Whilst attracting the fish with weetbix Chris took a series of stunning photos with the underwater camera. The water was crytal clear to 10m or more.

You might have to look closely but there is a whale coming towards us. Chris sighted a pair breeching in the distance so we headed over , joined by a whale watching boat. There were 2 whales and they spent quite a time mooching about. The whales come to the sheltered waters of Vavau from Jult to November to mate and raise the calves.

This is us at the fabulous La Paella Restaurant. It is beautifully situated above the sheltered lagoon on the island of Tapana and run by a family of Spaniards who serve really fabulous food , the highlight being paella. Then the music starts and every one is provided with a percussion instrument to join in. Other highlights were the pursuit of a small goat around the restaurant and the lizards on the ceiling. We're all looking a bit the worse for wear.

More sundowners

Her's a bit of whats under the water

Each anchorage was populated by one or two other boats at most. This is the island of Taunga which was surrounded by turquoise water . We discovered that the Warwick chain of hotels is planning a big developement which is a bit sad.

Like many of the lagoons we visited, the coral is dead . The "Coral Garden's " between Vaka Eitu and Nuapapa was reasonably spectactular but this presumed that you could get through the break over the reef in one piece. Onlt 2 of us managed. I suspect the coral is so good because its inaccessible

Tony and Carol enjoying sundowners the first night

Our first stop was at the "Swallow's Cave", a sea cave where swifts (and Bats and a giant spider according to Ali) hangout. This is under the water inside the cave.

The Boat

We hired a Wright 41 catamaran from the Moorings franchise. She was an old boat and had seen better days but the accomodation was good and most important things worked. Unfortunately the GPS we had brought along was inaccurate and constantly needed to be recalibrated but on the other hand line of sight navigation was perfectly adequate. Apart from one day of rain, which didn't stop the intrepid snorkellers we had clear blue skys amd warmth (av 25C) . The boat in the foreground is a Beneteau.

The First Glimpse of Vavau

Below are the islands we sailed around

TONGA SAILING

The Drummond and Chenco families (9 of us) escaped the Melbourne winter chill and headed north east to the Kingdom of Tonga to sample the islands lifestyle around Vavau. Tonga is made up of 3 island groups and Vavau is the northern most. It is a small group of islands surrounded by a fringing reef and is thus sheltered from the pacific swell. Here we are at Sydney Airport before the 5 hour flight to Tongatapu, the Southern most group where we landed at the capital Nuku'alofa.