I think of all the images of Vava'u that I carry with me, the first one that comes to mind is of the wonderful bay with moorings dotting the eastern end. The local businesses maintain these moorings to attract the yachties as they cross the South Pacific. As a consequence, there has grown up an amazing infrastructure that caters to the needs and desires of the yachties. You can see one of the Moorings' charter boats on the left side of the above photo, also one of the moorings with its wand that is available to anyone. This makes your stay quite pleasant and worryfree as you plan to tour the island, have dinner, go diving or go on a whalewatch. A few of the boats anchor across the bay in more shallow water, the the three boats in the foreground are probably in about 100 feet of water - not so good for a safe anchorage.

Vava'u is known as a splendid location to observe the southern humpback whale. Even though we were unable to get into the water with Mom and her baby on our first outing we did enjoy a great display of parental instruction. The southern humpbacks differ from their northern cousins by having a white undertail.

The whales were breaching and making a fabulous display for us. (right)

This is part of a surface "whap" - a form of communication (right). The young calf has to learn enough and get strong enough to survive a trip to Antarctica and back. Many young ones do not return. The whales migrate south to feed in the cool waters for less than two months. This seems to be their main nutrition for the year as they don't eat in Tonga. Their main activities seem to be teaching the young ones survival skills.

The second time we went out we were the first people in the water and I was able to get this great shot of Scott and the baby!

This is called spyhopping!(right) I think the whales do this to look around.

They also wave their fins around and slap the water with them called "fin slapping!"

Here's another shot of baby under water. I'm amazed that I got anything at all because of the darkness in the deep water where we were.

Since we weren't able to get into the water with the whales the first day we had time to visit the Swallows' Cave (right). We swam in and found a pretty interesting space where (surprisingly enough) birds build their nests.

Underwater, we saw some nice corals and butterfly fish.

You get an idea how this reef falls off rapidly. This is just in front of the cave. You can see a parrot fish and another guy I'm in the process of identifying. Send any help you have!

On land I was able to get this shot of a male butterfly (Hypolimnas bolina pallescens) also seen in Samoa. We had a fair amount of rain while we were in Tonga (Oct./Nov.) though it was NOT the rainy season. At 18° south we were not nearly as hot as we were in the Cooks and Samoa. In fact while in the water I got quite cold.

One of our favorite anchorages in the Vava'u Group of islands was the lagoon at Hunga (right). The pass requires your fullest attention. We came in at high tide and recorded 10 feet of water (total) for our 7.5 foot draft - not bad, but Jean likes MORE! It's always reassuring to see another boat make the same passage that you anticipate, in spite of the fact that the other boat is smaller than yours.

We tried to get into the little resort for dinner or drinks, but were told that the fishing tournament had booked the whole space. Considering that we took the kayak ashore and had to paddle back to the boat against a 20 kt. wind you'd have thought that the lady at the resort would have at least offered us a drink. Our concerns about our return to the boat were unfounded as Scott found that the Admiral could hold her own in spite of many lapfulls of water as she vigorously paddled away in the bow.

We moved the boat to a nice quiet bay called, Vaka'eita. We were near a diving spot called the "Coral Gardens." You can see why on the right.

Vaka'eita provided us with a nice quiet anchorage and several snorkeling spots within dinghy distance. And, if you know our dinghy you know that it isn't a good idea to take it too far afield.

All sailors know that life on a boat revolves around the weather (right). Here we are a couple of days later with the wind having swung 180° and we're now on a lee shore - for non yachties that means that the wind is blowing your boat onto the shore and you are 100% dependent on your anchor and chain to hold you off the reef that runs along the shore. In this case, the rain continued for a while and the wind eased up so that I could get out and clean our beautiful blue hull (at least part of it!).

Here's a view of our new anchorage at Tapana (left). I'm looking left from the boat to view this lovely dinghy pass. There was a Tongan feast nearby and we went ashore to enjoy a little taste of civilization after being away for a couple of weeks.

On the right side of the boat is the island (Tapana) and there's a little structure there. The island shields us from the south east winds, and you see the beach and sandy bottom.

Here we are before the Tongan feast yacking it up with some of our yachtie friends: John & Janice from a boat called "Splashes." We last saw them in Suwarrow, Cook Islands.

This lady had made these placemats and I thought they might make a nice Christmas gift for family. That's what the yachties do: they purchase all their Christmas gifts while they travel. It's fun and it supports the local economy (to some extent).

Before dinner we were entertained by music and a kava circle. I don't know if anyone actually had any effect from the experience, but the music and chatting was fun.

It's hard to believe that we could polish off all this food (right), but we nearly did! Our Tongan feast consisted of: chicken, fish, clams, octopus, taro (sweet globs like dumplings). All these were wrapped in leaves and cooked. Some nice baked gourd. A crab salad made with cabbage. A lovely fruit salad. Watermelon, bananas. I know I've missed some things, but it was all quite good.

Back in Neiafu the new King and royal family was visiting. Two of the ladies from the royal entourage is seen walking along the harbor wall. This would be typical dress and the use of umbrellas in the midday sun is common.

This is another shot of the same area. We bring our dinghy to this dock to come ashore. Here are three boys in their school uniforms.

Besides the Moorings boats tourists can also rent smaller boats by the day. We saw these "Rent-a-Boats" out in some anchorages that were several miles away. Taking this boat out that far would NOT be something I'd like to do.

One day we took these go-carts over to the north side of the island. There are NO anchorages on this side and the surf runs pretty high. There are also very few roads, so this type of vehicle is a good idea.

It was neat to have my own go-cart because I could stop anywhere I wanted to take a photo. You can see that our guide was a little concerned about certain parts of the "road." Believe me, I was careful and gloves are a must!

We got up into the "bush" and Scott's go-cart decided to stop! Not to worry help is on the way. The guy with the tatoo is our mechanic. We were off and running in no time!

I enjoyed doing this composite of the men working in the plantations and the baskets they use  to transport their produce.

We went by a school and all the kids ran out and wanted to say "Hello!"

Some of the kids aren't so forward!

We went by some houses. Some are fancy! (right)

And some aren't! (left)

Just trying to give you a sense of the rural scene in Vava'u. (right)

This is one of my "art shots" of the beach and reef area on the north side. No place for the Quest.

Another view of the wild coast on the west side of Vava'u.

One of the attraction is these "flying foxes." They are really large fruit bats. They are native to Tonga and are protected. This is important, especially since the Tongans like to eat them!

Here's one (right) coming in for a landing in a tree where he'll sleep during the day (supposedly)!

Here's another aquarium scene. Yes, we did try to get in the water as much as possible. Wet suits were a must for us and we did notice that the whalewatcher guides also were wearing wet suits.