October 7, 2012
During our time in Neiafu, we did manage to do some sightseeing with the help our friends Dean and Sabina, who arrived a week or so after we did. They wanted to see the island and found a guide who could take us around in her own car (which happened to be a nice, well-maintained SUV—very rare in these parts).
Seeing this island was amazing and confusing at the same time. It was amazing in how green and lush it turned out to be (you don’t really get a sense of that in Neiafu). It was confusing in that the shape of this island is so strange, with large inlets and peninsulas and offshore islands all over the place, that even with a map we had a heck of a time figuring out where we were at any given time.
By the end of the day, we had learned a lot about Tonga and its people and had a much better sense of this island and some nearby anchorages. We had also discovered a wonderful place on our lunch stop (the subject of the next blog post). -Cyndi
