Tonga is the only country in the South Pacific that has never been colonized. It is a small kingdom with a king, where culture and tradition has remained the same for centuries. There are 171 or 176 islands belonging to Tonga, with Tongatapu the largest. And this is the island we will visit today, at the capital city of Nuku'alofa.
Captain James Cook came here in 1776, and named the area the Friendly Islands. He arrived to islands with a 3000 year old history and 1000 year old monarchy. Bet they were invited to share the Kava ceremony as was the norm back then as it is now.
Missionaries arrived here in the 19th century and converted most of the islanders to Christianity. Even to this day, if you arrive on a Sunday in this city, you will be treated to the church choirs during their services.
We usually walk the town and the extensive harbor road, since we have taken most all of the tours here. Today shore excursions offered a city and island tour, as well as a panoramic drive to see the beaches, blowholes, caves, and flying foxes. We also took the motor launch to Fafa Island, a 17 acre resort with surrounding sandy beaches. There were also similar boat rides to islands for snorkeling and lunch. Prices ranged from $60 to $240 for 2 ½ to 4 ½ hours.
The carpets in the rooms on our deck were scheduled to be shampooed between 9am and 2pm, so we left the ship around 10am since we had not seen the shampoo guys yet. That was probably due to the fact they had a rather big emergency drill for the crew at the same time. Good time to leave the ship.
The skies were mostly sunny, but it sure was warm and sticky once again. And barely a breeze stirred as we left the ship and crossed over the long pier to shore. The souvenir tents were set up, but the vendors even looked stressed today. And there was no pressure from the taxi drivers, who usually follow you down the street promoting tours.
We headed directly to the two-story main market a few blocks away from the ship. They have a little bit of everything here like toiletries, local arts and crafts, jewelry, wooden carvings, tapa cloth handbags and fans, and fruits and veggies. Upstairs, there is a large array of clothing and even more island jewelry. Today we just stayed on the lower level, and did purchase a pair of seashell earrings that will match the new Tahitian shell necklace.
Crossing the street, we went in search of Marco's Pizza, mainly to see if it was still in business. It was not opened, but we happened to get lucky when the owner of this small restaurant arrived in his vehicle. He did confirm that he would open the café at 11:30am, but this was his last week at this location. He said he was moving to a new building around the corner and up the street. This is a good move for him, because the old place was not the most inviting pizza restaurant we have seen, although he did have a wood-fired oven there.
Turning right at the next corner, we went to see where all the singing was coming from. It was the Catholic Church, St. Anthony of Padua, and the group of young school kids attending a service there. Their pastor was encouraging them to out-sing each other, so they were raising the roof. Directly across the road, was the Royal Tombs, where Tongan royalty have been buried since 1893. The surrounding grassy fields have always been considered sacred, but one tourist had entered the gates, and walked up to the tombs to take photos. Few locals were in the area, so nothing was said.
On this same street was the Centennial Church or the Free Church of Tonga. These days it is fenced off and in bad condition. It had sustained considerable damage during a cyclone, and it has yet to be repaired. As old as it looked, this church had been rebuilt in 1985, after having survived for 100 years. Hopefully they will bring it back to life someday.
We always walk to the newer church, where the king and his family attend Mass when they are in town on Sundays. Close to this church are huge mango trees where we can find the fruit bats hanging upside down during the heat of the day. Once again, like back in December, we saw none. But then, there was no fruit in those trees either. So when the source of food is gone, the bats re-locate.
Heading towards the ocean, we saw the Royal Palace, which was built in 1867 with pre-fabricated pieces shipped from New Zealand. It is a stately white Victorian and was once the residence of the king. These days the palace is used for ceremonial occasions only.
Hala Vuna Road begins here and goes for a few miles along the waterfront. It is a pleasant walk, but today it was really hot. The only people we saw, with the exception of a few friends from the ship that like to walk like us, were local taxi drivers and a few local families. The taxi guys will park under a tree, and sit in the cars until a call comes in. This morning the tide was up, and we did see a few shorebirds jumping on the rocks. If the tide had been out exposing the reef, many more birds would have been here. Also, we saw no pigs during our hike. Local people that live on this stretch of road, will let their pigs wonder into the reef to root for sea worms and shellfish. The first time we witnessed the large domestic pigs in the shallow water, we thought we were seeing things.
Anyway, we went from one shade tree to another, looking for an empty bench. There was a perfect bench in the shade, but a local taxi fellow was sitting there. He invited us to share the long bench, so we did. He was so nice, and asked where we were from. Then the conversation went to sports when we said San Francisco was our home for many years. Football must be very popular here, and he could name every famous quarterback that we could recall. He told us that this week was special for the school kids, since they were having competitions with all sporting games. Then his cell phone rang, and he was off to pick up a client.
