KINGDOM OF TONGA HOLIDAY BACK BLIPS

Tonga Holiday

The Engineer and I arrived home yesterday morning from 11 lovely days in the tropical Kingdom of Tonga to a very cold overcast 1 deg c Christchurch winters morning. I have emptied 107 mils of rain out of our rain gauge; appears we have missed some wet nasty weather while we have been sunning ourselves in the tropics.
Our main purpose for going up to Tonga was to meet up with our daughter, her partner and our 14 month old grandson who are sailing back to New Zealand from Mexico on their 42ft ketch Kai Kaha.It was the Engineer and my first trip on a yacht and what a wonderful experience it was .We sat back and relaxed and enjoyed peaceful sailing in light winds in the calm blue seas of the Ha'apai group of Island; set foot on uninhabited islands; visited remote Traditional Tongan Villages ;snorkelled and fished in the crystal clear water of the coral reefs ; watched whales and dolphins and didn't see any other tourists. What a treat and all on beautiful sunny blue sky days with temperatures between 24-28 degs C; just idyllic.
The Ha'apai group of Island has no traffic, no crowds ,no queues, very basic onshore facilities , friendly local Tongan people and is Tonga's best kept secret and one I hope will never be discovered by mass tourism .
I have back blipped some images from our trip.