- CAPTAIN'S LOG / Pacific Ocean
- 28 November 2019
Escape to the Kingdom of Tonga
Less developed than some of its South Pacific neighbours, the island nation of Tonga promises pristine landscapes and traditional Polynesian welcomes.
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BE AWED BY THE VOLCANIC BIRTH of an island at Hunga Tonga, swim with whales in the Ha’apai chain, and fish, dive and surf the days away as you float through the islands, adrift from the modern world. Tonga is the true South Pacific experience.
The first time I visited Tonga was in the winter of 2006. At the time, I was mid-way through a South Pacific crossing on my own 12-metre sailing catamaran Loose Cannons. My recollection of this trip is rich with highlights, but my memory of our time in the Kingdom of Tonga stands out among even the most exciting elements of our seven-month crossing.
My next visit in 2017 was under very different circumstances; this time as captain of the world-travelling yacht M/Y Big Fish. When I was in Tonga in 2006, I never could have imagined my return on such a different vessel from my little catamaran.
In 2017, we had just completed a month’s cruising in French Polynesia and were on our way back to Fiji with the owner. The owner’s son and a friend were joining us in Tonga; the objective was to explore and find quality surf in the more remote surf spots throughout Tonga.
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Unfortunately for us, the two-week trip featured strong trade winds for much of the period, meaning the guests only managed to get out surfing a few days. On the upside, this helped us to redefine the purpose of the trip, broadening the scope to include diving, fishing and the exploration of the three island groups of Vava’u, Ha’apai, and Tongatapu.
Weather
The best time for cruising the South Pacific is during the southern hemisphere winter, when it is mostly dry and cooler weather, thereby avoiding the cyclone risks inherent in the summer months. Generally, the winter trade winds are a consistent SE 15–20 knots, although on the trip in June 2017, they were a little stronger at 20–25 knots.
From July to October, Tonga is one of the best places on earth to see and interact with humpback whales, which gather in large numbers to birth their calves in the protected waters of the Vava’u islands.
Cultural awareness and safety
The Kingdom of Tonga is a constitutional monarchy with a history dating back 3,000 years. The Tongan people still maintain a traditional Polynesian culture, with most Tongans living in village communities in a social hierarchy overseen by a village chief.
The Tongan people are friendly and welcoming to strangers. With limited crime that seems to be focused mainly in the capital, Tonga feels like a very safe place and poses little security risk to visiting yachts, especially once away from Nuku’alofa and among the smaller villages.
The Kingdom of Tonga is highly religious and has more Christian churches per capita than any other country.
Over 90 percent of the population identify with one Christian denomination or another. As a result, Sundays are considered a true Sabbath day where Tongans attend church services and non-essential work or activity is not allowed. Visitors need to take this into consideration and give proper respect by avoiding anchoring in front of villages or undertaking activities on a Sunday.
Logistics
Arriving from Papeete, we made landfall in Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tongatapu, Tonga’s most populated island. Relative to the more developed urban centres found in French Polynesia and Fiji, Tonga is quite undeveloped and retains the charm of a place that has enough development to make logistics manageable, but without feeling like the true South Pacific experience has been lost.
Entry was relatively straightforward and Big Fish, at just under 500GT, did not require a pilot for entry. We had sent ahead our various entry forms and the only minor complication was the requirement for our South African crew to have visas, which were issued without too much difficulty. The officials were friendly and courteous.
We cleared out from Neiafu in the Vava’u archipelago, home to the Moorings charter yacht base. Once again, the process was pretty straight forward, taking just a couple of hours without any officials needing to come on board.
Provisioning
After clearing in, we anchored off the island of Pangaimotu while we re-provisioned and prepared for our cruise. Ashore, the facilities are pretty basic compared to a more developed town like Papeete on Tahiti with its large French-style supermarkets, but we were able to stock up on some basics at the market.
There’s a limited range of fruits and vegetables grown locally, but what was there was good quality. The bigger supermarket offered enough to re-stock a few basic items for crew food, but to provision at a suitable standard for guests, we had to fly our provision orders in. We used The Produce Company from Auckland, who are experienced with the importation process in Tonga, which includes import restrictions on certain fruit and vegetables as well as biosecurity screening.
Cruising highlights
Once all logistics were sorted and guests were on board, we headed to the west end of Tongatapu to seek some surf, but the strong SE winds had flattened the waves so we enjoyed some fishing and diving.
Hunga Tonga
Our next stop at Hunga Tonga – a detour for some fishing – was an unexpected highlight of the trip. One of the newest islands in the South Pacific, Hunga Tonga is a relatively recent volcanic uprising (the last eruption was in 2015).
Making an overnight passage, we arrived at daybreak and took an anchorage (daytime, fine weather only) in a cove on the west side, off the volcanic black sand beach. What we witnessed was visually spectacular: an unusual combination of two islands fused together by the recent eruption, one side covered with flora and the other, a stark, black mound of rock defined by lava flows and crevasses running down to a black sand beach and turquoise water.
On the east side was the remains of the volcano’s caldera, partly sunken into the sea. On the western side, the lava flow had sheared and fallen away down to the beach, revealing the iron-rich red rock inside the hard black exterior. It was a striking and beautiful scene that we enjoyed close-up by kayak and captured with some magnificent drone footage.
We then jumped aboard our tender Triple Ripple and trolled around the island, picking up some nice tuna. Overall the fishing in Tonga proved pretty good. We picked up a couple of small blue marlin, as well as dogtooth and yellowfin tuna in various locations.
Ha’apai Islands
After Hunga Tonga we ventured further north to the Ha’apai group. The Ha’apai group is defined by a chain of islands on the eastern edge, running north–south. They are mostly low sand islands surrounded by lovely beaches and turquoise waters: the very image of a South Pacific paradise. Here we spent a few days anchored in various locations for some surfing, diving and fishing including Nomuka, Oua, Uoleva and Haano islands.
Although we were a few months early for the humpback migration, we did encounter a number of mothers and calves on their way north to Vava’u.
No matter how many times you see whales at sea, it is always a very special experience.
One of the highlights in Ha’apai was while cruising in the tender, encountering a pod of pilot whales who happily stuck around. We joined them for a swim, making for some amazing underwater footage.
Some of the great dives in the area that we had the pleasure of experiencing included Eden Rock, the Arch and the Green Wall. Due to the strong trade winds, we found the low islands of Ha’apai lacked the protection we needed, so we decided to carry on north toward the Vava’u group.
Vava’u Islands
I remembered from my earlier sailing trip that Vava’u was an interesting archipelago of islands with a wide range of anchorages in deep and protected bays, accentuated by beautiful sandy beaches and reefs.
Unfortunately, the steady trade winds meant that although there were plenty of waves, the strong onshore breeze made them unsuitable for surfing. Instead, we discovered some interesting anchorages including Mounu Island and Pangai, east of Mala Island. For the guests, the highlight was definitely free-diving the caves on the north side of Nuapapu Island.
There are so many possible anchorages in the Vava’u group that it would be very easy to spend a month here alone. However, our objective had been to find some waves and the wind had spoiled that to a degree, so after a few days we decided to weigh anchor and head to Fiji where the surf was more reliable, cutting short our Tongan adventure.
We left Tonga with some regret; it would have been great to explore more of this fascinating, beautiful country. In any case, we departed with the certainty that we would be back again.
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