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Log Date: September 23, 2005 Location: Tonga
We are now in Vava'u - The Kingdom of
Tonga. They are having a bit of "civil unrest". I guess the King
is not sharing his wealth...he must learn to play better with
others...they have already burned one of his homes down - that will
teach him. Went to a Tongan Feast last night. It was not for the unadventurous diner that is for sure. Many scary things on the table to eat. Most things were served in large clam shells(they have giant clams in Tonga which are cleaned and the shells are used as individual serving plates). The table clothes were large green leaves. We ate with our hands - which was great after rubbing DET all over myself to keep the mosquitos away. There was local fish cooked and raw, oysters, squid, mutton, chicken and fish McNuggets, corned beef wrapped in a spinach like leaf with coconut milk, papaya cooked with coconut milk, cole slaw, watermelon, bananas and some other unidentifiable creations. There were woman on the beach when we arrived digging up shell fish which I am certain were served - it doesn't get much fresher than that. I tried most everything and am still alive to talk about it. Most of it was good. The lights went out for a while when the generator ran out of fuel and it was much nicer not seeing what you were eating. They had a "tourist" KAVA ceremony at the end of the feast. You sit in a circle around a large wooden bowl filled with brown dish water looking liquid aka KAVA. Sounds good - huh. The chief/master of ceremony fills a 1/2 coconut shell with Kava from the wooden bowl and drinks the liquid. Then he fills it again and passes it around the circle. The KAVA is suppose to have a calming effect. It also makes your tongue and lips numb similar to getting novacaine at the dentist - only without the pain of the dentist. We both tried the brown dishwater liquid - I am not certain that we had enough to get relaxed, but my lips were tingly. They are doing studies on KAVA in the states to investigate the medicinal possibilities, so if you want to read more about it try a Google search on KAVA. We have snorkeled some fabulous coral reefs and have seen so many different colors of coral. Many reefs have been damaged by recent cyclones but we could already see a lot of new colorful (red, green, turquoise, orange, white, etc.) growth. The water is some of the clearest that we have seen since the Bahamas - you can see the bottom clearly at 35'. We have "drift snorkeled" over shallow coral heads with schools of fish as congested as NYC at rush hour! We saw unusual sea creatures such as Cuddle Fish, clown fish with sea anemone, sea snakes, humpback whales and white tip shark. I personally did not see the shark as if I did I would be dead now of a heart attack. Tonga is a wonderful place and a pleasant surprise to finish out our South Pacific tour before we head to New Zealand. Tonga is inexpensive, relatively clean (relatively clean has taken on a whole new meaning since we have been cruising) and has many yachty services (laundry, bakery and cheap eats!). If you are into sailing, diving, swimming with whales, snorkeling, sea kayaking, fishing or any other water related activity Tonga offers it. They also have secluded resorts (nothing fancy) which have small white beaches to walk on. The water temp is around 85 degrees and the air temp this time of year is in the 80's. Their currency is called pa'anga and right now for $1US you get 1.80 pa'anga. Beer is about 2 pa'anga per bottle. We will both be looking for jobs in New Zealand and will hopefully be able to spend a couple of years there exploring and working on the island. If anyone has contacts that may assist in job finding it would be greatly appreciated. Enjoying Life Onboard. Laura and Susan SV Mystic Traveler
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