We dragged ourselves away from our lovely anchorage this morning. We have checked out the weather and we need to head south on Wednesday or Thursday, to the middle chain of islands in Tonga, called Pangai. After Thursday the wind picks up in the wrong direction. So we thought with two more days here we better get exploring the islands and bays around here.
It was the right decision, we had a lovely motor through all sorts of incredible limestone eroded islands. We landed up in another gorgeous bay. We realised what a small community of sailors are out here, as we knew both boats anchored in the bay we settled into – Finnish Zelda who came whale watching with us, and S African Onyx who we met in the Mango Cafe.
Blue dot is tonight’s anchorage
Leaving Port Maurelle
So many islands along the way
Eroded limestone islands
Loads of caves
These islands would be very confusing without the chart, they all look the same
The water is an incredible colour it is so clear
We had a wonderful long kayak, going to a couple of lovely beaches, and around an island. The water is so clear, it was as good as snorkelling, when we paddled over the coral. We went ashore at the main big beach in our bay where we are anchored. We met David who lives here with his family, what an amazing place to live. He was sweeping the beach around this enormous fig tree with the most incredible shade, where his wife and daughter were plaiting plant fibres to make belts, which is part of their traditional dress. Turns out he serves meals for 6 or more people with 24 hour notice. We jumped at it, hoping that Zelda and Onyx would join us.
We paddled back via Zelda who were actually pulling up their anchor, they are joining a Swedish boat at another anchorage for the night but are going to return tomorrow for the meal. The S Africans couldn’t afford it, so Rowan admitted that we had already committed to the meal, so we would pay. The guy jumped at it, his partner wanted to come back to us. We will see. It should be a great experience.
Some of Rowan’s drone photos
You can see the enormous fig tree behind the wrecked boat
We kayaked to the white beach
Then we kayaked around this island
The beach we paddled to
We found this fat starfish on the beach
David’s family under the enormous fig tree, it is like a house it is so big
This boat was wrecked in the Tsunami a couple of years ago, right in front of the fig tree
Rowan out paddle boarding
Gorgeous sunset again
Another still night in a pitch dark bay.
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