Humpback Whales

I have been seeing a lot of Humpback Whales. Humpbacks migrate from Antarctica to the Pacific Islands. When they are in the the Pacific Islands Humpback Whales to not eat at all!!! But when they are in Antarctica Humpbacks eat 10 tonne of krill and plankton a day!!! We have seen whales breaching, tail smacking and flipper smacking.

Yahoo A Wahoo

Today we caught our first Wahoo.  It was approximately 60cm, Wahoo can grow up to 2-3m. The Wahoo can swim 196 km. It is the fastest fish in the ocean. Yum we are having it for dinner!

Nomuka iki

We are anchored off Nomuka iki were the ship "Bounty" anchored 229 years ago. The day after Bounty left here there was a famous mutiny.  Captain Bligh along with 19 men were put in a long boat.  They sailed it to Timor Leste (near Indonesia) setting the longest voyage ever in an open boat.  It was 3500 nautical miles.  Captain Cook and Abel Tasman also came here.

Pangaimotu Ship Wreak

On Pangaimotu there is a ship wreak. The wreak is scattered with crabs. It is not new and it has been there over 10 years. The ship wreak has been repainted and a new flag put on it. I think it is Coastal Ship, interested to here your thoughts?

Ha'amonga a Maui - The Mysterious Stones of Tonga

I was really looking forward to seeing Ha'amonga a Maui after I read about it last year in a School Journal.  These stones are much taller than I thought they would be.  It took about 40 minutes to get to the stones.  It doesn't look like stone but is more like coral.  It was amazing but not amazing at the same time.

Captain Cook's Landing Place

Today I visited Captain Cook's Landing Place. He visited  in 1777, on his final Pacific voyage, to see his friend, the King Fatafehi Paulaho. Cook took a sleep under a tree, now there is a head stone to mark him visiting.  This is me standing where Captain Cook landed.

Tongan School

Today I went to a Primary School to give the clothes we collected at St Martins to some Tongan children.  Two classrooms had been destroyed in the cyclone so the kids were learning in tents.  Everyone seemed very happy to receive some clothes.  The kids read out together the poster Room 4 made.  The Principal and Year 4 teacher were really pleased with the Junior Journal about Ha'amonga a Maui.  The kids also sang us a song.

                                                             

Tongan King

Yesterday I saw the King of Tonga on an Australian navy landing craft. The King was visiting Pangaimotu to meet the Captain of the navy ship. Tonga is the only country in the Pacific to have a Royal Family.

Tongan/Australian Navy

This morning I was woken by the Australian and Tongan Navy buzzying all around us.  At 10 minutes to 8 (NZST) the navy invaded Pangai Motu (the island we are anchored off).  They were in about 10 little inflatable boats with eight people in each one.  We waved to one boat and someone waved back and then fell in the water in all their clothes because they weren't holding on! It was very funny.

Flying to Tonga

Yesterday I went on one of Air New Zealand's Dreamliners to Auckland. They own 12 in total. Then I went on a smaller plane to Tonga after a 4 hour transit.

Also I saw Jean Batten's plane that she flew across the Atlantic at the Auckland International Airport.