The Adventures of Sally and Dylan: One potato, two potato, three potato, four

Arriving into Niuatoputapu (New Potatoes as many lazy cruisers refer to it) after a 2 night sail was quite an experience. The CMaps we were using were not accurate and we crisscrossed land and reef in a number of places. Mildly disconcerting! What with the tsunami that hit a few years ago (2009), maybe reef and land mass has shifted somewhat... A recently caught big eye tuna hung from the stern like a scalp on the belt of a American Indian. We proceeded to parade it around the anchorage before dropping the big metal thing that stops us floating away. It is Friday in American Samoa, but we have just leapt into the future to Saturday morning. We are still nowhere near 180 degrees east...

Our friends on Murar's Dream received some of the tuna, as did another French boat in the anchorage. Sally and I love our fish. but not 5 consecutive meals of it...The lovely French couple invited us to dinner on Sunday. We arrived on time and they said "we thought you were not coming..." to which we apologised for being late (by 5 minutes). A few days later we arrived an hour late to a pig roast on shore and twigged that we had changed our clock back an hour, when actually we should not have. Never did get to apologise to the French couple, they probably just think we are rude English (new stereotype in the making?).

As it was a Saturday, we had to remain on board until Monday when apparently Customs and Immigration would descend upon us with reams of paperwork. The convergence zone sat on top of us all Sunday, like a large incontinent grey beast. Monday came and almost went when we decided to dinghy in and find them ourselves.

Piggies patrol the land and shores like hostile natives. Once near them they become altogether shy and dash off to snuffle elsewhere. Pigs seem to outnumber people about 3 to one. We met Sia who is a tourism liaison in Niuatoputapu. She helped us check in and made herself responsible for our stay. Talk of pig roasts and fishing trips all sounded very good. As did the imminent arrival of the recently crowned (2012) King of Tonga! A number of other yachts arrived and joined us for a pig roast at Sia's house, where we met her husband Nico. It was great to find a community that was not polluted by television as no one owns a TV and very few a phone. A skinny little piggie was the main course and all the food cooked in an umu (or underground oven). A very clever way of cooking as the food cooks in banana leaves but does not burn. We even tried kava. It was a very interesting narcotic drink that tastes of muddy dishwater (similar consistency too) and leaves a mild tingle on the tongue and lips after a single coconut shell full. I declined seconds as I was driving the dinghy.

Due to the tsunami the snorkelling and fishing is not amazing, but I was encouraged by Sia to bring them any fish that I caught while snorkelling. Awesome! Every day thereafter I would go out spearfishing and caught fish that I would not usually have selected for my own pot then trailed them back to the village to be met by excited locals with wide smiles.

On a few of the mornings I went out and trolled, picking up a large cuda and a giant travally (jack).

Another occasion nailed a good sized snapper.

Give me a kiss!

Nico and Sia arranged to go fishing on a Saturday on the little motu (island) near our anchorage. We met them there and were soon cooking fish island style, searching for clams in the rocks, net fishing on the flat reef. Coconuts provided us with liquid refreshments.

Sally and I went out snorkelling outside of the reef. When we submersed, you could clearly hear whales singing to you. Deep sounds of the males and high pitches of mothers and calves. Beautiful. You can see why people buy CD's of the stuff and pretend they are Nemo. A large jack cruised past me and I nailed it with the speargun. Being a large jack and none too impressed with being shot, it proceeded to shoot off. Unfortunately it took my spear with it! Bloody line snapped. I was spitting and cursing at losing A) a great fish and B) a good spear. Fortunately I had another onboard!

Each morning, the bells ring at 5am to wake up the anchorage (I am sure a few locals wake too!).

This is the call to be at church for morning services. These begin promptly at 5:30am. Early birds are still dreaming of worms at this stage. Having heard about the amazing singing that South Pacific islanders (Tongans) do, we were intrigued to listen to a service. Sia invited the yachties to her Roman Catholic church for Sunday service. The "umu" / post event lunch also helped to encourage a few infidels to attend.

I must admit the singing was very good. Service lasted at least 1hr 30…all in Tongan with the odd English word mixed in. I think I caught an "Amen" every now and then. I counted that there were about 120 in the congregation all dressed in their sunday bests. I worked out that if we had kept the service to a brief 30 minutes and utilised the other hour for the betterment of mankind, we would have 120 hours of actual deeds each week (or 6200 man hours per year). Just an interesting calculation…nothing more.

As Niuatoputapu was devastated by the tsunami a few years ago; a lot of people lost everything. The aid and generosity of others has ensured that the island remains inhabited. As such we (the cruisers) arranged a "distribution run" to take food, clothes, tools and school stuff to the people on the island. Aided by Sia and her truck, we went around and delivered goods to people in most need.

Lucky recipient of some of Sally's old clothes (and a tin of corned beef)

The main event was the arrival of the King of Tonga. For days the islanders had been cleaning their island in anticipation for the arrival of the new King. He had been crowned a year before and was touring his kingdom. He had been to Niuatoputapu before as a marine, but never as king. We watched him arrive and we went to the Agricultural Fair to see the festivities.

Wind arrived and we left.