![\"Tongan](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2281\/2230743275_624f49533a.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe then sailed over to another There were several kinds of fish and lots of cassava, sweet Yesterday our friends from Risho Maru joined us in the One of our heads stopped working and Mark decided it was time to In the evening we went out to a restaurant on the beach here – Today Mark had to do some work – “professor” work, not boat work L.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We have been having so much fun with Ben these past 5 days that it has been impossible to write. The sun came out a few days earlier than forecast and suddenly we were back in paradise. Really amazing how Tonga went from feeling kind of dreary and dull to vibrant and sunny and beautiful. … <\/p>\n
\nanchorage – #11, which is the site of a Saturday night Tongan
\nFeast. We found our friends Quest at the same anchorage and
\nwent to the feast together. It was great fun – with about 40
\npeople there from other boats. A group of Tongan men were
\nseated on mats around a big bowl of kava and played and sang
\nTongan music. Everyone who wanted to participate in the kava was
\nwelcome to, so Ben, Mark and I all had a couple of cups (we are
\nstill not sure what the effect of kava is supposed to be, but it
\nis fun trying it out). It rained hard for a while, but we were
\ndry under the thatched roof hut. Then the “formal
\nentertainment” started which consisted of Tongan dancing
\nperformed by 10 Tongan schoolchildren. They were adorable and
\nenergetic and it was great – Ben took some great photos. About
\n8:00 they served the feast which was a very traditional Tongan
\nmeal – served on banana leaves and on various natural plates
\nsuch as coconut shells. Everything was eaten with your hands.
\n![\"Tongan](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2307\/2231896444_143b8d5867.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\npotato, cooked banana, and other starchy things. Ben wasn’t too
\nthrilled with the food, but Mark and I enjoyed it a lot. We had
\na great time talking with Denise and Pierre from Quest.<\/p>\n
\nanchorage. It was a stunning day and Ben started wind-surfing
\nlessons from Peter. They started out with Ben practicing
\nstanding on the board and getting pulled by a rope attached to
\nPeter’s dinghy – just like water-skiing, but on a wind-surfing
\nboard. Ben took a few good falls and then got the hang of it and
\nwas skiing all around the anchorage.<\/p>\n
\nbite the bullet and put in the replacement macerator and pump.
\nNot the kind of job that one does unless absolutely necessary.
\nIt ended up taking him the better part of the day – a real pain
\nin the you know what – but by 4:00 he had successfully installed
\nthe new parts and the head (toilet) is now as good as new.
\nHooray for Mark!<\/p>\n
\nLa Paella – which serves a fantastic paella dinner and also has
\nlive Spanish music. We went with Denise and Pierre (who was
\ncelebrating his 48th birthday) – and 3 bottles of wine – and had
\na really fun evening. The food was great and plentiful, with a
\nbeautiful cool breeze blowing through the thatched restaurant,
\nand a nice view out to the anchorage. The pet goat and dog kept
\nwandering around the restaurant – adding a great deal of raw
\nhumour to the evening as the goat was a male and the dog a
\nfemale, and the goat was apparently quite a lusty guy. The goat
\nand the dog kept circling each other while the Spanish guitarist
\n(the owner) and his wife sang beautiful Spanish and Portuguese
\nsongs. We had so much fun. We ended the night sitting on our
\ndeck watching the stars again.<\/p>\n
\n— so he stayed on the boat while Ben and I took a taxi into
\ntown to do some grocery shopping and internet stuff. The taxi
\ndriver was so great – we had to stop at so many stores to get
\neverything we needed – including the fresh fruit market, the
\nbank, the gas station, the curry man, a grocery store, the
\nbakery, the Aquarium cafe (where Ben was doing internet) and
\nbest of all, ‘Pete the Meat” – the guy who collects trash 3 days
\na week, and sells ‘high quality’ meat the other days. Taxis
\nhere are very inexpensive and convenient and we were really glad
\nto stock up on supplies as we were running out of anything good
\nto eat and now we will be spending time at anchorages that don’t
\nhave either stores or restaurants. The time is going by way
\ntoo quickly – there is so much more to see and do with Ben, but
\nhe only has another 9 days with us. Maybe we can talk him into
\nstaying???<\/p>\n