February, 2015 | Captain, who's driving?

We crossed the International date Line on our way here, clocks went forward 23 hours and I write from the future for most of you, excepting those in Australasia of course.

After some days at sea, our feet on dry land, once more. Our arrival in Nuku’Alofa, Tonga was delayed though. After working our speed for an ETA pilot at the inner boarding ground, we arrived to find a ‘queue’. The ‘Seven Seas Mariner’ was on our berth, the ‘Marina’, which was going in before us, had to wait for the pilot to get off the “SSM” before he could board and then, finally, we would berth.

We ‘killed’ time, waiting outside the reefs until it was time to start our entry, a winding, twisting route through the outer reef and then several alterations to avoid shoal patches and more reefs, before we arrived in deeper the water of the lagoon and our berth.

Screenshot of arrival. Our track is magenta colour. Coming in from the north, we 'kill' time before turning to the south-east onto the first approach line. We alter to the south briefly, this to avoid the outbound "Seven Seas Mariner" and then turn to the south-west, over the reef, (or shallow section), thence into the deeper lagoon and the berth.

Screenshot of arrival. This is not used for navigation and I show it merely for your delectation. Our track is magenta colour. Coming in from the north, we ‘kill’ time before turning to the south-east onto the first approach line. We alter to the south briefly, this to avoid the outbound “Seven Seas Mariner” and then turn to the south-west, over the reef, (or shallow section), thence into the deeper lagoon and the berth.

Approaching the dock

A view of Nuku’alofa

The dock and adjacent reef

View from the dock; the King’s Palace centre and Nuku’alofa

It was at 8 p.m. that we docked at the Vuna pier, a welcoming committee of the Tonga Police Brass band and Tongan dancers waited for us. Guests were treated to almost an hour of wonderful music and dancing.

The Police band played magnificently

Tongan dancers greeted us

As soon as the gangway was in and the authorities had cleared the ship, guests were ashore. It was Saturday evening and the town, just a short walk away, beckoned. Tonga observes a strict “Sunday Law”, everything closes at 11 p.m. on Saturday night and doesn’t reopen until Monday morning, so they had a lot to squeeze in during the 3 hours remaining to them.

Sunset over Nuku’alofa

Sunday was a day of rest; families gathered together and went to church, before having meals together and whiling away the hours. We hired a car and decided to explore the island. In every village we passed, the sounds of singing could be heard from churches, it sounded more akin to a choir than a ‘congregation’, boy can they sing.

Whilst I drove, (on the left-hand side 🙂 ), the 3 ladies, Karen and 2 guests, Leslie and Peggy watched the scenery go by. I stopped often, taking photos of course.

The reefs are littered with wrecks

Captain James Cook landed here in 1777 and it is commemorated by a plaque at the site where he met with the King of Tonga. The banyan tree under which the meeting took place, has long since disappeared, so concrete and the plaque have to make do.

Captain Cook’s landing place

We pass families walking to, or from church and the opportunity for some photos.

Dad and his daughter, in their Sunday best, on their way to church

Mum adjusting her dress before a grand entrance.

All dressed-up for church

Another dad and daughter on their way to church

We stop at Tonga’s most famous object, an ancient trilithon, dating back for 1200 AD, similar to some of the more familiar (to me), stones at Stonehenge in U.K.

Some facts

Tonga’s most famous monument; an ancient stone trilithon, believed to be a calendar

It is here that we meet a ‘Kiwi’, or New Zealander, a gentleman, (Policeman as it turns out) who is showing a friend round with his wife. He offers to show us some of the other sights, so we follow his vehicle. It’s just as well he’d offered, some of the places, we would have never found; down rough tracks or through long grass, they were poorly signposted, (if at all) and we would have missed them.

We had to drive down this kind of track to see some sights

A natural Land Bridge

Robin and Karen through the undergrowth

The climb down to the Landbridge

Land bridge with pick-up on the top

A hidden restaurant for lunch

Our lunch venue

View from the Verandah

The view from the beach

Lunch! Omelette

Then onto various sights and sounds and I leave you with a selection of photos.

Cathedral

‘Tsunami’ rock in the middle of nowhere. Local folklore says it was deposited by a tsunami, however it is probably as a result of an ancient volcanic eruption.