Niuatoputapu, Tonga
The island we have just visited is called Niuatoputapu,
'new potatoes' being a white man's version of the pronunciation.
Wouldn’t you think that after a couple of days of interrupted sleep on a passage I would have no trouble sleeping the night through? Well here I am awake at 4 am for my watch again! We have arrived at Apia, Samoa, after an easy 36 hour passage from Niuatoputapu. The 'Niuas' are the northernmost islands in Tonga, but only Niuatoputapu is navigable for yachts. The name means lots of coconuts. Lonely planet describes the island as a squashed sombrero, which it does look like when sailing past. The wide brim is covered in coconut palms, and fringed with a long white sandy beach. We had a good trip up from Vava'u, only 22 hours, and were treated to a display by the whales on our way out. Two of these beautiful animals came out of the water, belly to belly, the full length of their bodies rising up and crashing back into the sea just a few meters from our boat. They mucked about on the surface for a while afterwards, and we believe this was all part of their mating habits.
The whole island is only a few miles around, with a lagoon protected by reef on the north side. The view from the lagoon is spectacular, typical coconut fringed beaches on the main island and the volcanic cone of Tafahi on the horizon a few miles away. A hundred or so people live over there, and it is also the garden island for Niuatoputapu.
There are two villages on the main island, a small one at the anchorage and a few miles down the road are the ‘shops’ and government offices. Actually, there is little to be bought here, with provisions only arriving from ‘Tonga’ once every three months, on the Olovaha. It is interesting to note that the locals view the rest of Tonga as a separate country. The bakery just looks the same as everyone else’s house, a tatty structure of boards, roofing iron and thatching, accessed across a field from the main road. You buy your bread from a window, which is just a portion of the wall that pokes out and is held up by a stick. The other two shops look the same, and sell only the basics such as cooking oil, rice and soap.
We were surprised to find six boats in the lagoon when we arrived, and even more surprised that in the few days we were there another seven checked in. It seems it is a popular stop over for the route from Samoa to Fiji or Tonga and as usual we are doing the circuit backwards! It has been said that the Pacific is going through a period of rapid modernization, which has no doubt been aided by the vastly increased cruising population. The unfortunate consequence of this is that these otherwise generous and friendly people are now expecting giveaways, and can become hostile if you do not produce. In Niuatoputapu, the children mob any dingy that comes ashore, demanding ‘give me my lollies (candy). As you pass by a village they all run out from their homes with the same chorus. If you say ‘no lollies’ then they say ‘give me pencil’ and one boy even went on to ask ‘ give me your watch’.
There is a road that runs around the island so we took our bikes ashore and set out to see the sights. We were able to ride along the beach on the other side, and had a nice picnic lunch in a shady spot, surrounded by hermit crabs. The wide flats of the island are ideal for plantations, and the fields of taro, cassava, banana and yam make nice scenery between the mangroves and rainforest. When we got to the main village of Hihifo, we stumbled upon a large hall where a number of women were weaving an enormous fine Pandanus mat. We investigated, and were told that this mat is 100 feet long and will be a gift to the king to commemorate 100 years. However, we were unable to discover just what the 100 year anniversary was for.
One the health risks here is Filariasis, a mosquito born disease that attacks the lymph system, culminating in Elephantiasis. It is prevalent on this island, and the local doctor dispenses tablets to all visitors, so we included a visit to the local hospital on our tour.
Down a side road in this village there is a fresh water spring for swimming, and although it looks inviting the water is partly salty as it mixed with the high tide. It is not very big, the pigs forage at one end, and clutches of children watch from around the edges. There are friendly fish, protected from being eaten by a legend that says the spring was created by when a woman was unfaithful, and sentenced to death. As they carried her off kicking and screaming, she spat on the ground and created the spring. As a result, the resident fish are cursed or poisoned.
