Position: 18 degrees, 45 minutes south; 174 degrees, 04 minutes west
It is Sunday here so I had the enjoyment of attending mass at St. Joseph’s church this morning. Most of the mass was in Tongan but joyful prayer in the form of song is universal. These people sing a cappella with many different voices blending in prayer. It is just beautiful. Add to the musical atmosphere, the fun of people-watching and I am totally entertained. The Tongan people really dress up for church. Most of them dress in black with the traditional woven wrap. Both men and women. They must be melting in the heat. And the children seem comfortable with everyone in a very packed church. These toddlers wander from pew to pew with their faces lighting up as they recognize another friend. Hugs and smiles and off to the next pew. Very entertaining. Then, under a brilliant sun-filled sky we slipped our mooring lines in Neiafu and started the journey south to the next island group in Tonga – the Ha’apai. We had nice 10-15 knot winds that carried us down the somewhat familiar waterways toward our last anchorage in the Vava’u Group.
We are anchored at Ovalau and have found the perfect South Pacific sandy beach! We dropped our anchor in 40 feet of clear water and dinghied ashore with our snorkel gear. But snorkeling had to wait because we found soft, warm sand. The beaches in the South Pacific look perfect from the boat but when you go ashore you can hardly walk on them in bare feet. Too much coral. But not today. Soft sand on a deserted island with sea shells to be found!
We did don our snorkel gear and caught up with our friends on Lady Bug for a beautiful snorkel through meadows of coral. Seriously, these coral formations looked like bouquets of flowers. Just lovely. And we were surprised at the number of new fish we found. I think we are going back for more tomorrow.
Back on Charisma we showered off and ended our day with cocktails with both the crew from Lady Bug and the crew from Black Dog – a very cool boat named after a beloved dog. Another lovely day in paradise!