Today was Tonga. But first, let me tell you about an event we were invited to attend last night. As World Cruise passengers we have received several “special treats” for only those travelling the entire 115 days. We also know there will be more to come and we will be telling you about those as well.

We had received an invitation to dinner with the Captain and senior staff. We realized it was not for us alone, but were curious as to how many would be at the table. The invitation only indicated a date, time, and dress code.

When we went to Reception at the appointed time, we found about 25 additional people there. The Captain welcomed us and led us downstairs to the Crew Bar and Crew Mess! For passengers to east anywhere but in the public dining rooms is a rare treat. Yes, the décor is not quite what is in the public areas, but it was very nice and comfortable. This cruise line treats its staff and crew quite well we have found.

Anyhow, we had cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the Crew Bar and then made our way into the Crew Mess .The tables were set with the good china, silver, and crystal from the upstairs restaurant and we were treated to a four-course dinner cooked by the Executive Chef and the crew chefs. The menu consisted of an antipasto selection followed by a fresh pasta course (after all, this is an Italian-owned line). The main course was an international buffet featuring dishes from all of the major ethnicities in the crew: Filipino; Indonesia; Indian; Mediterranean. Dessert was Bananas Foster prepared table-side.

During dinner, several of the singers in the on-board entertainment cast serenaded us with a selection of operatic arias, popular songs, and old standards.

We finally rolled into bed sometime close to midnight. Truly a memorable evening.

OK, back to Tonga. The Kingdom of Tonga lies in the middle of the south Pacific (thousands of miles from anywhere) and is now a Constitutional Monarchy (as of 2006). Tonga is the only independent Pacific nation never to have been colonized by any of the world’s colonial powers. Prior to 2006 it was an absolute Monarchy. The King is now somewhat of a figurehead similar to Queen Elizabeth.

Tonga calls itself “The True South Pacific” and consists of 176 islands scattered in 27,000 square miles of ocean. There are only 275 square miles of land surface, of which 100 square miles is located in the island of Tongatapu, the main island and home of our port stop, Nuku’alofa. There is a total population of just under 100,000 Tongans, of which about 60,000 live on Tongatapu with about 30,000 in Nuku’alofa, the Capital. Nuku’alofa means “abode of love” in the Tongan language.

We were welcomed on the dock as we pulled in by the Police Band and a group of dancers from the Tongan Cultural Center. 

Tongan welcoming committee.

We boarded our tour buses and headed to the “Blow Holes.” An aside here about the buses. It appears that every bus in Nuku’alofa was commandeered for our excursions – and that amounted to about six buses. Our bus was the school bus used to ferry students to the local high school.

The blow holes are a natural phenomenon along the coast. The wave action on the shore creates pressure on the lava tube holes in the rock shoreline and, whoosh, up comes a powerful stream of water vapor that is really spectacular against the deep, deep blue and turquoise water in the background.

Here are some pix:

 

What you may not appreciate is the absolute clarity of the water. You can look straight down through 20-30 feet of water and it looks like about 6 inches of depth...

At the blow hole scenic overlook, we were serenaded by the most adorable group of kids. They played ukuleles and sang several songs as taught phonetically by the adults. You could tell because one of the songs was “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” followed by “Frere Jacques.” When we went up to them to say thank you and to ask how old they were, etc., they just looked blankly back and smiled.

Back on the bus. Next stop was Oholei Beach Resort and the Hina Cave. The use of the term “beach resort” is what might be called editorial license…While the beach was gorgeous, the “resort” part was just a little lacking. It turns out that this is a place that happens to be located adjacent to a natural cave and the owner has promoted it as a place to come for “events” such as weddings, parties, etc. After descending a rather steep staircase cut into natural rock, we found ourselves on a lovely beach and were led into a thatch-roofed structure that was laid out for a party. 

We went for a beach walk- time for another aside here: having lived in Naples for over 36 years and having counted on the fingers of one hand the number of times we have beach-walked in Naples, we had to laugh at ourselves when we realized that we had traveled almost halfway around the world to do a beach-walk!

Back in the Resort we found a buffet of local Tongan delicacies laid out that just about blew us away: Taro root (tastes like library paste); sweet potatoes; green salad (never touch salad when traveling, unless you have nothing to do for the next several hours…); potato salad (another ‘do not touch’ because of the condiment content); seaweed with shaved coconut (coconut-flavored grass); ceviche (raw fish “cooked” in lime juice and peppers – very good); boiled taro leaves in coconut cream (a little like creamed spinach – very little); clams in coconut cream (delicious); sea bass in coconut cream (the best dish of the day, in my opinion); roast suckling pig (nothing more need be said – outstanding); Tongan pudding (a sort of sticky bread pudding).

All of the hot items were cooked on the beach in a pit covered with hot stones, banana leaves, a tarpaulin, and sand.

Before the unveiling

Taking off the covers

Voila! Lunch!

Pig on a stick!

After lunch we went into Hina Cave adjacent to the party center and were treated to a show of local dances, including the use of fire in the dancing, and cultural information.

After the dance performance, we made the trek back up the stone staircase to the bus. OF course the bus had a mechanical problem. After about twenty minutes of fiddling, fumes from the exhaust, and worry about getting back to the ship on time, we finally got started and made it back to the dock about 20 minutes before the ship was scheduled to leave.

We now have a couple of days at sea again and our final stop before Sydney: Noumea, New Caledonia. Since both Noumea and Sydney are the only two places we have been to before, there probably will not be much more to blog about until we get to Sydney.

Stay tuned…