It was here that we met Maikale, a girl of around 16 who befriended us and showed us where the bakery was. She was on a bicycle too, as many of the locals get around this way due to the long distance between the villages. She invited us to have lunch with her family on Friday, and although she spoke quite good English, I had some trouble understanding just what the invitation entailed, as she kept mentioning something about her church. The mystery was solved later, when another couple we met told us there was a fund raising festival for the Free Church of Tonga. On Friday, we arrived at Maikale’s home as arranged, to find they were still in the midst of preparations. Behind a picturesque thatched hut, a collection of shacks and lean-tos sprouted between the banana palms and breadfruit trees, forming her family’s kitchen. There were huge cauldrons of crayfish, two suckling pigs on spits, and many people chopping and cooking, sitting on mats that consisted of a few coconut fronds laid on the dirt, amongst the smoky fires with the usual array of pigs, dogs, chickens and kids running through the middle.
Eventually we arrived at the church, where a temporary coconut leaf shelter had been erected in front for the feast. A service was held in the church, a small weatherboard building with mats on the floor and an alter covered in fine Pandanus mats, decorated with shells and colored wool. I was interested to note the absence of a cross or any other religious symbols. As usual, the singing was spectacular. At the end, a roll call was made by the pastor, and each family had to submit their donation for the fund raiser. Maikale had been the treasurer for her family, writing down each person’s donation in a note book. I was astounded by the amounts that were given, a total of $5,301 was raised that day.
Afterwards, we were all seated traditionally for the feast, on the ground in a long line, 50 to 80 people along each side, all dressed in their finery, with the food piled in the middle on mats. Some of the food had arrived on the back of a truck, encased in a sort of litter with hoops and netting over the top, festooned with necklaces of candy. The whole litter was placed on the ground in the line with all the other food, so that the ‘table’ grew longer and longer. The amount and variety of food was astounding and several other yachties had by now joined the group, but us 'palagis' were baffled by the etiquette as there were no individual plates or cutlery as we are used to. It seems you just take whatever you want from the selection in front of you and graze. Although there were at least a dozen roasted pigs on the long ‘table’, no one seemed to be eating them, so they went untouched. My mouth was watering but I had to console myself with the thought that we would be putting to sea that afternoon and probably a good helping of greasy partly uncooked island pig would not have stayed down long anyway. After we had eaten as much as we wanted, Maikale took a large mixing bowl and heaped more food into it for us to take home. Everyone was doing the same, removing whole cakes and large helpings of the various dishes. We had a wonderful selection of yummy things, which meant I did not have to cook at all on the passage to Samoa.
I think we were lucky to have experienced the feast when we did, as the Olovaha had made her three monthly visit the day before, so we knew the chickens, eggs and other foods were still fresh. It had been fun to watch the whole island gathering on the dock as Olovaha came in, shaded by brightly colored umbrellas and the people piling up their goods in coconut baskets on the pier. Fishing boats lined Olovaha's side, with parcels tossed down from the upper decks. Some of the supplies were even taken away on horseback.
Our visit to Nuiatoputapu was a brief stop, much shorter than we intended, but we met a few really nice people there who became instant friends. We had been late leaving Vava'u, waiting for the winds to blow from anywhere except on the nose, and then had to move on to Samoa in time to meet Rob’s mum, Pat, who will be joining us in Samoa for the Teuila Festival next week. One of the main events of the festival are the Fautasi canoe races (a long, clinker or carvel-built boat ). These are long rowing canoes holding around 50 rowers, a tillerman, and a drummer in the bow to keep the time for the strokes. We watched them training in the harbor last evening. Over the past couple of hours the sounds of Apia have been coming to life, with bells, singing, roosters, and just now the distinctive sound of the drum beat approaching. I put my head out the hatch and was treated to a spectacular sight as one of these graceful crafts powered past our stern, with a big round yellow moon setting behind her in the early morning light. Despite the effort of the rowing, many of them still found the time to wave and say good morning.
To view Nuiatoputapu Picture Gallery click here
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