Being here during the week-long cruiser regatta felt like being at summer camp. Every morning on the net they’d announce the day’s activities. Sometimes we’d participate (we loved going to the talks on whales and on New Zealand) and sometimes we’d opt out (we stayed away from anything messy like the pie eating contest and the egg toss). The week overall was a lot of fun.
After Regatta week was over, people started to leave to go to nearby islands, but the town did not empty out. For every boat that would leave, another boat would come in. We began to see more of our old friends arrive, and the town remained pretty festive. -Cyndi
Every mooring was full during Regatta week.We enjoyed watching the people who singed up for some of the fun, silly contests.One of the New Zealand talks was held at the Mango restaurant.Those funny guys on Gato Go decorated their boat with whatever they could think of.The regatta ended with a sailboat race to another island for a big party on the beach.
Aside from the Big Three (my own name for the favorites I’ve already talked about), there are some other places in town worth mentioning.
The first is the Wine Bar or Rooster Bistro (it goes by both names). It’s the fanciest place in town (although that doesn’t mean much in that no place here is fancy) and owned by a Swiss chef. He makes an amazing blue cheese ravioli, a spicy chicken dish that is actually spicy, and rosti, a traditional Swiss breakfast dish that consists of grated potatoes formed into a skillet-sized patty and fried or baked with onions, bacon, and spices. Gunther tops his version with a fried egg.
The second place to mention is the mysterious Lobster House. It is mostly hidden, hard to find and attached to a defunct hotel. The restaurant is open off and on, no one really knows when, and they don’t advertise themselves at all. We only happened to stumble across it one day. We never did get there for lobster but had a really nice breakfast there while watching a surprisingly entertaining soccer match on their TV.
Next, I’ll mention Mango Cafe. It’s got a great location right on the waterfront and is a lovely place. Sadly, though, they need to work on their food. We only went there once during our entire time there so maybe we’re judging it unfairly, but then again we’ve heard others say the same thing.
Next up is Sunset Grill. This is another place we only tried once. The problem wasn’t the food: we had a seafood quesadilla that was terrific! It was the fact that this quesadilla took forever to get (and the restaurant was near empty) while the owner schmoozed with his buddies at the bar. The Sunset Grill is a good place to go have cold beer (the coldest in town, we were told) but sadly not a place to eat even though the food is great. (Again, it wasn’t just us: the service is notoriously slow).
Finally there is the Blue Lagoon. As the picture shows, it doesn’t get a lot of customers. I’m not sure why as it’s got a nice location. We only had cappuccino here so I can’t speak for the food. –Cyndi
A table at the Rooster Bistro/Wine Bar.A fish sandwich at the Rooster Bistro.Watching soccer at the Lobster House.The deck at Mango Cafe.The Sunset Grill.The Blue Lagoon.
I originally intended to put this into the “Other Neiafu Eateries” blog entry, but as I look at our pictures I realize that although we weren’t there much, we had some special times here. (The reason we weren’t there much is that it was only open for dinner, and we tended to do lunch in town and dinner on the boat).
The Balcony is a fun little restaurant that has very good food and theme dinner nights. Sundays are always Asian feast night. It might be Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, or something along that line. There is a set menu and you eat family style, and it’s always good. Our favorite theme night, though, was the weekly Pie Night. Sadly, although we kept hearing Trish (the owner) excitedly advertising Pie Night on the morning net, we thought she meant fruit pies. It took us weeks to find out that she meant British-style meat pies.
Finally, some friends of ours got us to come to Pie Night. She had a beef and mushroom in wine sauce pie, a chicken pie, and a seafood pie. We split the beef and the seafood pies, and I don’t think we missed a pie night after that!
Aside from the theme dinner nights, Trish would host things like the occasional movie presentation and Wii bowling night (Wii is a video game system). It was a fun, festive, special place with (of course) a balcony with a terrific view, and one of the great places in Neiafu. –Cyndi
Looking out towards the view from The Balcony.A fun gathering at The Balcony.Movie night at the Balcony.Beef and mushroom pie with mashed potatoes.Wii Bowling night.Pie night with our buddies Bob and Linda from Bright Angel.Rich, me, Bob and Linda on our final pie night saying good-bye to Trish, the owner of The Balcony.
The Cafe Tropicana is centrally located in town, and while it is not as large as the Aquarium and does not have the view, it does have a pretty balcony/patio and is a real internet cafe (they have their own computers or you can bring in your own). It is also the other frequent hangout of cruisers. People will cart their laptops to the Aquarium, but because the Tropicana has a better internet connection, they will bring those same laptops there when they really want to get things done. Often you will see people at the Aquarium and the Tropicana the same afternoon!
