Tiffany and Greg Around the World
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!
Vava’u, Tonga
Of all the different nations of the South Pacific Tonga is unique in that it is the only one to have never lost self-governance. While every other nation out here has at one time or another (and most are currently) subject to the protection / governance / colonization of a foreign power, Tonga has always remained their own country. They can trace their monarchy back to its founding and the different chiefs of islands before that. Considering there was an age of time where colonization was what the West pretty much DID, it is impressive simply that Tonga is, in fact, always and still Tongan.
What it also means is that if you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you blended modern times with ancient Polynesian culture all you need do is look at Tonga for your answer.
Talking to you from…
THE FUTURE! (cue Sci Fi music – dun dun duuuuuunnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!)
Those of you that have been following along may remember that Tiffany and Greg earned the most auspicious title of “Trusty Shellbacks” by participating in an equator line crossing ceremony a few months back. What you may NOT know is that “Trusty Shellback” is only the most well-known of a plethora of unofficial awards that celebrate assorted feats of nautical daring-do. For example, both of us also hold the “Order of the Spanish Main” for sailing in the Caribbean. (No Black Pearls, though there were some drug runners) and Greg holds the coveted “Order of the Ditch” for successfully navigating thorough the Panama Canal and is also a “Plank Owner”.
There are certificates for all kinds of feats from circumnavigating the globe (Order of Magellan) to sailing in the Arctic Circle (Blue Nose) to crossing the Equator & Prime Meridian at the same time (Emerald Shellback). But the reason this matters today is that today, or, more accurately for you, tomorrow is that day, whichever it is, is the day we cross the International Date Line and become members of the Empire of the Golden Dragon!
Continue reading “No Flux Capacitor required!”
So, on another note of why the open ocean is dangerous, let’s talk about Cookiecutter Sharks. You may be saying to yourself “What in the world are you talking about!? Cookiecutter Sharks? Sharks that make cookies! AWESOME!” And we would agree except for what the sharks use a cookie dough…because that would be flesh.
The first time we ever heard of these vicious little suckers was when we were snorkeling with dolphins in Niue. Now, I don’t have any footage to show you of our snorkel trip, but it was awesome! We were in a couple of inflatable dinghies on our way to a dive, when a pod of Spinner dolphins started swimming off our bow. (Called “spinners” because of the amount of spins they perform on their jumps.) No matter how many times you’ve seen dolphins while underway, it’s still an amazing experience and what made this even better is that we were able to get in the water and be towed by the boat so we could swim with them. It was fantastic!
While we were in the water, I noticed a few of the dolphins had circular wounds on them in various places.
The first thing that came to my mind was that they had some sort of flesh eating disease (which worried me since I didn’t want to catch it!) Continue reading “Sharks That Make Cookies?!”
At sea enroute Tonga
All that was left to do in Niue was to go shopping to restock our boat for the voyage to the next island chain. We have found that the simple day to day things, like shopping, can often provide keen insight into the difference between the island way of life and our own.
We get underway a bit sobered this time. You see, the reason we had the opportunity to help the whale research team is because the boat that originally volunteered capsized when it was sailing to Niue from the islands of Tonga. The crew was rescued but the boat is still out there – upside down, unlit and floating just above the waterline. This is the exact same patch of ocean we are sailing over right now. Continue reading “A Bad Place to Sink…”
