Luangahu Island

On Aug. 22nd we left Tofanga and sailed to lovely little Luangahu.  It is a beautiful little island.  You can walk all the way around it in about 15 minutes.   

Luangahu

Luangahu at sunset

Best Whale Encounter Yet

Yesterday was our best whale encounter so far! We had several dozen sightings and 4 groups were breaching!

Tokulu Island

On our charts the little island of Tokulu looked appealing. It’s not adjacent to an inhabited island - which means there might be less fishing pressure. Our cruising guide didn’t mention the island and we could find no mention it on the Internet. We’d probably have the place to ourselves. But that hasn’t been a problem here in the Ha’apai group. We’ve only seen one other yacht in the last 3 weeks.

To determine if Tokulu would make a safe overnight anchorage we first looked at satellite images of the island to find if there were any locations we could anchor on the leeward side. The winds were predicted to come from the West and Southwest for the next two days. 

This is the view of the island using our electronic charts. You can see the yellow track marking our path. We sailed to the island, motored upwind to lower our sails, then motored around to the Northeast corner.

Whale Swim Bust!

We just picked up anchor and we're leaving Numoka Iki for a small island called Tokulu.  I doubt we will have internet for a while out there. The cell service here isn't so hot for uploading photos.

Rich on the look out for whales!

We hired Whale Discoveries to take us out for a whale swim.  Unfortunately none of the whales were interested in staying around with us.  It was an overcast day and we noticed that the whales weren't out playing when the sun isn't out.  I was happy that we did find whales at four different times.  I had my full wetsuit on the entire time and I was freezing.  The wind was blowing and without the sun to warm us up it was miserable.  

Nomuka and Nomuka 'Iki Islands

This is Nomuka and Nomuka Iki (little Nomuka). We anchored between the 2 islands.  There is another small island off the tip of Nomuka Iki with a cluster of manicured trees that resemble a large hut. That little island had an encircling reef that was a great place to snorkel.  Large breaking waves made it challenging on the windward side.  But fun!

We are anchored between the 2 islands.  This is looking at the East end of Nomuka Iki.

Aug 2018 - Kelefesia Island, Tonga

We spent the last 4 days at our first landfall in the Ha'apai group: a small island called Kelefesia. It is a beautiful place. It’s about what you would picture in your mind as a “lovely tropical island”. The water looked like glass in every shade of blue and turquoise. 

Shot before the sun came up.

Walking around the Capital City Nukalofa, Tongatapu

We had a few errands to run in town yesterday that had us walking all around the city of Nukalofa. My iron levels run too high and I needed to get blood drawn and sent to a lab.  Visiting a hospital earlier this week we were told to visit a local physician who accepts walk-ins in a clinic. 

Local school