Our next place to see was Mounu Island. It has a small resort, and two of our friends had gone there for dinner and said it was an incredible experience. You have to make a reservation in advance, and then you can either get a boat ride over from Neiafu (it would be a long ride) or bring your own boat and pick up their mooring buoy. (Or of course you can stay in the resort.)
We went to check it out, and both the island and the resort looked beautiful. We decided we must try to do this while we were here! (Alas, we never made it out there, but if we get back to Tonga we will be sure to go.) -Cyndi
Mounu Island (Vava’u, Tonga)The small resort on Mounu Island. (Vava’u, Tonga)Dive boats in front of the landing area for the resort. (Vava’u, Tonga)
Our next stop was Euakafa, which had been recommended for its great snorkeling and walking trails. We motored in but didn’t feel well-protected from the winds; so we got some pictures and headed on. -Cyndi
Approaching EuakafaNorth EuakafaApproaching South EuakafaSouth Euakafa
After three nights at anchorage #11, we wanted to go to one more anchorage before heading back to Neiafu. We had several possibilities/recommendations and decided to just go out and explore. Luckily, the wind was down to about 11 knots and from behind us; so we were comfortable motoring around.
Our first stop was close by, an island just south of Tapana Island called Taunga Island with a little semi-attached island called Pau. This was a popular place, and our friend Linda raved about the neon bright turquoise water by Pau. We motored carefully into the anchorage, picking our way through suspicious-looking dark areas and coral heads to get a good look at the blue water and beaches. It was beautiful, but after motoring in for a good half hour and taking pictures, we felt as though we had seen it and could head on to the next anchorage on our list. This was to become the theme of our day as we repeated the process again and again at other islands, finally ending up back in Port Maurelle. -Cyndi
Here are our favorite pictures of Taunga and Pau.
Taunga Island (Vava’u, Tonga)The Sand Spit between Taunga and Pau Islands. (Vava’u, Tonga)Approaching Pau Island (Leke Leke in the distance).Pau Island with Leke Leke. (Vavau’, Tonga)The Beach on Pau Island. (Vava’u, Tonga)Close up of the Sand Spit between Taunga and Pau Islands. (Vava’u, Tonga).
We saw some neat sea life on our low tide walk around Tapana Island, including some blue starfish and a sea snake. Sea snakes are extremely venomous, but they are very shy and have small mouths, so it’s almost impossible to get bitten. (Although almost-impossible does not mean impossible so we give them a wide berth). -Cyndi
A blue starfish in the low tide over the coral shelf at Tapana Island.A blue starfish waiting for the tide to come back in.All these shells have hermit crabs in them!Cowry shells inside a vacant shell hiding place.A sea snake more frightened of us than we are of it.A blue starfish on Tapana Island.
Our friends headed off the next morning, Dean and Sabina back to Neiafu to prepare for their jump to the Ha’apai island group (part of Tonga, south of Vava’u) and Bob and Linda to the eastern islands of Vava’u. We opted to not do the eastern islands as you have to go through a hair-raising, nail-biting pass through a coral reef to get there. Plus, the islands we most wanted to see were on the western side so we decided to stay put. We could clean the boat bottom here and be with our new little friends the Spade Fish (see earlier blog). We also wanted to do the approximately 1-mile walk around Tapana Island and could only do so at low tide.
About half hour before low tide, we beached our dinghy on Tapana Island and started on our walk. A lot of the time, we walked on the coral shelf that surrounds the island, but we also came across some beautiful beaches. We could look out and see many islands, some just off this island, but no boats or people. It felt wild and remote, like we had all of Tonga to ourselves. This would be a spectacular spot for a picnic or even just a bottle of wine, but we’d have to keep a close eye on the time or risk having to swim back.
We made it about ¾ of the way around the island before finding out the last part was cliff and rock and not really walkable. We had to turn around, but luckily the tide stayed low enough so we could make our way back (though it was a little close a couple of times).
Sadly, Rich sprained his foot, and we did not make it back for that bottle of wine on the beach. Maybe we’ll be back someday. -Cyndi
Heading in to make our beach landing on Tapana Island.Rounding the first corner on our walk around Tapana Island.Approaching a beach on the east side of Tapana Island.A beach on the east side of Tapana Island.Heading around a corner to the south side of Tapana Island.A beautiful beach on the southwest side of Tapana Island.A spectacular beach on the west side of Tapana island.
