Neiafu Harbour (Update 52)
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Time: 1530 hours Tonga Time (GMT – 11 hours)

Position: Neiafu Harbour, Vava’u

Bula Viti, Rotuma kei Vuravura

We sailed upwind to Neiafu Harbour this morning, departing the Tongan Beach Resort a little after 8am.

We had moved from Mounu Island on Monday morning after spending a wonderful rest day snorkeling, swimming and relaxing after the ‘joy ride’ from Apia.

Waiting on the beach at the Tongan Beach Resort was Paul’s sister, Anne with her husband Wim to greet the three canoes.

The Customs, Immigration and Health officials were waiting on shore to clear us. So the three skippers went ashore with our passports and did all the formalities. The officials did not event step on board and their only concern was to try out some Fijian waka to see how it compared to the Vava’u yaqona.

Unfortunately we did not have any Fijian yaqona to share with them.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and resting. Tevita, Sonny and I went spearfishing for 3 hours after lunch and came back to find the majority of the Fiji crew sitting under a tree on the beach, drinking kava that Aunofo, the Tongan crew member kindly organised for us.

Slowly the other crew drifted ashore to join them around the Tanoa. At 5pm the support boat crews arrived for a combined dinner organised at the Resort by Ocean Noise Productions because all the crews will be going their separate ways from Wednesday.

The two support boats Ranui and Evohe have confirmed they will accompany the Uto ni Yalo to Suva as they are continuing on to Vanuatu.

It will be great to have them along to join in the festivities when we arrive back in Suva after over three months away.

This morning we departed the Tongan Beach Resort with Shane the owner of the resort on board with his son Ryan. We arrived at the fisheries wharf at Neiafu a little after 9am to a small gathering of locals and overseas yacht crews.

There were a few items from the crews of each canoe before we went ashore to join in a traditional Tongan kava ceremony that did not seem very traditional from a Fijian perspective.

Once the kava ceremony was over, three young Tongan lasses danced individually for those gathered. The first to dance was the youngest of the three girls and would have been about 10 - 12 years old. The three were very graceful and had the crowd mesmerised with their fluid movements. Very different from any dances we had seen on our journey. 

The same string band from last night was also there to entertain us with their delightful serenading, again so unique to our ears. Kaia’a and Paul accompanied them on guitar and ukulele. The tunes were very similar to Fijian songs, but the singing was so different and pleasant to listen to.

Later each crew took turns at entertaining the crowd before a light lunch was served. All the while the ‘sosoko’ Tongan kava kept flowing, completely flooring some of our experienced grog swipers.

They came back to the Uto ni Yalo complaining about how strong the kava is in Tonga.

While the entertainment was going on Moala and I met Dorothy and Ratu Timoci Nawadradra, the Fijian couple that have organised our farewell feast tomorrow at their home in Vaipua.

They operate the Paradise Hotel on the Neiafu waterfront and kindly invited us to tie up alongside the resort. They have even offered rooms to the crew to use for showering etc.

The hotel burnt down a while ago and is currently being rebuilt under Ratu Timoci’s supervision. How fortunate we have been with our Fijian community in each island we have visited.

If you didn’t know better, you would think we had organised all this before hand.

Vinaka Dorothy and Ratu for your hospitality. We will leave Vava’u tomorrow at 6pm for our home port, Suva knowing we have been treated so well every where we have visited.

Moce

Colin/Uto ni Yalo

Report by Satellite Phone courtesy of DIGICEL TONGA