Another Tongan Feast Please

You can never have too many feasts can you? Well perhaps you can! In Tonga, it is tradition to gather with your family over a meal on Sunday afternoon. If there is a roast suckling pig then it is - officially - a feast. We are hoping the WorldARC rally doesn't make the local piglets extinct on the islands as there have been plenty sacrificed for our good eating. With the pork as the primary meat staple, the other elements of the feast are locally sourced products such as breadfruit chips, plantains, taro, cassava, potatoes, fish, taro leaf wrapped corned beef and on and on...

Feast # 1 at Dave's Beach

While likely not traditional to dance every Sunday, for each of our 'tourist' feast we were also treated to a variety of local dances. Usually performed by the young women in the local village or family. Consisting of slow movements similar to a hula that you might see in Hawaii but slightly understated. It is traditional for the women to cover themselves in oil, and then to have the audience stick money to their oiled skin. We wonder how that tradition survived amidst the highly conservative church going population but we were to do as we were told.

World ARC Prizegiving night at the "Kraken" with requisite dancers, Miss Tonga and the distinguished Minister of Tonga Tourism present

Our first feast was held again at "Dave's" beachside home under the giant canopy of a banyan tree. Almost all the WorldARC boats were present. It was so much fun to have all the boats together again and to share stories from the prior passages.

Giant spiders at the botanical gardens

A few days later, the WorldARC committee arranged to take us to a local (and perhaps only) botanical garden on the island of Vava'u. The botanical garden was located on the NE side of Vava'u island and had been nurtured over the prior 20 or so years. The daughter of the master gardener gave us a tour of the garden and led us down the trail aptly named "WorldARC Way" due to the continued generosity of donations provided by WorldARC rallies over the prior years and an on-going commitment for the next 5.

Dance instructor at Feast # 2 -- cheering on her students while proudly representing a 2Pac t-shirt

We wrapped up the afternoon on a lovely beach, with an afternoon of cultural weaving demonstrations & dancing and of course our second FEAST! This meal was prepared by the hostess herself prepared from the early morning.

My weaving instructor. I never figured out how to hold the loose ends between my toes.

The following day, we had yet another dinner/FEAST adventure planned on the Island of Ofu. Arranged months prior by one of rally participants, we joined several other families for a dinner at Mahina Lodge. It was an adventure getting to the location on a small sized motorboat. We walked around the village and were impressed with the amount of funding the village had received by various aid agencies. Chinese lamp posts. New Zealand buildings. Australian trash cans. US AID meeting room. After the dinner, we were escorted back to the open boat for a moonlit ride home.

Feast # 3 at the Mahina Lodge

Dingy explorations amongst the limestone caves at anchorage near the Japanese Coral Gardens (no idea why they are 'Japanese')

It was not entirely without misadventure. The dock where the small boat was located was at the end of an inflatable floating dock (about 100' of inflatable dock). We went all the way to the end, and realized that the boat we were supposed to be on was all the way back on the beach. So we had turn around and walk all the way back. With 3" of water sloshing around our feet and wobbling down the bouncy house style dock we were sure someone would fall in. We thought perhaps it didn't have enough air to keep it stable? Or perhaps it was a function of the 4 young boys under 11 all trying to bounce on it and get the adults to fall in the water? The challenge was to keep your balance, hold onto the handhold and somehow not slip. Miraculously we all ended up in the boats without getting full soaked.

The children from the primary school in Ofu performing their 1 hour concert with endless energy and smiles.

We returned again the next day to the Island of Ofu and this final time our adventure was to visit with the school children and get a lesson in local weaving. The children were a delight, so full of energy and clearly in their element entertaining tourists. The weavers were not so interested to have our participation, but we all got a chance to practice their traditional weaving techniques. Although we have a suspicion that after we left, they undid what we did and re-did it to their higher standard. I don't think our quality would make the cut.

These little pigs seemed safe for this week...

Dan fueling up from the tanker truck at the Neiafu commercial dock.

We spent our final days in Tonga visiting some lovely beaches, some picturesque islands wrapped in beautiful reefs and buying crafts from locals -- the Tongas appear to be very good at sales. The last family that visited us by boat with all their local handicrafts started out negotiating with a price of $300 for a set of 6 woven placements or $60 each. As the woman quickly discovered that was far more than we were willing to pay, she quickly dropped the price to $150 for 6. As we had no more Tongan currency, we offered US$. She was keen to take whatever currency we had and so, for $75 we have 6 beautifully hand woven placemats. She also was happy to take an extra dive mask and a few other things we found around the boat that we were willing to part with. We are soon to head out of Tonga bound for the Lau group of Fiji. After almost 3 weeks, we are getting itchy to get on our way. Onward.

Vibrant sea life at one of the coral gardens in Tonga. Perfect ending for our stay.