Today's port of call was Neiafu, on the island of Vava'u, Tonga. The Vava'u island group is considered the most scenic with 34 islands, but only 21 of them inhabited. The city or town of Neiafu is the capital and the second largest port after Nuku'alofa. The deep water harbor or the Port of Refuge is the major entry point for yachts and smaller cruise ships like the Zaandam. Most of the government agencies and services are located here, as well as the hospital, customs and police departments. You can find a post office, shops, and small supermarkets with restaurants and upbeat bars. It is much different than yesterday's port in that it is more rural and is also built on higher ground and hillsides. It is as tropical as it gets with lush green growth like a jungle.
Vava'u is considered a yachting playground with hidden caves, beaches and coral reefs. Vava'u is one of the last places in the world where you can swim with whales when they are here between July and October. It is also a place for bird-watching (although we saw very few), snorkeling, diving, and deep sea fishing. The main catch are the black, blue, and striped marlin, sailfish, barracuda, wahoo, tuna, and the giant trevally.
There were four excursions offered today beginning with a cultural land tour to a vanilla plantation and a swim at Ano Beach. A snack was included and a kava ceremony. There was also a tapa cloth and mat weaving demonstration for 3 ¾ hours for $120. The next tour went to Nuku Island and Swallow Cave on a small boat. You could swim with your n snorkel equipment and enjoy a pre-package lunch with one bottle of water. That ran for 5 hours and $200. A Polynesian culture tour and swim was 3 hours for $100 with a visit to a botanical garden and one bottle of water. Ano Beach Cultural Experience was 2 hours for $60 where you witnessed the Umu, or underground oven, with a chance to sample the food. A kava ceremony, tapa cloth demo and mat weaving were included also.
We have been here several times on past cruises, so we knew where to go for site-seeing. This was also a tender port. The ship sailed part way into the harbor, then launched the tenders to take folks ashore. This has always been a tricky port to access due to tidal fluctuations. They have finally gotten a spot where we could exit the boat easily, and get back on with the use of portable steps. We left the ship around 10am and met with Vini, who escorted us down to deck A once again. We were the last to board the boat. By the way, when Daniel, the cruise director, announced that the ship was cleared, he added that it was sunny and partly cloudy. But more important, there was zero chance of rain. Well, guess what? He was wrong…..it did rain pretty hard at times, but we took his word for a dry day and left the umbrellas back on the ship. We know better. This is the tropics and rain can fall at any time. Duh….
The ride was slow-going since the speed limit was 5 knots between the islands we were passing. It was scenic however. We pulled alongside the cement dock at the Halaevala Wharf where a group of locals were singing and dancing for the newcomers. Right outside the gated area was the Utukalongalu Market, an outdoor and indoor produce market. Inside this market, there are locally-made arts and crafts and island jewelry. They specialize in blister pearls, and did have some for sale in the market. It surprised us to find their prices were between $200 and $500 Tongan Paanga which is about double the US dollar. We would have no way of knowing the quality of these pendants and earrings, so the best bet would be to stick to a pearl shop in town. We did take a lot of photos, but bought nothing today.
We climbed up the side street to the main road and followed it to the Catholic Church and Convent high on the hillside. We believe the name is St. Joseph and it resembled churches we have seen in Portugal. The road continued out of town and we passed several homes, a small store, one of the large schools, and a few destroyed properties such as a resort and a nightclub. On our first visit here, we must have walked four or five miles further away from town, and ended up at a beach of some sort. The tide was out and the beach was more rocks and broken shells that anything else.
So today we turned around past the school. That's when it began raining. First a drizzle, then heavy rain. Remember, it was not supposed to rain at all. We took some shelter under huge roadside trees until they got too wet. Lucky for us, the rain let up, and we continued our way back towards town. On the way, a few local moms with kids stopped their cars and offered us a ride. A few other vehicles stopped, but they were taxis. We thanked them, but said we were fine, and the rain would stop soon. The local folks here seem a lot more friendly than in Nuku'alofa yesterday. We remember that from our previous visits. Even the school age kids were polite waving and saying hello. There is a respect for the older people that sure does not seem to exist in most societies these days. It is most refreshing.
We were just in time for lunch and did see that the restaurant we like was opened today. It was a long walk down a flight of stairs to reach the harbor level, but well worth it. We took seats on their patio restaurant and ordered two Heinekens, then two more before our order of Hawaiian pizza was brought to the table. Relaxing for an hour with a pleasant breeze blowing was really nice. We did recall that last year, they did not accept American Express, so we used Visa with no problem. Walking back up those stairs took a few minutes, but we made it back to the road.
Back at the wharf, we looked over their outside tables of treasures, but did not find anything that caught our eye. The other cruise guests made up for it, as they bought many sarongs and dresses along with the pearls and coral jewelry. This will probably be the last stop where these treasures are affordable. French Polynesia and the Cook Islands will have higher prices as we recall.
There was quite a long line of folks waiting for the tender boat. One filled, then another one came right away. We made it on the second boat and got back to the ship by 3pm. All aboard was 4:30pm and we waited for the Captain to come on with his talk. It did not happen until 5:15pm, when he announced that we had a seriously ill person who needed to be air-lifted to a hospital. He added that there may be a flight to Australia for this person, but it would not happen until tomorrow. Apparently, this person will stay in the medical center on the ship until then. For that reason, he said we will remain in the calm waters off of Neiafu overnight. He will be able to make up the lost time in the three days it will take us to get to the Cook Islands by Saturday. We sure did not see this coming, nor did the urgent care patient. We wish them well.
At dinner, we ordered one bay shrimp Cobb with celery slaw (hold the blue cheese). One of us had a corn fritter which was very nice. Each of us had the Caesar salad, followed by mains of pork roast and sweet and sour chicken with extra rice. Both came mounded up with ample portions. Dessert was one Mexican flan and a scoop of chocolate fudge ice cream. Usually our waiter Sarif tells us when we change our clocks, but tonight he forgot. There was a note left on the bed with the hour ahead notice. Right now, it is approaching midnight, so time to sign off.
Bill & Mary Ann
