and weighing 13 tonnes and the motive power is a distinctive two-masted rig of 1033 square feet. As we discovered for ourselves, they are pretty quick - we were doing over 10 knots in a Force 4 breeze.

'Our'  Vaka, the Hine Moana, sailed with a pan-Pacific crew of Tongans, Fijians and Samoans and her Tongan skipper, the irrepressible Aunofo who crewed on the original voyage from NZ, has chartered now her from the foundation for the nominal sum of $1 for four months. In return S
she has trained a crew of 7 local lads and we were her forth commercial day-trip - we sailed with the crews of Stormvogel and Exit Strategy. We were mightily impressed with the vessel and with Aunofo's skill at handling her - we had some great sailing, with a wonderful reef snorkel as we anchored for a superb lunch.

We really enjoyed our day and here are a few photos:

 The deck 'compass'

 Peter at the helm, with the skipper looking on

 

High-tech electric propulsion

Safely into Tonga, but where did that day go?

After another very rolly night, with winds up to 27 knots (and sail plan reduced to a furled foresail only), we were delighted to be able to turn the corner at first light this morning and head south along the sheltered west coast of Vava'u. We rafted up with Stormvogel and Exit Strategy at the main wharf in Nieiafu for a very friendly clearing-in process which involved four different officials coming aboard. The crews of each boat looked pretty dog-tired after the challenging passage from Niue but, once again,we are really pleased with how Maunie handled the difficult conditions – Tom on Exit Strategy had to hand steer for a lot of the night due to the big waves knocking the boat off course, whilst on Maunie we had Winnie the Windpilot driving superbly well, with only the occasional drama. We did, however, have one rogue wave dump itself into the cockpit, just as Graham was snoozing in the afternoon sunshine.

 

The harbour here is a long and well-protected estuary with densely-wooded banks. The water's quite deep (and full of jellyfish) but there are commercially-rented moorings for only about £6 per night so we're on one of them, with lots of boats that we already know moored around us. Once we've recovered from our sleep depravation, we'll be in a fit state to explore ashore tomorrow.

 

Sleep isn't the only thing of which we are deprived; we appear to have lost an entire day! This is not as careless as it sounds – we crossed the international date line last night so moved seamlessly from Saturday 21st to Monday 23rd and are now 13 hours ahead of GMT. All a bit confusing but there we are. Luckily Sunday the 22nd September wasn't an important date for us – it'd be a bit of a bugger if it was a birthday.

 

Photos and more to follow once we've worked out the options for getting wifi here.

Rolling our way toTonga

We said a fond farewell to Niue yesterday after ten wonderful days there. The process of checking out with Customs and Immigration typified the friendly approach of the people there: the Customs officer apologised that he had no transport so couldn't come to us so could we manage to come to his office at the airport please? Now this is a 5km journey and we didn't relish the prospect of a hot walk but Ira at the Yacht Club came to our rescue: "There's a blue car outside, it belongs to a friend of mine. Just take that." 15 minutes later we were back with the important clearance form and our stamped passports.

 

The passage so far has been uncomfortably rolly. The easterly trade winds have been blowing at about 20 knots for the past two weeks so whilst we've been at a nicely sheltered mooring, the swell out at sea has built up to about 3 metres and were certainly feeling it. However we are making good speed (almost too good, actually, as we've had to reef down so slow our progress a little to avoid arriving at night. We should arrive in Vava'u, in the Kingdom of Tonga in about 24 hours time. We'll be glad to find flat water again!

Playing with a cat

Yesterday we were invited aboard 'Bounty', another German yacht, sailed by Harry and Lucy; we first met them in Panama. They wanted some tips on sail trim and boat handling so, together with Peter & Heidi, we had a lovely day sail. Graham was in his element, tweaking the sails to get maximum speed and suggesting a few tricks to make sail handling easier. It's the first time we've sailed a cruising catamaran and, at 44ft, Bounty is a little different from our last cat, a Dart 18 racing machine but we really enjoyed the experience.

After the sail we were treated to a delicious late lunch in the cockpit (or sofa area, as I think it's technically known in these boats) with roast pork. Harry and Lucy had visited the tiny island of Palmeston where all 60 residents are descended from William Masters who settled there with three wives in the 1800's. A pig was slaughtered for the Sunday lunch and they were given a joint to take away so this is what we ate - lovely!

Back aboard Maunie (which suddenly seemed very narrow) we were treated to a beautiful evening sky: 

Looking forward, we plan to sail to Tonga on Friday or Saturday. The weather looks pretty settled so we just need to time the 2-day passage to avoid arriving at the weekend, when it's not possible to clear in. The Tongans take the concept of Sunday being a day of rest and prayer even more seriously than they do here. So we have a few more days to explore Niue which is great.

Meeting the locals

Di with the lovely Hina, who gave us a lift

The Village Show on Saturday was quite an event. Having arrived at what seemed like the crack of dawn we fortified ourselves with a bowl of Nuie Porridge. This is Arrowroot boiled up in coconut water and is served in half a coconut shell. To imagine its texture, think Solvite wallpaper paste but it tasted ok.

The show featured dancing, singing, scary coconut crabs that would slice a finger off if you got too close and about six different BBQ's on the go; they certainly enjoy their food here.

Coconut crab - a delicacy that fetches about $120 apiece

 Entry No3 in the 'Shiniest Aubergine' class

 A pig roasted in an traditional earth oven

Puppy training 

Local craft work 

The village choir 

Ready for the dancing 

 The dance team

Solo dancers are rewarded by people putting $10 notes into the tops of their dresses.  Graham thinks he's seen this ritual elsewhere.

After all this excitement, we went to church on Sunday. 

All scrubbed-up; first long trousers for months!

The proceedings were nearly all in the unfathomable Nuie language but the singing was amazing. The congregation of about 35 could certainly produce some volume and the 4-part acapella harmonies made the hairs rise on the back of your neck; this wasn't a choir, just the members of the congregation. Feeling suitably virtuous, we hen hitched a lift to a brilliant little beach-side cafe for a very good value and delicious lunch.

Diving at Niue

Graham's dives yesterday morning took him to two dive sites - the first was called Snake Alley and has lots of venomous sea snakes. "It's ok to stroke them", said our dive guide, so we did!

The visibility was amazingly good and we swam into a huge chasm and, with torches, into a cave that was full of very large and surprised-looking lobsters.

All in all, it was a fabulous experience. When we get to somewhere with a more robust internet connection we'll upload some video.

Today (Saturday) we've been to a Village Show (essentially a fete where everyone attends and there are competitions for the biggest taro root (no, me neither),etc. There was singing and dancing from the local kids so it was entertaining, even though it involved meeting Hina, the lovely local lady who'd offered us a lift, at 6.00am! 

The weather looks nicely set for the next 7 days so we're in no hurry to move on whilst the moorings here are so well-sheltered from wind and swell. There's still a lot to see on the island.