Niuatoputapu Tonga!

Link to Niuatoputapu Tonga

We didn’t know prior to our arrival but there was a terrible tsunami here in 2009:

Tsunami September 2009 News Link

Another Link Covering the Tsunami

Unesco Tsunami Information and Survivor Accounts

We have been dodging bad weather for most of our trip across the Pacific. From Palmerston in the Cook Islands we were planning to head to the island of Niue but the weather would not allow. Instead of going to Niue we headed northwest to Niuatoputapu (new ya tow pu ta pu), and we had a wonderful time. The people in “new-ya” (their abreviated term) were wonderful. We were heading to Tonga after Niue anyway and new-ya has a large lagoon with good holding in case any bad weather made it further north.

REPOST FROM PREVIOUS:

“We have been having a great time here in Niuatoputapu Tonga.

New-ya-tow-pu-ta-pu, is wonderful, beautiful, the people are fantastic. It took us a few days to get checked in but we are now legally in Tonga. After a six day passage we arrived late afternoon on a Tuesday. It was late so we anchored in the lagoon, cleaned up, had a nice dinner and got some proper sleep. The next morning we went to get checked in but everything was closed…because the King of Tonga was here! We asked the police if we could stay and see the king, they said no-problem! We had a great day, we got to see the king, watched the community presentation and headed back to the boat. Thursday we went in again to check in…everything is closed. We were hitching back to the warf and got a ride with a very nice lady who turned out to be the customs officer! Long story short she apologized for the delay but they have been very busy with community events in the past few days. We got checked in the next day, took a walk across the island, and now we are stuck on the boat while a storm blows by. There are four boats here including us. They are from Germany, UK, and New Zealand, and there is at least one diver on each boat! We all went for a dive the other day out on the reef, it was amazing, probably the best dive I have done. It was a little overcast but the scenery was amazing, it was deep coral canyons winding around in different directions. Some of the canyons were 20-30 feet wide some were little more than shoulder width apart, just spectacular.”

Now on to the pictures, click on them for full screen:

Gloomy weather, Niuatoputapu on the horizon just to the left of the mast:

The island of Tafahi, a dormant volcano lies five miles to the north, about 25 people live on Tafahi:

LINK to TAFAHI

We entered the lagoon, anchored, and took the dinghy in to check-in to Tonga. Supply ship is in, it’s like a holiday every time the ship arrives:

Walking to town…We never had to walk far, we were always picked up by someone. The people here are incredibly nice.

Someone important must be here:

Random horses and pigs:

The island is kept up very well:

Royalty:

The King visits once a year and they also have an Agriculture, Fisheries, Tourism and trade show:

Judges, judging:

Made in Tonga:

Niuatoputapu just began construction on a big solar power plant out by their airport. A small solar display at the show:

The King was off for the groundbreaking ceremony of the new solar power plant so we went out to the road to wait for the motorcade to return. Hmmmm:

Everyone else is waiting too:

…and while we are waiting, this is a gas station. If you need gas or diesel you call the guy who has the key, he dispenses your fuel and collects the money. There are three towns on the island and each town has a “gas station”.

Wooo Hooo, motorcade! Just like back in the US:

Back at the Whitehouse:

We went up the alley between the house and the fairgrounds to wait for the King. The royal guards were quite nice:

Groups of people started out onto the display area:

King and Queen making their way:

King and Queen seated in the grass covered building. I assumed when the King and Queen emerged there would be standing applause and cheering, the crowd was totally silent:

Film crew to the right, podium just to the left of the film crew. The next half hour was consumed with speeches at that podium. All of the speeches were passionate, some emotional but all were in Tongan soooooo….not really sure what they said but I am sure it was meaningful and sincere.

Then the King got up and gave his speech…it was wonderful…

Then the awards! Lots of people received awards or recognition. This lady got an award:

This little boy got several awards, several people got multiple awards…or maybe it’s like the Oscars or the Emmy’s where someone can receive your award if you can’t make it. Click on these pictures and see this little boy shake the King’s hand, it was great!

And then the dancing which was amazing:

There is nothing much in the way of tourism here in new-ya, their only hotel was washed away in the tsunami of 2009. If you come to new-ya it is to enjoy the natural beauty and meet the wonderful people, which we did. Once the weather cleared we headed south to Neiafu Tonga.

More to follow!

Approaching bad weather kept our visit to Palmerston short. The next wave of bad weather forced us to divert from our planned stop in Niue. I had been planning to stop in Niue for over a decade but it was not to be. Instead of Niue we were forced to head to Niuatoputapu Tonga in the north. We had a wonderful time there, I’ll update on that later. We arrived in Niuatoputapu the same day as the King of Tonga! There was a big celebration and show. These are a couple of videos from our first day on the island.