Tonga Island Time.

“Monday is Sunday’s sister—I’m afraid you won’t find anyone in the office,” the young taxi driver explained cheerfully after driving me across the island, only to be stopped by the locked gates of the deserted Pacific Energy offices. Tuesday wasn’t any better. After multiple calls—six numbers, six different times—we finally got through. A man named Tui arranged for a truck to come at 10 AM and fuel up both our tank and that of a fellow cruiser, along with the five jerry cans SV TriPegasus had dropped off. We gave a cheer of relief when the truck finally turned the corner. At 11:40 AM that was, but who’s counting? After all, we are on island time.

There ‘s a strong international sailing community here in Port Refuge, Neiafu—the capital of the Vava’u archipelago in Tonga. After 5 years on the seas without meeting hardly anybody from Belgium or The Netherlands, we suddenly find ourselves surrounded by Dutch speaking sailors. It feels so weird. When we arrived in Port Refuge, looking for a mooring ball, a friendly sailor came on deck and shouted something in an incomprehensible language, which turned out to be Dutch. Our brains had problems adapting. By chance, we have also arrived during the Vava’u sailing festival. At lot of mingling with fellow sailors and gathering of information about New Zealand has been going on, which we found quite exhausting in the end, to be honest. For most, Tonga is a logical stopover from Tahiti on the way to New Zealand (or Fiji ) and the same is true for us. But what a stopover it is!

Swimming with humpback whales is such a big thing here that it is even featured on the local Pa’anga 2-dollar note. So off we went, in the company of an American mature sailing couple and a young British family with enthusiastic kids of 7 and 9.

The 7-year old boy was sooo excited that he couldn’t stop educating us about humpback whales , their habits & characteristics, their habitat, their general appearance and on and on he went. He knew a lot! He was also absolutely adorable. Then came “le moment suprême” that we had to join the subjects of his oral presentation by jumping into the ocean from the back of the motorboat and he went all quiet:
“ I think I’ll be watching from the boat mommy. But it’s alright, you go.”

Despite the ungodly 6:30 AM pick-up time, followed by a two-hour wait because of engine trouble, despite the wide intimidating ocean where jellyfish might be lurking (a Dutch sailor got one attached to the top of his head and it was no joke), and whales that zip by in mere seconds instead of lingering – we’re definitely doing it again. Because when the whales do stick around and decide to hang out with you, the experience is sensational. Watching the slow-motion ballet of a massive yet graceful “escort whale” – a male protecting the mother and calf we glimpsed in the deep blue below – transports you to a profound place of pure wonder. It actually reminded me of the vibrant 3D images from an old Viewmaster I adored as a chatty 7-year-old- myself. Only both more real and more magical.

We will be back!