Monday, August 28th

Today is Monday the 28th and we are still hanging out on the island of Vava'u. Last Thursday when we arrived we weren't sure what to expect from this island group and we were shocked by all of the cruisers that have stopped here too. When we sailed into this chain of islands the sight was spectacular. We were about 20 miles to the north when we spotted the tall and sheer limestone cliffs that makes up most of the islands of Vava'u. From what I have seen most of the islands of the south pacific are atoll or volcanic type islands. The first island in Tonga was volcanic, 165 mile south the next big island Vava'u is mostly limestone. Vava'u is made up of 60 islands distributed over a sea area of 18nm east-west and 16nm north-south. On average,for every nautical mile a vessel travels in any direction there are 4.8 picturesque islands.

We arrived and set anchor around 5 pm on Thursday, first thing was to find Mike some lobster. We headed to the Mermaid bar and had a rum and coke visited with some folks we had meet on the way and then headed to the Dancing Rooster restaurant. We were told this place rocks for lobster. Well they only take reservations and we were out of luck. We returned to the Mermaid and Mike had lobster. I have seen them bigger in New Orleans and I think they call them craw fish,crawdads. Mike had a smile on his face and he was happy. After dinner we were tired and headed back to the boat.

The next morning we needed to check in with customs and find a place for laundry. We achieved our goals and cruised around the village of Neiafu. Neiafu is the main village of Vava'u. We found a fresh fruit and vegetable market much like a farmers market and purchased some fresh produce. As we walked around we found everything we needed and some. On our tour we found a Mexican cantina, Tonga Bob's. We had to give it a try. The beer was cold,margaritas' freshly made and the food was incredible. home made tortillas and salsa. The couple who owns and works the restaurant are from Oakland, California. They got tired of the US rat race and sold everything and moved to Vava'u. The day we were in they had live music so we stayed. When I said we stayed we did indeed until closing. The next day we all were moving very slow and pretty much did nothing.

The next day after our day of recovery we pulled anchor and headed to Vaka'eitu island. This anchorage was located in a well protected inlet and the depth was 55ft. Several dive spots a dingy ride away. Mike and Chad dove I watched the boat and recovering from a sinus issue. The boys said the diving was ok and the water was cold. I know cold water and 79 degrees to me isn't cold. These boys say they are from Minnesota, hard to believe. I made them hot coco to warm up and we made dinner watched a dvd and called it a night.

The next morning I decided I needed to get off of the boat. I took my long board and paddled about 300yards to shore and went for a hike. I found a trail through the jungle and walked about half a mile, The sounds were different and I always felt like someone or something was watching me. I was walking and I felt something crawling on my shoulder, a ugly spider had found my bare shoulder. I did notice many spider webs along the trail but never thought I had disturbed any of them. I brushed him off and pressed on. I was more in tune with my surroundings and notices many worms hanging from the trees. I realized that if you brushed into the worms they would fall on me too. A shirt would of been nice. The trail came to a steep drop of red clay, I made my way down and found myself on a secluded beach. I combed the beach , looking for beach glass and any unused shells. All the shells I liked so did the hermit crabs. I found a couple of shells the crabs didn't get and explored the mile long white sandy beach. I finally made my way back to the boat, a few shells,no spider bites. We pulled anchor and headed to the next spot. The Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon is in the middle of Foelifuka island. The only accesses is through a very small inlet about 40ft wide. Low tide the depth is 7ft . Once in the Lagoon there are many anchorages and the water is deep and blue. We found a spot next to a reef . The bow in about 40ft of water and the stern the depth drops beyond 100ft. We are surrounded by sandy beaches and lots of coconut palms. We will stay for the night and do some exploring the next day.

Later in the week I will be able to post pictures.