Ha’apai: Crown Jewels of Tonga

We loved Ha’apai. It’s a bit off the beaten path for cruisers because it consists of atolls and a massive volcano with no safe anchorages in westerly winds. Winds this time of year are typically out of the east, but there is nowhere to quickly slip into if the wind changes. It was blowing quite hard the first week we were there. It was always from the east though so we were able to find protection even if it meant spending a bit more time on the boat than exploring. Our first anchorage at the north end of Foa was an incredible anchorage in crystal clear tourquoise water that was well protected from the southeasterly winds. Conveniently there was also a nearby eco-resort with great food and cold beer. We found great protection on the leeward side of Uoleva as well, but the wind conditions were rough so we only snorkeled the nearby reef, seeing scribbled rabbitfish for the first time, and skipped exploring the island. The second week the wind died down a bit which was a nice change.

We enjoyed a lot of great day sailing from island to island. Lack of protection due to the low lying islands meant that whatever wind was blowing had full access to our sails. During one of our nice daysails between islands sailing under jib only, Mark noticed the jib was luffing (flapping in the wind) strangely at the top. Upon further inspection, he discovered the aluminum foil extrusions of the furler had become separated near the top, meaning the rivets had broken free. We’re not sure when this actually happened since visibility of the top of the jib is typically blocked by the mainsail, but we had noticed furling of the jib had become a little more difficult in recent weeks. Luckily since the failure happened near the top, the functionality of the furler and sail was mostly unaffected. The main downside was that the sail was being twisted slightly differently at that spot causing the sail to de-power though not causing any further damage. We reached out to the local sailing community to source replacement rivets, and had several folks reach out with spares they had (awesome). Upon further digging through our manuals onboard, Mark discovered we had actually put the furler spares with the manuals. We now await calm winds to fix this problem. We plan to unfurl the sail and hoist Mark up the mast to assist dropping the sail across the split foil. Then we’ll use a spare halyard to slightly raise the whole furler on the forestay to rejoin the foil, and Mark will rivet them back together. In the meantime, we’ve been sailing with the genoa instead of the jib. This experience really drove home how much we appreciate the redundancy of our boat design with the dual head sail setup.

While exploring the Ha’apai islands we often had private anchorages or only one or two neighbors. We visited uninhabited islands, walking all the way around Nukunamo, and finding coconuts and pig footprints in the sand on Uonukuhihifo. We went diving and snorkeling as much as conditions allowed. Kris did not take her camera along for any of our dives because surface conditions were a bit rough and she decided having one less piece of gear was better. One of our dive sites, just off the island of Uonukuhihifo, was one of the most spectacular dive spots we’ve been to in the entire South Pacific. We started in about 20 feet of water, meandering our way through an endless maze of incredible coral. Everything in every direction was bright and vibrant. As we turned a corner, we found ourselves on the sheer wall of the channel dropping off to at least 100 feet. The wall was covered with life of all kinds, including massive gorgonian sea fans. Some highlights of the many fish we saw were a juvenile rockmover wrasse, painted spiny lobsters, orangefin and pink anemonefish, and a clown triggerfish. We’re sorry we don’t have pictures to share, but just imagine a National Geographic ocean documentary about healthy reefs. Other dive sites we visited we rocky reefs made of what looked like old lava flow with crevices, caverns, arches, and swim-throughs. We heard whales singing loudly nearby and spotted more cool fish including humphead wrasse, juvenile anchor tuskfish, juvenile midnight snapper, and intermediate phase leopard wrass.

We also enjoyed visiting the main town of Pangai on the island of Lifuka, walking the quiet dirt road on the island of Ha’ano, and visiting the eco-resort restaurant on the north end of the island of Foa. Pangai is magnitudes smaller and quieter than Neiafu in Vava’u. We checked in with government officials when we arrived, as required, and were almost the only people walking around town. We walked by the main wharf and checked out the grocery stores and market. We were there the day before a supply ship was coming so there were no eggs to be found and only a few fruits and vegetables. We did score a nice watermelon though from one of the shops. The market only had some baby green bell peppers and cassava; again, waiting for restocking from the ship. When we left the island group, we had to check out with the officials in Pangai and we opted to take a taxi from the resort in Foa where we were anchored down to Pangai on Lifuka island. Foa and Lifuka are connected by a long low one-way bridge. Making our way south through Lifuka on the main road, we drove right over the airstrip. The island is small and so there is only so much space for infrastructure. The airstrip has a fence around it with a gate that is kept open when no flight is coming through. We rumbled over the cattle grate onto the airstrip and passed by a group of school kids making their way across on foot. On our way back to Foa, our taxi driver stopped to chat with some people harvesting papayas. Then she turned to us to ask if we wanted any papaya to take on our boat for our trip north to Vava’u. Of course we said yes! So we followed her over the barbed wire fence into the field and she and her daughter knocked a few papayas down for us.

Undeniably, the highlight of our visit to Ha’apai was swimming with humpback whales. Tonga is one of the few countries in the world that allow people to swim with whales, and after some debate and consideration, we decided to go for it. Four snorkelers and a guide are allowed in the water with the whales at a time. You are required to remain on the surface (no diving down to the whales), keep your distance, and never touch the whales. You basically float on the surface and observe. The boat can only stay with a whale for 90 minutes, and they keep the engine to a very low speed or in neutral when near whales. Imagine you have just slipped off the side of the boat into the tranquil blue waters. You gently fin towards your guide, following her outstretched arm with your eyes, looking deeper as the water shifts into darker blue indigo below you. Then you see a dark shape taking form, nearly black. It takes your eyes and brain a few moments longer than usual to connect and communicate. That massive dark shape below you, in the shape of a whale, is in fact a mother humpback whale with her calf hiding below her head. This is what you have come to see. They are resting together in the deep, part of the brain asleep and part awake to ensure it surfaces to breath. The calf needs to breath every 4-6 minutes, but mom is fine for roughly twice as long. Your guide tells you the calf is a girl. As you float above, observing, you notice the calf start to edge her way out from under mom. Slowly and gracefully, the calf makes her way up, directly towards you, takes a few breaths at the surface, at times glancing towards the group of tiny floating humans. She turns and slowly makes her way back down, cuddling up underneath the safety of mom’s enormous body once again. Occasionally the two surface together for a breath, slowly waking up as the morning progresses. Before you know it, baby girl is awake. With an incredible speed that appears effortless, the calf is racing straight up towards you from the depths. Then with a slight turn of the head away from you, she catapults into the sky breaching directly in front of you and crashing down in the opposite direction. It is too exhilarating to allow any time for fear. The morning in the water with humpback whales was a true gift from nature, and one that we will remember always.

Next Stop: Return to Vava’u to explore and await the arrival of our new crew for the passage to NZ!