The Tropicana is primarily an eatery, coffee bar, and internet cafe, but it is so much more than that. It is run by Lisa, and she is the number-one caretaker of the cruisers. Aside from serving coffee drinks and meals and presiding over the computers, she does laundry, sends faxes, makes shipping arrangements, receives shipments and mail, makes baked goods, can book you for events and special restaurants, and make travel arrangements. She also runs the local animal rescue and has several dogs she has rescued and cares for (plus at least one cat). She may be the busiest person I have ever seen, but she proves the old adage, “If you want something done, ask the busy person.” If the Aquarium can be called the heart of town, the Cafe Tropicana can be called the soul.–Cyndi
The dining area of the Cafe Tropicana.The deck of the Cafe Tropicana.“Stinky,” one of the rescue dogs.Nothing like a good, frothy cappuccino.
Neiafu has several eateries, bars and hangouts, but the heart of the town is the Aquarium cafe. It is on the second story of a waterfront structure. The dining area is an open-air, covered deck that is nestled up against a hill, making it open to the breezes yet protected from the wind. It has an incredible view of the harbor and sits above one of two dinghy docks in the town. It also happens to have good food, coffee drinks and bar drinks.
A view of the harbor from the Aquarium.
The Aquarium has a lot going for it, but what makes it the most special is the ambiance. They have internet access there (one of only two places in town that do), and if you order a drink or some food, you can use it for free. All the cruisers use the internet regularly; so at any given time of day, the yachties are in with their laptops or socializing with the other yachties. It’s like a big clubhouse. On top of that, people walking to and from the dinghy dock are in full view of the restaurant, which means friends are always spotting each other. It is the kind of place you can sit for hours and just chat with various people coming and going, and many people do just that, often enjoying many cold beers as they do so.
A typical afternoon scene at the Aquarium.
We had the perfect introduction to the Aquarium the day we arrived. After resting up from our passage, we headed ashore for a late lunch/early dinner and ran into some friends we hadn’t seen since Bora Bora. They invited us to come with them to the Aquarium for a bite and some drinks, and that sounded good to us. What followed was food and beer, lots of beer, over the rest of the evening and well into the night. The burritos were pretty good, but the pizza was fabulous! Most of the faces there were familiar, almost everyone there a cruiser, and many of the people we had either met before or seen more than once (in the cruising world this alone can be the basis for a friendship: seeing someone at more than one anchorage). We had a great time eating, drinking, talking, swapping stories, and laughing.
The festivities ramped up after dark when the Pub Crawl came along. The Pub Crawl is one of the first events in the week-long cruising Regatta festivities. To partake, you dress up in a silly costume and then group up at the first chosen pub or bar, have a drink, then follow a truck blasting loud techno music to the next bar/restaurant. There it is your job to invade the establishment, get more to drink and dance amid the tables and people there! It is a ton of fun, and I could not believe all the costumed people coming in and literally dancing on the benches and tables. It was a blast! After a song, they all headed off, dancing behind the truck to the next restaurant. Our well-rested friends decided to follow the party, but Rich and I were feeling our lack of sleep and opted to head back to the boat. By now I decided I liked the Regatta quite a bit and was glad we had come!
Our first dinner at the Aquarium with Tom and Monica from the boat Tanga.The Aquarium is invaded by the pub crawl.
Over the weeks to come, we would spend a lot of time at the Aquarium, which became our second home. Sometimes it was hopping with people, and sometimes it was relatively quiet, but it was always a good place to be. We had many great pizzas, great conversations, cold beer, quiet computer time, cappuccinos, delicious pasta, good burritos, fun partying, funny moments, tropical rain showers, Regatta talks/presentations, American football on TV, New Zealand rugby (discovering what the All Blacks are and why they are extremely important!), cold bottles of water after an afternoon’s hot shopping trip, friend reunions, group dinners, gossip and news exchange, group weather analysis, and the occasional glass of wine with a candle-lit dinner. This is truly a special place on earth and will always be one of our favorite things about our cruise. –Cyndi
Our favorite pizza: the vegetarian.Cappuccino, internet and football.A candlelit dinner with friends (Iris, Alex, Sabina and Dean).Another surprise reunion of friends at the Aquarium.Pizza and beer afternoons were frequent.One of the busier nights at the Aquarium.
