Emily Grace: The Kingdom of Tonga

Tonga sits on such a longitude to have given it the honor of being the first nation to welcome in the new millennium. Tonga is also the only Pacific kingdom. The local tourist board will try to convince you that theirs are the Friendly Islands, but this is a distinction that is a little more doubtful: Tongans were historically a war-like people who looked down on pacifists, and the person who originally dubbed them the Friendly Islands, the venerable Captain Cook, was unaware of the Tongan plot on his life.

Our short trip to the Island of Nuku'alofa where the Tongan King lives was calm and uneventful. We arrived ahead of stronger winds that gave those that followed us a much rougher and uncomfortable trip. We anchored in front of Big Mama's bar and white sand beach in Pangaimotu, a small island near the main harbor.
On Monday morning, we took a small ferry to Nuku'alofa and did the customs, health and immigration two-step and the three hours that it took were softened by the fact that we checked into and out of Nuku'alofa during the same visits. We assured them that we would leave at the first available weather window. Checking out was also necessary before we could get the 500 gallons of duty free fuel.

Big Mama with all her cruising Kids

Big Mama invited all the yachties in her harbor to a free Tongan feast to close the cruising season and also to mark her birthday. She had games for the kids and adults and prizes for all. In addition, every cruising boat received a large basket of fruit and Tongan treats for their upcoming passage. Truly the Tongans are a generous people.

We saw some of the town and bought a few trinkets and food at the open market. We borrowed a cell phone to call the family and tell them that we had arrived with presents from their American Samoan son. They took a taxi to meet us at the market and we arranged for them to meet us at the fuel dock the next morning to collect the bags. We later met the entire family and I showed them a black and white print of Penitani and his family from American Samoa. Penitani's mother, Fine, had not seen her son in 3 years and only one of his three children. She kissed the photo and tears welled in her eyes.

One of the uncles had a touring car and one day drove us all around the island as a private tour. We saw the main king's palace built in 1867 that was being renovated and 3 other palaces in which the King could live. This was only the 5th King and we saw the tomb where the first 4 were buried. The kingdom goes to the first male son, but since this king has never married, the crown will go to his brother who already has a son to keep the tradition alive.

We saw more flying foxes and saw the only forked palm tree in Tonga. The Mapu'a 'a Vaca Blowholes ('Mapu'a 'a Vaca' means 'Chief's Whistles') stretch for 5 kilometers along the southern shore of the island of Tongatapu. The Blowholes are best viewed on days when there is a strong wind and at high tide. Then the maximum amount of water is forced up through natural vents in the coral limestone, thus forming geyser-like fountains of seawater up to 90 feet high.

We continued eastward and also encountered Captain Cook's landing place. He anchored his ship almost exactly where we had anchored Emily Grace and he landed near Mu'a by long boat to pay homage to the King. The capital was first located here and then moved to Nuku'alofa. We also saw the enormous 300 year old stone burial tomb of Lord Lalaniuvalu.

Our final destination before heading back was the Tongan Stonehenge, the most famous Tongan monument. The Ha'amonga 'a Maui Trilithon is a large gate of stone. There are marks on this gate which function as a way to see when the sun sets and rises and when the longest and shortest days of the year are. This means people living here in the past were already aware of the presence of a certain form of time and were actually quite developed back then.

As the land tour ended, we were invited to their church on Sunday and a feast in honor of Fine's 65th birthday. They also prepared the standard Tongan fare including pig in an umu. We enjoyed a lazy Sunday with the family and within 2 hours of our return to the boat, we lifted anchor and headed off on the 1032 mile trip to Opua. We had been watching the weather and all indications were that it was a good time to move on.
Follow our red dots on shiptrak. Time will tell whether we made the right choice of when to leave.