TONGA
Nuku'alofa is the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga. We arrived at 10:00am on a cloudy, sprinkly, rainy day which is unusual in this tiny island. This was a special day for the country and we got to see the festivities unfold right from our balcony.
The King's palace with secondary school girls gathering for the ceremonies
The high school students march into the palace and make a corridor from there to the Parliament building a block away. The King opens the Parliament by walking through the lines of students to the Parliament building. Eventually the whole way was lined with students, bands, and officials. The bands played.
While we were watching this procession, another group of official greeters were on the dock with a band and dancers and drummers ready to greet us.
Women dressed traditionally and a band in the tent.
Drummers.
We took a short detour from the procession in town to our tour bus. We drove along the only road which follows the shoreline to our kayak site. The family run tour had our plastic kayaks ready and we just had to jump in and go. No real lessons or safety precautions. The wind was blowing and we had a light rain. It was really difficult to paddle in a straight line let alone paddle at all, but we made it to this island "resort" called Big Mama's Yacht Club.
Our kayak group
Colorful David and Mary. David's shirt is a Tongan pattern I made for him 40 years ago, but it is apparently quite nice because people always notice the pattern as a typical tapa cloth design.
Once we got to the island and out of our kayaks, a boat pulled up with another tour from our ship who just took the boat to the island with out getting drenched. I felt like they had invaded our island! Who were they to just simply walk in and sit down for lunch. We worked hard to get here! Oh well, we had to share. You could take a walk around the island which was about 1/2 hour. You could also lie on the beach or swim. In spite of the coolness and rain, David went snorkeling and even got a few underwater photos. Some people found really nice shells. We had a lunch of fish and chips or burgers and then had to paddle back to shore. during lunch the wind died down, but sure enough, right at 1:00pm, it started up again. On the way, I paddled on the left side. Returning, I did the right side, thus evening out my sore shoulder and arm muscles.
After returning to the ship and changing clothes and getting an extra hot shower, David and I went to shore and wandered around to see the palace and town. Tonga is a poor country. Tourism is one of its main economies, however they only have maybe a dozen cruise ships a year. Our tour guide on our bus had never done this before. She was shy but did a great job.
Other attractions on the island include blow holes.
Vincenzo was our entertainment for the evening again. He is an amazing artist. I forgot that he is Australian. We received certificates that officially marked our crossing of the International Dateline.
Thursday, sea day.
Our second Thursday was supposed to be a Country Fair as the main event of the day. The pool boys took two hours to clear off all the beach lounges from the pool deck. However, Andy determined that it was too windy and cool for the fair, so it was cancelled. I guess we were going to play silly games and have prizes. Anyway, I ended up nursing my knee, which did not fair well after a kayak adventure, and did my nails. It was nice to have a do nothing day. It was a gift, this day, so I just relaxed.
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