By this time, we had made it as far as Little Italy, which is a lovely little hotel with a nice restaurant. However, they did not open until 5pm for dinner. It had always been on the recommended list on the HAL port guide, but now, there were no restaurants listed. So we wisely decided to go back to the restaurant where we had lunch last December. Once we walked into the front entrance and were seated, one of the owners recognized us, which was surprising. Actually, she was so happy to have customers, because due to this virus, four big cruise ships had been turned away recently, and all of the tourist-related businesses were hurting. She said one of those ships held 4000 passengers, but did not know which line it was. They saw it arriving to dock at Vuna Pier, then it was denied entrance, and left. In fact, we learned later on, that our entrance was a 50/50% chance of happening last night. The Captain said that the health officials in Tonga had to really go over our questionnaires we turned in a week ago before we would be cleared.
Back to lunch. We immediately ordered two locally-brewed ice cold Maui beers. Excellent. Then two more arrived. One of us ordered the Hawaiian sandwich, and the other a Bolognese spaghetti plate. Both came with a small side salad. The pasta was the closest to what we cook at home so far this trip. Topping off the meal, we shared a banana split. Even though we sat in a screened enclosed porch, we had a fan at our table. It was going to be difficult going back outside in that unrelenting heat, but all good things must come to an end.
Back-tracking, we did not stop at many more icons of the town, and made our way back to the ship. The air conditioning was life-saving. So were the Cokes on ice we had while in our room working on photos. The sail away was held at the Seaview Pool, and the brave folks came out for the slight breeze that popped up. The local police band was in full force, entertaining us while the ropes were dropped. Tongan dancers and singers put in another shore side show, as we sailed away from the island. Sure is nice to see such a welcome and goodbye, as many places do nothing like this. Truly, Tonga has earned the title of the Friendly Islands, as Cook suggested. And searching the shoreline, we did see some of those pigs going into the water. It is always fun visiting with friends at these sail always as well. Then the big announcement came, and changed the mood for everyone onboard.
Captain Mercer had delivered his normal talk of the day, but had a huge announcement concerning changes that had been made to our upcoming itinerary. Due to the evolving situation with the COVID-19 virus (coronavirus), and security concerns, the ports in Indonesia, Singapore, the Maldives, and Kenya have been cancelled. Not a surprise to us at all. It would not be unthinkable that even more stops may be changed as well.
Now the new itinerary will include a stop in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, three days in Mumbai, India, a day in Praslin, Seychelles, and an extra day in Tanzania. The one aspect about the unexpected visit to India, is that we have 10 year visas for that country, but in an old passport. The morning that we left for the airport January 1st, we had not planned on bringing those passports with us. But at the last minute, we decided to pack them just in case, so we did. As for those folks who do not have visas for India, we have not heard if there will be a blanket visa for everyone. These visas were difficult to obtain, and we have never heard of any shortcuts in that process.
Needless to say, that was the topic of conversation for the rest of the day, and for sure, for weeks to come. Of course, all of the shore excursions that were booked in these ports through HAL, would be credited back to the guests. However, there are undoubtedly many independent travelers who arranged private tours. The question they all had was if they attempted to go on those tours anyway, they would not be allowed back on the ship. This notice came to our rooms late last night. To make matters even worse, there has been continuing problems with getting and sending emails again. Or even getting online. Well, at least we are not packing our luggage today, and preparing to go home. At least…..not yet. Nothing would surprise us at this point.
With bypassing Indonesia, that means most of the crew members will not be seeing their families and friends as they had expected. And that is sad. But we suspect that the crew had already been warned of these changes at least a week or more ago, and were sworn to secrecy with the guests. And that is understandable, but they would have to abort their families travel plans in order to get to Java or Bali, as most would involve flights, cars, bus, or ferries to get to those islands.
There was a beautiful sunset this evening, and we caught it from deck six forward. We agreed that it was too cloudy to see a green flash, but we sure did notice that the sky was pulsating green around the sun as it went down below the horizon. And out of seemingly nowhere, were dozens of birds, possibly shearwaters or similar, flying right above the water around the front of the bow. Once the sun disappeared, so did the birds.
So dinner was interesting as we all discussed the many changes, and the fact that this is still a developing story. Things can turn on a dime, depending on how this virus spreads. The best we can all do is continue to take it a day at a time, and enjoy the places we will visit….and stay healthy. That is number one in our book at this point of time.
We now have two days at sea as we sail south to Auckland, New Zealand. At least we have not been turned away from there………yet.
Bill & Mary Ann
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Report #113 Nuku'alofa, Tonga February 28, 2020 Friday Partly sunny & 81 degrees
