Tonga

February 5, 2025

Today we make a visit to the kingdom of Tonga. Tonga was first visited by Abel Tasman in 1643. Yes, the same guy who discovered New Zealand.  Tonga consists of 170 Island with a population of approximately 105,000.

Today we are docked at the largest Island Tongapatu in the capital city of Nuku’alofa with a population of approximately 28,000.

The weather today is just awful, It’s raining hard and the forecast is that it won’t let up all day. We didn’t book any tours today, as we visited and toured here a few years ago. This morning we put our rain jackets on and walked towards the market, about a half a mile walk. I felt bad for the local vendors, weather like this really effect their business. After buying another hat, which I really didn’t need, the lady previously thanked me and that gave me a good feeling spending the 10 bucks. Carol picked up a nice tapa cloth as a wall decoration for our house. After spending another half hour strolling the market, we returned back to the ship. Another interesting fact is that wine and beer are not very popular. Kava is the main drink of choice at social gatherings. Kava is said to give you a happy buzz like alcohol.

Cheers

Cor and Carol