October 30, 2012
After some morning provisioning in town, we headed out for a final trip to the islands. Our goal: Anchorage 16 (on Vaka’eitu Island), which this year was the most popular and busy anchorage in Vava’u. One reason for for this was its proximity to two of the best snorkeling areas in Tonga: the Coral Gardens and the Coral Wonder. This would be our third attempt at the anchorage, but with the winds down and most of the boats gone, we were confident.
You have to wind your way into anchorage #16. It’s near the bottom of a large C-shaped area formed by two long, thin islands, and there’s a big island and several small rock islands in the middle. It takes about 20 minutes to get to #16 once you enter the C, and you can’t get a good look at it until you’re pretty much there. As a result, once you’re in there, it feels like its own little world.
We arrived to find a beautiful anchorage with lots of room. There were only a few scattered boats, and they were very spread out. We had discovered yet another reason to wait as long as possible before heading to New Zealand: roomy anchorages! We dropped our hook and took a dingy ride around to explore. Wow, what a beautiful spot! I was glad we finally made it here. -Cyndi
