Despite overcast skies and occassional rain during our entire visit to Tonga we had a delightful time. For me, the highlight of my time there was learning to snorkel. I went out with several shipmates on a dive boat. While the divers were going down to the depths, swimming through tunnels in the coral, half a dozen of us snorkelled nearby. With a little instruction from a friend who had done a lot of snorkelling, I quickly learned how to breathe without swallowing water.
The reward was incredible. With my face down in the water, I could see a whole new world below the surface. The coral is amazingly intricate and beautiful. There are far more varieties of fish, some very colorful, than I had guessed . We saw the blue and green iridescent parrot fish that we first tasted in Palmerston. And too many other beautiful fish whose names I don't recall.
After the divers completed two dives, and we had snorkelled for an hour and a half in two different locations, the boat took us even farther out in the islands to a place where humpback whales are frequently seen. When we located the mother humpback and her calf, our guide took us into the water (four people at a time) to swim with the whales. It was phenomenal to see a full grown whale up close!! Even more so, for me, considering I had only just learned to snorkel a few hours earlier. We watched mama whale come up to breach the surface of the water, her white belly going vertically up right in front of my eyes...less than 50 feet away. She was huge.
Another memorable experience was going to a traditional Tongan Feast at Ano Beach. The food was delicious and there was an enormous quantity of it. It was prepared over open fires close to the shelter where we ate. The shelter was about 100 feet long, post and beam with a tin roof, no walls. Woven mats were placed on the ground and we sat on the mats, two rows facing one another along the outer edges of the mats. The meal was carried in on huge "serving trays" made of banana leaves woven together. They were piled up with food of all kinds...fish, chicken, beef, pork, many vegetables and fresh fruits.
One of my favorite dishes was half a coconut filled with half a papaya and cooked to perfection with coconut milk in the center. The meats had been wrapped in banana leaves for cooking and were served with the wrappings on; it was like opening a surprise package because they all looked the same on the outside and you did not know what it was on the inside until you unwrapped it. There were several fish salads and other vegetables served in "dishes" made of the stalk of a plant. We ate everything with our fingers.
Before dinner was served we watched several traditional Tongan dances performed by children and young adults. The youngest dancer, about 3 or 4 years old, did a beautiful solo dance. The dancing was quite different from what we've seen previously in other islands of the South Pacific. The girls dance has very little footwork or movement of the legs and hips as compared to what we learned in Mangareva and Palmerston. They use their arms and hands much more expressively. Both the boys and girls dances involved quite intricate choreography. And the accompanying music was predominantly string instruments, ukeleles and guitars, with only one crushed biscuit tin drum; as compared to previous islands where the drum is the predominant instrument.
As with other places we've visited, my time ashore would not be complete without shopping and buying souvenirs. The woven baskets were beautiful and I bought a couple of those as well as some round hotpads for the table. I also found some beautiful silk jacquard fabric at a very reasonable price. My attempts to find dark chocolate (my personal stash is running low) were fruitless, but I expect I will get some in Fiji.
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