14 September 2006

Friendly Islands - that how captain James Cook called the Tonga archipelago and I don't see any better description. The inhabitants of these islands proved to be extremely welcoming and warmly. I never hitchhiked in easier way - just walked by the road shoulder and the cars stops themselves. Drivers often changed their plan and did some extra distance to lift us to our destination. Besides everyone is smiling and greet each other.

We flu to Ha'apai, an archipelago north of the main island of Tongatapu. Here, tourism is still poorly developed. Like in the previous island, hitchhiking working the same way and we also were invited to for the accommodation with the family.


Soane family is large and poor, but they are happy and accept life as it is. If they catch a fish tonight that is great, but if not, so they will it coconut, bread fruit or yam root. They eat meat only once a week - on Sunday. Their honesty and hospitality were more then great so we stayed with them 5 days, trying to help as much we could and watched how the daily lives of villagers looks like. Soane demonstrated us how to catch fish, how to break the coconut and start the fire without matches - just how to survived.

In addition to an interesting social life these tiny islands are a paradise - spectacular landscapes with white sand beaches and palm trees and surrounding blue lagoons. The new experience for us was crossing on the reef to the neighboring islands. This can be done only at low tide. On one of the inhabitant island we spent a romantic night at the beach under the stars. We had to came back around 5 am (maximum low tide, distance of 500 meters) with the torches and the brightness of the moon. Wasn't so easy to find the shallowest ways to avoid the deeper channels in the reef.

There are only two places in the world where you can legally swim with wild whales. Tonga is the place to be (the second one is Dominican Republic). We embarked on catamaran in search of these giant mammals. However, after entering the water with wetsuits, mask and fins there is not so easy to find the animal. Finally the third trip has brought success - we have seen them in direct contact, just few meters apart! They were resting at the bottom of the reef and slowly raised with the grace to get a breath. The small cub was swimming enthusiastic but adults keep him on the distance and later on dived in the ocean depths. It was extremely great feeling, we were so happy! Another time from the beach we have seen other humpback whale perform acrobatic evolutions in the air, jumping over the surface and splashing the ocean.

During our stay the King of Tonga died, keeping the power in his kingdom for more than 50 years. Tonga was in mourning, but its residents will remain in our memory forever, as smiling and friendly.