The Tongan Feast

We never did get to shore on Ovalau. Thursday I spent most of the day pulling the port side of the pushpit off and re-bedding the bolts. After 32 years, they had begun to leak a bit. The worst part was taking the Duogen of the back of the boat. It's designed to be done at dock so it was a bit tricky but between Cathy and I we got it off and back on without dropping anything. Friday we sailed over to another anchorage for lunch, Nuapapa South and decided we would like to go back there and spend some time. We have been surprised that we can sail pretty much everywhere here. The winds have been consistent from the E/SE at 15-20 knots. The islands make the wind shifts a bit fun but that's all part of it. We may have used the motor for 20 minutes so far, just to pull up or drop the anchor (ok other than the time we run it when we are making water!). We sailed out of Nuapapa and after tacking hard to get around a few reefs and islands, we ran up to Port Maurelle on Kapa Island. Port Maurelle is a pretty popular anchorage, mostly because it's close to Neiafu and also convenient to the Tongan Feast at Barnacle Beach. Other cruisers we had talked to told us that the feast was a definite must and well worth the TOG 35.00 each. It's held once a week on Saturday night and hosted by Tali. Saturday came and along with Toketie we walked over to check out the area and the nearby village of Falavai. No roads on Kapa, no vehicles either, just paths all over the island. The village is spread out over a large area and each house has a fenced yard, mostly to keep animals out of the gardens. Water is scarce so gardens are protected really well. It's funny really because Port Maurelle was named after the first European to see Vava'u, the Spaniard Maurelle. He stopped here to get water and according to one of the cruising guides, the spring that provided him with water is still here but has been overgrown and is now a swamp. The village itself was very neat and all the common areas were swept clean. Not much trash in evidence. A subsistence economy based on tourism and fishing keeps the village going. There are 4 churches here which is amazing; the Free Church of Tonga, a Catholic Church, a Mormon Church (complete with basketball court) and a Methodist Church.
We went back to the boat for lunch and lazed around for the afternoon until it was time to head in for the FEAST. There was 21 one of us in total off 5 boats. Tali, our host, had a bit of a panic as he had prepared only for 16 initially. Not to worry, there was plenty of food to go around. Just as we were getting ready to sit down to eat, he brought out the main dish, a whole roast pig, just a small one mind you. The food was fantastic and well worth the money. After dinner a couple of the local girls provided us with a traditional Tongan dance and of course we were all asked to donate a dollar or two to help with their school supplies etc. Most were happy to. The trail back in the dark was fun with a long line of cruisers, all with flashlights stumbling along. No damage and everyone made it back.

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