Last night Wil, Ron & I decided to tour the island of Tonga for a while after our arrival. I had given up and thoughts of beach based on the forecast (which turned out to be very wrong…) Our arrival was pretty interesting since the dock was so small it appeared a little more challenging than normal to tie up the vessel. The ship was safely docked and we were off. Our first stop was the flying fox sanctuary and the little beasties we a bit active. I got some pretty nice shots of them flying about…. It was the first time Wil & Ron had seen these large bats. Next we traveled to the Mapa’a Vaca blowholes which were absolutely fantastic. The waves coming in we just huge, perhaps the biggest I have seen and the effects from the blow holes was just amazing…. I swear they were shooting up over 60 feet, unbelievable. This was without a doubt the highlight of the day. Next we headed back to town to visit the Royal Tombs and then the Royal Palace built in 1867. While it is no longer used, this Victorian style house still is an elegant addition to the Nuku'alofa seafront…. We then had our taxi driver drop us at the markets where we spent some time. We then meandered around town in the general direction of the ship shopping, having lunch and just watching daily life in Nuku'alofa. Once back on the ship I headed topside to take in a bit of sun. It was a very nice day which we all enjoyed.
5 comments:
Hi Jeff,
Tonga looks awesome. I saw the Tonga military band at the Tattoo festival in Edinburgh in August. They definitely stood out from the crowd!
BTW... I missed my trip on the Volendam. Had a little accident and broke a few bones. So I'm laid up and traveling via your blog. It' not the same, but I look forward to checking in with you every day.
Give my best to all my friends on the Amsterdam..
Hugs, JT
Hi Jeff:
The Tonga folks sure are a dignified and pretty people. It also appears to be economically stressed.
Beautiful photos.
B-FL
HOLY BATS!!! Thanks for sharing. I'll stop running from the little baby sized ones we have around here.
Nice that you took us along on a just a "lazy" day in Tonga. Very relaxing. THANKS
Like Holly said "Holy Bats, Batman......" Just wanted to tell you that I continue to have my morning coffee and check out your amazing pix. I really hope you never stop travelling!!!!!
Whether or not I stop traveling like this is definitely up in the air at the moment. It is up to HAL and what they do with "Grand" voyages in the future.
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