A Tan in Tonga

"Tonga?" That was the normal response to the plans for the end of my semester break. The Kingdom of Tonga is in the middle of nowhere, so don't feel bad if you have never heard of it before.

It’s rare that you get a chance to vay-cay on an island/paradise where you are technically [in Kaitlyn’s words] “Unreachable”, and I couldn't have had better travels buddies or a better time! Upon arrival, the heat felt so good compared to the Auckland chill/massive amounts of rain. The island is still uncommercialized, showing the raw reality of living where the only supplies available are shipped over every other week/month. It became a joke throughout the week, but it seemed that instead of choosing between option a, b, or c… it was option a or nothing. As we passed through the town full of laughing kids, pigs, dogs, chickens, and tropical flowers, I felt memories of Jamaica and Acuna slipping back into my mind. Our resort was 5 minutes outside of town, but we headed straight into town to get food and find out what was going on throughout the week after dropping our bags off.

The Aquarium Cafe soon became our second home, due to the fact that it had amazing food and the hook-up with everyone on the Vava’u island. We booked a sailing trip and swimming with the whales [with much hesitation from me], and found out about some great beach spots for Thursday. That night we attempted to grocery shop, but came to the conclusion that it would be better to visit the local restaurants... lots of "option nothing". After contemplating life together on the dock, we hit the sack under bug nets that made me revert back to when I was 6 with a canopy on my bed… those were the days : ].

The next morning we headed into town for breakfast [again, the Aquarium] and our long day of sailing. I hadn’t touched saltwater since I was about 13, so I was a little nervous, but the owners of the sailboat made us feel right at home. I’m trying to find the words to adequately describe the water, but I’m honestly still trying to process the breathtaking beauty. The water was crystal blue- the kind you see on the back of the Fiji water bottles- and everything seemed so untouched. We sailed out to a snorkeling spot, and Kaitlyn was the first one in the water. The girl is basically part mermaid, and it made me so happy to see her giddy over being around water again. Most of you know that I am not the biggest fan of deep water [thank you Jaws movie], but I was not going to miss this chance to see the coral. After a while we hopped back onto the boat, ate, and then headed off to another snorkeling spot. This one had a beach, and it was at this point in time that the scenery took my breath away. I was so incandescently happy that I just started laughing and jumping up and down with the girls. The sand was pure white, and our sailing guides pointed out the hermit crabs that we soon began to race. After a while of playing around on the beach, we swam back to the boat, ditched the flippers and began cannon-balling into the ocean. I definitely nailed a school of fish, but they seemed pretty cool with it.

Our next stop was Swallow’s Cave, where I got to kayak into a cave that I still can’t wrap my mind around. I could see straight to the bottom, even with the small amount of light. The girls and I took full advantage of the sun warming the deck on the boat, and we docked right around dinner time. We ate $2 tacos at Tonga Bob's and then returned back to our room, which was changed to the bigger cabin with multiple rooms. After a visit from a cockroach- well, 3 cockroaches, we talked about life for a while until we all passed out.

The next day we went to get suited for a wetsuit before boarding for our whale watching adventure. "Suited" is really a loose term, since it was definitely a struggle that I would never wish on anyone else. Although not as bad as the freefall extreme suits... equally as entertaining. Everyone was really nice on the ship, and one of the guides was actually from North Carolina. We had eavesdropped on a Whale info session the night before at Tonga Bob’s, so we knew a little about whales, but Paul filled us in about the sleeping patterns of whales after we found a whale that was apparently sleeping. The only come up every 25 or so minutes for air and then fall back asleep. We saw a Mom and calf, and followed them a little until we were instructed to get in the water. This water was very, very choppy and deep.. oh about 300 meters [ya- thats deeper than my little heart every needed to swim in]. Only 4 people were aloud to go at a time, and I was the last of our group in the water- so I missed the calf, but I was just happy that I was able to swim in that deep of water and not completely freak out. Just a day before my heart sped up Indy 500 style out during snorkeling, and I was honestly thinking about backing out, but again.... didn’t want to miss this opportunity. Tonga is the 'hub' for all the whales to cross through when Antarctica gets too cold. If I was a whale, I would just hang out here for life... Antarctica is just a few degrees too cold, but I've heard its pretty. After the whales swam away, we boarded the boat and went searching for calmer waters. There were a few times that I thought we were going to flip the boat, but we were relieved to find calmer waters and hit up a great snorkeling spot. The fish were all different colours and sizes, and we even found Nemo! We saw a bunch of dolphins and enjoyed the rest of the day, but no more whales. We headed back to shower up after realizing that we all smelled like wetsuit, and chowed down in our last dinner by candlelight at the Aquarium. It was at this point in time that I realized that I had almost every crepe on the menu. We were also introduced to the awesomeness of the tomato ketchup dispenser- it’s the little things in life. It was so interesting to watch the different travellers know that they all had unique stories- some had travelled the world, others needed to get away for a week, and randomly sailed down to Tonga.

The next morning we traveled to the beach for a few hours before heading into town for our domestic flight. It felt so good to build a sand castle, soak up some sun, and enjoy the beach. The travels home were interesting… including a few moments where we were seriously scared about our flight, but we ended the night by making friends with an awesome family that stayed on their own island. They had two sons that reminded Vaness of her little brother, and we made a date for meeting up in the future. And how could I forget getting stuck in security- twice for me and three times Vaness- due to the fact that she had a "torch". Here is a little snapshot of what happened:

"Ma'am, do you have a torch?"

"No."

"Ma'am! Do YOU have a torch?"

"No"

"Ma'am- You have a torch"

"Torch?"

"Yes, Torch." - It was at this point I had to walk away from starting to laugh

-He searched through Vaneffa's bag and pulls out her flashlight. He then angrily took out the batteries. "No battery."

I was laughing, and then got herded over to the trash can where I had to show my water bottle was empty- twice. Point of advice- don't laugh during security when you don't speak the native language. Good thing to keep in mind.

It feels good to be home in Auckland, and today Vaness and I visited the markets and ran errands. We didn’t need a jacket today, and I can’t wait to see the city warm up! Tomorrow I’m attempting to catch up with emails and life in general, and also enjoying the last rugby game of the season!
To all my Thetas- have a great Grill Off!! Raise some money for those awesome CASA kids!

p.s. Happy B-day Brinks!!