No one knew what to expect out of Tonga. Though I suspect few would have guessed that SEA’s first visit ever to Tonga could hold so many highlights of the voyage.
Upon arriving in Neiafu on the island of Vava’u sometime in the early afternoon, we all mustered up on the quarter deck, presumably to hear about the plan for the rest of the day. Little did us students expect to be given any free time on our very first day in Tonga. But, to our surprise, our captain let us loose for a couple of hours before dinner. The wharf we had docked alongside was nothing like the one in American Samoa. Here were were greeted with shipping containers and the sandy sometimes muddy surface of the small pier. At first, I was a little intimidated by the prospect of wandering in a city I really didn’t know much about besides having glanced at a few maps. I’d been so caught up in the sea and sailing part of preparing for the trip that I’d kind of neglected doing much reading about our specific ports–granted I’d learned about the history of the 5 countries in our voyage in class on shore.
Neiafu: a yacht hot spot
But so C, G, and I eventually went a wandering, our first steps into this new place made for a really lovely night. Pretty quickly, we all realized that we were going to immensely enjoy our time in Neiafu. One day was dedicated to talking to folks who work for the only environmental NGO in Tonga, called VEPA. They told us about the whale watching tourism that has sprung up in Vava’u while humpback whales migrate through the area and how this corner of the tourism industry grew up after a royal decree banning whaling about 50 years ago. But we also learned a lot about their community based conservation efforts. Some students were given the rare chance to join local women go gleaning in an intertidal area, while others checked out the forest preservation efforts going on around Mount Talou, the island’s little mountain. We all also had the chance to “help” conduct a reef survey looking for Crown of Thorns, which ultimately turned into a chance to snorkel in some gorgeous waters and observe first hand the beginning effects of coral bleaching.
On one of our last nights there, we welcomed a group of students onto the Seamans, many of them taking classes about navigation or computers or engineering. Their teacher had once been a boat’s engineer, so was very excited to see the engine room of our ship.
After giving them tours of the boat and sitting down to dinner, we broke out the ship’s instruments and our very own fiddle player started playing some tunes. What happened next was an incredible exchange of music. We played some of our favorite songs, and our Tongan guests sang us some songs too–some of which were gorgeous hymns and others of which were pop songs we recognized from the other side of the Pacific.
Just before it was time for our guests to leave, our fiddler offered to teach everyone a simple square dance. We circled up on the wharf and followed his instructions to circle round right, swing our partners round and round, and close up the circle. The spontaneous square dance was some kind of magic to see unfold. Language no barrier, just genuine desire to fully and sincerely share a moment with new friends.
View from the Queen’s Lookout
Later, on the ship, after leaving Vava’u, we got into a discussion about authenticity of experience. And how one can know that what they are seeing or learning of a different country is truly authentic. And you can’t. Not really. But you can be sincere and recognize sincere connections with others. And perhaps that is more important.