Commodore
October 10, 2023

Wednesday 11 October – idyllic Mounu island resort

After breakfast we wiggled our way out of the bay and around some reefs to get to our next anchorage. We only moved a couple of miles, to a beautiful tiny island surrounded by a stunning white beach, which has a small 4 cabin resort on it. Rowan had tried to contact them for supper as apparently the food is amazing but no luck. We had read that a Kiwi couple built the resort, both have died and a daughter, Kirsty has taken it over.

As soon as we were settled we dinghied into the resort to try and book us in for supper, but Kirsty the owner, was in town. There was one kiwi couple who were staying at the resort who were very chatty, encouraging us to walk around the island and pointing out the snorkel spots. We walked around the island with Kirsty’s puppy gambolling along with us, a very cute pup who was obviously thrilled with a bit of attention. We found the grave of Kirsty’s dad, in a lovely spot, what an idyllic resting place. We got back on JeldiJeldi and went for a lovely snorkel on the reef, the coral was looking in good nick, not a lot of fish, but some colourful coral and loads of bright blue star fish.

It is remarkably chilly, quite a lot of cloud cover, cold when you are wet and in the wind. We went back to PolePole, where I had a deliciously hot shower, a treat after our motor here, which had heated the water. A boat arrived early afternoon and it turned out to be Kirsty returning from town with some of the crew from the only other boat here. Turns out the other boat is full of very keen kite surfers who have sailed up from NZ and now have some engine problems. Rowan rushed to shore to speak to Kirsty about eating there tonight but sadly she said that they have struggled to get fish and she does not have enough food but we could go for a drink. The boat next door had a rack of about 8 kite surf boards, a couple of them went out for an hour or so. Rowan is itching to go out on his but is waiting to have a few more lessons first. The boat packed up and went off to a different anchorage, so we had the place to ourselves. The sun came out mid afternoon, encouraging Rowan to go snorkelling again, I did not want to go after my hot shower! Rowan went around the island behind us which is the other anchorage and there was Zelda and another boat. The coral was not as good as here and we were very happy to have this anchorage to ourselves.

5pm we headed into the resort, we had a lovely sunset drink on the deck with Kirsty and the NZ couple. The Kiwi guy pointed out a steam jet on the not too distant horizon coming from a volcano. It’s been blowing all day so lets hope it is not brewing up for a big blow! The last big undersea volcanic eruption here in 2022 caused a 15m Tsunami wave that wreaked havoc. Kirsty seemed quite relaxed about it but she admitted it is not always steaming! Fascinating chats, Kirsty has obviously fallen out big time with her sister over inheriting the resort, there must be a story there which she was going nowhere near. The Kiwi couple lived in the Middle East for years and their kids went to boarding school at Gordonstoun in Scotland, which is quite something. Kirsty had to go and cook supper for the kiwi couple, who are the only guests. The staff consists of one Tongan couple and their daughter, so a very tight operation. Kirsty is obviously a very keen kite surfer, and has had a few holidays to the Kenya coast and recognised the name PolePole on her way in. She is obviously struggling to get customers at the moment. Her website has been hacked during the fall out from Tsunami which basically meant no comms in this part of Tonga for a year. Now they are back in signal but her website has been attacked. Rowan said she should contact Google as they are pretty good at sorting those kind of things out, and she replied maybe she should just speak to Sergey Brin as he comes to kite surf here! I’m sure she has a lot of stories. It was a fun evening with another great sunset.