October 15, 2012
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
