Sea Days: Oct 28 and 29
On a cruise of this length, it’s nice to have a break or buffer between destinations for several reasons. Perhaps to reflect upon and more fully appreciate the place you just left, to rest and recuperate physically, mentally or emotionally or to prepare and organize oneself for the next ports of call. Two passengers from the Volendam are getting a lot more downtime this week than they would have liked. While in Savusavu on Friday, October 27, they somehow got separated from their passports. To re-enter the United States in San Diego on November 22, they, of course, will need passports; otherwise they’ll spend Thanksgiving weekend at the port. The only good option available to them was to fly from Savusavu to Suva where there is a US embassy. It will open for business on Monday morning, the 30th. Their plan is to take care of getting new passports in Suva in time to fly to Moorea and meet up with the ship on October 8 or 9. Mind you, this is all at their expense. Don’t let this happen to you! Always bring some form of government issued ID other than a passport with you for use in getting on and off the ship. Never, ever carry your passport onshore with you unless you are REQUIRED to do so by the country you are visiting. These folks will spend thousands of dollars and miss several divine ports due to their negligence. It’s a pity.
On the two sea days of October 28 and 29, we cruised 456 miles southeast from Savusavu, Fiji to the city of Nuka’alofa on the island of Tongatapu. By making this crossing, we moved from the westernmost point of our itinerary to the southernmost. During the crossing, we weren’t really focused on latitude and longitude, we were more concerned with preparing for Halloween.
Creepy, crawly critters started turning up in public places.
Knives were out!
Even the flower arrangement in my room got into the spirit.
The Kingdom of Tonga: Oct 30 and 31
We arrived on October 30 to a beautiful day in Nuka’alofa, capital of The Kingdom of Tonga on the country’s southern island of Tongatapu. The kingdom has been ruled by a monarch for over 1,000 years. Tonga was never colonized: it has always remained a sovereign nation. In 2010, reforms in governance reduced the monarch’s role from Absolute Monarch to Constitutional Monarch and a Prime Minister and Parliament were elected. You’ve probably heard more about Tonga’s athletes than it’s government. Tonga is a powerhouse in rugby and birthplace to many NFL players.
I headed off the Volendam as soon as we docked at 8:00 for a day of snorkeling. There were 12 of us with 2 guides: Lahaina and Tomu, a captain and a boat hand. We visited two different reefs, both just outside the main channel which meant the current was strong and the water was cold. (I was not wearing my wetsuit.) As for the current, that worked out fine because we drifted, and the boat came to pick us up. As for the cold water, well, it just stayed cold, but we were distracted from it by the healthy corals and fish we were seeing.
I later found out the reason for the reef’s great condition: we were snorkeling just outside the boundary line of the Tongan Royal Waters. The fine for being caught IN the Tongan Royal Waters is the equivalent of $100,000 US!!That explains how nice the reef is in the photos our guide, Lahaina, made that day.
After the first reef, we were treated to hot tea and fresh local fruit while the Lahaina told us her experience of Saturday, January 15, 2022 when Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, henceforth known as “the volcano” erupted.
The volcano is 40 miles north of Tongatapu where it sits on the ocean floor. It rises 6,500 feet to a 3-mile-wide caldera located 500 feet below sea level. It had started seismic activity about a month prior to the eruption. On January 15, the caldera collapsed into itself, drawing in megatons of seawater as it did so. (If you’ve ever dropped water into hot oil, you kinda get the idea of what happened next.) Yes, there was a massive explosion, the largest atmospheric explosion ever recorded by modern instruments. It’s estimated that over 2 cubic MILES of debris and ash wasthrust into the atmosphere, along with megatons of water vapor. The steam and debris column rose 36 MILES into the atmosphere. The resulting tsunami was experienced as far away as Peru where 2 people were killed by it. A tsunami of 66 feet hit parts of Tongatapu, but Nuka’alofa was spared the worst of it. As we had seen while snorkeling, its reefs sustained some damage from boulders of lava rock being swept along with the tsunami.
Lahaina was babysitting a niece the day of the eruption. At alittle after 4:00 in the afternoon, she saw huge flocks of birds flying south. They knew something was coming. About 15 minutes later, the first in a series of 4 quick shock waves that all Tongans would hear and feel passed through Lahaina and her neice. By the time they felt the fourth one, the sunny Saturday afternoon had become dark as night. They ran inside as stones and ash rained down on the city. The next day, Sunday, all stores and businesses in Nuka’alofa were open in order to clean up and get aid efforts underway. That’s the only Sunday in Lahaina’s lifetime that ANYTHING in Tonga has been open on a Sunday. There are plenty of arial videos online if you want to see and learn more about the eruption.
Then it was time for our 2nd snorkel. Due to the cold water, I swam back to the ship early which gave me some time to get up on the top deck and make a few photos.
The island in the distance is Fafa Island. It was formerly a resort with a very popular restaurant attached, especially popular on Sundays when EVERYTHING on the mainland is closed. The tsunami from the volcano hit Fafa and pretty much destroyed everything on it, the resort and restaurant, and killed a lot of vegetation on the island’s back half due to salt water that still stands there due to the washout. We went to amble around a bit and see what a tsunami can do.
