Hunga Bay on Vavau

Hello All,
Yesterday morning I got a visit from a guy in a dingy that owns a house boat that he keeps anchored in Tapana. He and his wife are ex cruisers that came in 1983 and stayed. Their floating home is also a business they call the "Ark Gallery". He introduced him self and asked if I had any spare chain. I told him I had about 50 feet I never use and he could have it. He told me that he uses it to repair moorings that he has set up for people to use. He said how much do you want for it, I said do you have anything to trade, he said well maybe. I told him I would like to see his shop and look around. He said sure thing, just talk to my wife and see if there is anything you would like. So Jon and I took the dingy over to the Ark and met his wife. She was originally from Oregon and told me there story in short of how they ended up here in Tonga. She is a very good artist and had a lot of paintings on display. I told her what I did for her husband and she was so happy. She said anything you want here you can have it. I told her it was just some old rusty chain. She insisted, so I picked out a few nice things and we were both happy. We had a nice chat with her also, they are very nice people and I hope to meet up with them again sometime.
We left the anchorage after that and headed for Hunga Island which was 12 miles away. The Island is one of the most western and has exposure to the ocean. It is also where whales can be found. We sailed most of the way over and right before we got here 2 or 3 whales breached right by us. Jon took some pictures with my camera, he was very excited. That was all we saw before entering the bay.
The bay here on Hunga is unique because you enter it through a very small pass 100 feet wide and only 10 feet deep at high tide. it is a little tricky because once you get in you have to jog around some to miss the coral heads. Once inside it is a big bay and deep. We picked up a mooring in front of the village and we went and looked around. It is a very small village and the people all said hello as we walked around.
This morning we will head back to town. Today is the day to sign up for the sail boat race and I was talked into doing by a few cruisers, so Freestyle will be racing this weekend.
I will tell you all about it in the next blog.

That's all for now.

PEACE