Tiffany and Greg Around the World
Vava’u, Tonga
Like we said, Vava’u is a cruising paradise and there are just some things you need a boat for:
Just in case you thought the water was nothing but frolicking baby whales and amazing coral, we found out that Tonga waters also play host to hundreds of jellyfish that “come up” at night.
Vava’u Tonga,
It’s an odd feeling to be in a place where the holidays you grew up with are not celebrated – or even recognized for that matter. Also, the cruising world being what time becomes more…fluid, which is not made less complicated from the occasional forays over international date lines. Short of it is the below conversation has actually occurred more than once:
Tiffany: Greg, what month is it?
Greg: Very funny.
Tiffany: No, seriously, what month is it?
Greg: uh……
Hey look, the weather’s consistently the same and for all intents and purposes we’ve been in “summer” ever since we left Mexico. So, it can be confusing. Keeping track of the month can be difficult enough so individual days we’ve pretty much all given up on. The massive restrictions on Tongan business on Sundays are actually helpful because we all know which day Sunday is at least.
Also, there’s no Tonga Turkeys that we could find but we muddled through with a bit of island flair
Continue reading “No Turkeys in Tonga!”
Vava’u Tonga,
Like Niue, Tonga is favored by the humpback whales as a combination bordello/nursery for the production and raising of young until they get enough blubber to survive the cold of Antarctica. Unlike Niue, Tonga is one of about 3 places in the world where you can actually get in the water and swim with whales. Yes, swim. With whales. How close you ask? Well check out this video of a baby whale breeching 30 yards away from the swimmers!
Vava’u Tonga,
Not only is Vava’u a cruiser’s paradise, the islands and barrier reef of this group make for some fantastic diving. One does feed into the other. In order to get to the dives sites you have to be able to traverse the water between the islands, which means hiring a dive boat or bringing your own. This keeps a limitation on how many people actually get to the sites which in turn keeps the dive areas in pristine condition.
Underwater Tonga was unique in that among all the islands we’ve seen, in Tonga the coral really steals the show. With colors including lime green, purple, red and every hue in between not to mention varying in size from the size of a hand to well larger than a human, the coral in Vava’u was a sight to behold. Most of it was close enough to the surface and received enough sunlight to really bring out the beauty lying just below the surface. The crystal clear water everywhere you went didn’t hurt either.
Happy Veteran’s Day!
We just found out through the magic of Facebook that Veteran’s Day has just passed us by. Ah the magic of the internet, mothers and friends who still say thank you after all the years…thanks for that, by the way 😉
We’d hate for a day that is so important to both ourselves and so many of our friends to pass by unnoticed, and it just so happens we recently got a question on the blog from someone who is considering becoming a pre-veteran…. Look, she’s considering joining up ok? But it’s Veteran’s Day so we had to stretch it here. A little latitude if you please?
Brittany asks:
“I was hoping you could provide me with some advice…My fiancé and I are contemplating joining the Coast Guard together after we get married and while we know there are never any guarantees we want to put ourselves in the most likely situation to be able to stay together. I just graduated with my bachelors degree and he is very close to completing his. We are both at a cross roads, not really sure what to do next because we’ve been in school our whole lives. In addition, we are both the outdoorsy thrill seeking type so an office job really isn’t cutting it. I’ve been doing a lot of research on married military couples and have received completely mixed reviews; however what it seems to come down to is what you choose for your job and whether or not you become an officer. Both of us are very driven and I wouldn’t want us to have to sacrifice career advancement to stay together. Do have any suggestions as far as how to increase our chances of being able to stay together? Any particular jobs that offer more opportunities than others? How did you guys make it work?”
Vava’u, Tonga
Tonga is made of several island chains and we’re in Vava’u, the Northernmost group.
With over 30 anchorages all within a day’s sail of each other in addition to being partially enclosed by protective reef islands and some of the most gorgeous natural landscapes we’ve seen so far, it is no wonder Vava’u is a cruisers paradise.
Vava’u, Tonga
…cont from previous post
So yes church. Any discussion of Tonga would be incomplete without church. Did you notice the flag? Go back and take a look. We’ll wait
Now what is the one identifiable symbol on the Tonga flag?
Yes, Tonga is a Christian nation.
Vava’u, Tonga
What would a real Polynesian country have?
Well, pigs. They have a lot of pigs.
And unlike their fellow Polynesian countries, corrupted as they are by European influences, Tonga actually uses their pigs for their highest truest purpose:
Tonga has bacon!
No, not euro/Canadian inferior bacon. Real bacon. Bacon bacon. The only actual freaking pig product that deserves the title of bacon and that’s freaking bacon!