We were back on the Volendam by 1:00. After a quick lunch, I walked down the pier which ends right downtown and just to the right of the monarch’s palace: a big Victorian heap of red and white.
Apparently, the Tongans love their red and white.
The Tongan flag is a red and white cross in the upper left corner of a red field.
Picket fences are painted red and white.
Entire buildings are painted red and white.
The market is decked out in red and white.
Even the chickens are red and white!!
At 4:30, we were treated to an extensive farewell ceremony by troupes of Tongan dancers in colorful native dress. (Sorry, but my phone was on the charger, not on me.) One couple almost missed the boat. The gangway was being taken apart when they appeared dockside. They must really have liked Tonga, because despite being so late and having everyone aboard watching, they put their bags down and danced along for a few minutes!
The sail away was quite a show as well. The Volendam was moored at starboard, and during the day, the winds had picked up to 25 knots blowing directly into the port side. In essence, we really didn’t need mooring ropes at that point because the entire length of the ship was being blown, nice and snug, intothe dock. All of the mooring lines were removed except for one little one forward and one aft. All the pod thrusters were turned perpendicular to face the dock. We waited. Then waited some more. Finally, at a moment when the winds dipped just bit, the pods all roared as one into maximum thrust. The entire vessel shook as the Volendam battled the wind to get clear of the dock. The maximum thrust of the pods is 25 knots per hour and the wind speed was 23 knots per hour, so as you can imagine, it was a battle slowly won, but win it the Volendam did. We waved goodbye to the southernmost latitude of our cruise and head north to the Tongan island of Vava’u.
Vava’u is actually a conglomeration of one main island and 40 other smaller ones surrounding it. On a map, its reminiscent of the Peloponnese Peninsula. Our destination was Neifu.
As you can see from the map, we would thread the needle to get to our anchorage point, and the views, both cruising in at sunrise and cruising out at sunset, were spectacular!
Geologically and topographically, Vava’u has more in common with islands in Micronesia than it does with the Polynesian islands, as it was formed by upwellings of the sea floor, not volcanic activity. It’s land mass is limestone, not accretions of lava. Even from my cabin, it was easy to see the tell-tell concave cuts the sea water had made into the limestone cliffs.
I took an excursion in the morning to the Eneio Botanical Garden. The garden was totally unkempt, but well planned and laid out and had a wonderful back story worth the price of admission. The tour was given by the owner and creator of the garden, Haniteli Fa’annu, age 77. (His youngest son, age 15, tagged along!)
As told by Haneteli: All land in Tonga had traditionally been owned by the Crown. In 1954, that changed with the introduction of the Land Rights of Tonga which granted 40 acres of land to all married men and 20 acres of land to all first-born sons, which meant that Haneteli, at the age of eight, became the owner of 20 acres of land. It also meant, per the law, that both Haneteli’s father and Haneteli had to plant 10 coconut trees per acre in order to KEEP the land. (Note: The Crown of course would benefit from the tax on each pound of copra sold.)
Haneteli’s father was a wise man. He told Haneteli: “We will plant the coconuts 4 per hole. That way, we will have acreage to plant row crops.” And that they did. Haneteli learned how to plant and care for a grove that takes years to bear fruit. He also learned how to prepare the earth, and plant and harvest row crops. He learned that he loved the land he had been given and that he loved coaxing it to productivity. He learned there was a lot more he needed to learn, so it was off to something new to him called school. Grade. Middle. High. Eventually, to university in Hawaii. He earned an undergraduate degree in agricultural science and a Masters’ degree in agronomics. He then returned to Vava’u to manage his twenty acres, as well as his father’s forty. Once there, he began planting specimen plants from all points across the Pacific, as well as row crops of vegetables from across the world. He kept meticulous records of planting cycles, growing conditions and yields. In 2006 when the King of Tonga recognized him for his efforts, the word got out to botanists across the globe that there was now a botanical garden in Tonga. Skeptics flew in to validate its credibility. They came. Saw. Apologized. And, then asked if they might use Haneteli’s data!!
After the tour, we were treated to fruit and refreshing coconut water at the bottom of the hill at a beach that was part of Haneteli’s father’s 40 acres.
It looks out onto a wide bay, the reef spanning it and beyond to the wild open ocean. The tide was coming in, with large breakers crashing into the far cliffs.
I went for a swim and got pushed far further inland by the strong current than I had estimated I might, so I had some slogging to do to get back to the beach. Along the way, I had an opportunity to get up close and personal with some of Vava’u’s cliffs. They are indeed layer after layer of fossilized shells.
To begin our All Hallows Eve, we had a wonderful sunset sail away through the straits of Vava’u.
Later that night, the lights suddenly went out on top deck, and howling was heard all about.
Down in the Ocean Bar, Master bartender Joey got his cauldron boiling.
Eventually, he managed to conjure up his little sister!!
She’s a very bad girl! beep beep
Lots of silliness and a few scares ensued.
The cop from Village People showed up.
And then there’s this scallywag pirate and his even more skallywaggering wench!!. Absolutely, hands down, the BEST costumed and hands down most compatible couple on the ship!!
Mahalo and Aloha!
Will Gibson's South Pacific Journal 
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