Kingdom of Tonga

Kingdom of Tonga

After a 3 day sail from American I arrived in The Kingdom of Tonga! The people here are very friendly and giving. The main thing of my stay so far that will be in my mind forever s the memorial service of the old King. The church was so full and they had tents set up next to the church and people standing all around the church as well as sidewalks and streets full of people. The New King was there as well as the Crown Prince and his son and daughter. Well apparently you cannot inherit the Crown if you do not have an heir. So the new King did not have an heir and so he adopted the Crown Princes daughter as his daughter. This gets very complicated for sure. There was many royal party there and lots of royal chiefs as well. At the end of the ceremony we were some of the last to leave as we were taking in all the dressed up Royal's with their elaborate hand made lays. I was in amazement when they Royal's started taking their huge lays off and handing them out to some of the boaters, and yes I was lucky enough to get one. It was a great honor to be able to attend such a service and afterwards we met the Kings photographer from Tongatapu. He was very informative about all the do's and do not's and what the ceremony actually meant to the Tongan's.

The Friday before the memorial service the King, Crown Prince and his son had come in and actually the son of the Crown Prince involved himself in the Friday 1st annual Governors Cup regatta that had been put together in a short notice. Preparations for the regatta started 48 hours before the regatta was planned. About 11 boats in total were involved in this race, a 73ft schooner which I had the pleasure of crewing on. The Crown Prince's son was put on a Moorings sailboat with all his royal friends and ladies with him. The Captains meeting was a 1600 and the races started at 1700. After the Captains meeting was over we only had 25 minutes to get out to the boats and up anchors and be underway. To say the least we did not start the race exactly at 1700 but maybe 1710 and there were already 5 boats headed on the race path. We got underway, passed the start line and off we were. I think we started at being the ninth boat to start and we came in 4th, so we passed several boats to get this spot. It was very exciting and so much fun and very adventuress. It has been several years since I had been in a sailboat race. I had been in the process of building a new topside hatch and did not want to take a chance in someone falling into the hole so I did not enter Elysium, But next time there is a race she will for sure be in the race.

After the race ended their was a party with all sorts of prizes and food and drinks. It was the most cruisers I had seen together ia long time, people from all over the world that are currently sailing around the world and now in the Kingdom of Tonga waiting to head south to New Zealand to escape Cyclone season. So between now, mid October and the end of November these hundred so boats will be headed south. Of course , it is still winter in New Zealand so get your heavy coats ready and yes cold wind to sail into. Yipes, NOT for me. I have decided to Cyclone out in Fiji and continue to enjoy the islands. I will check for the best place to run to if a storm comes up but I will be in the Fiji Islands enjoying all the beautiful anchorages all to my self and guest's while all the other boats are on the hard or at a marina in New Zealand.

I plan to haul the boat in a few days paint the hulls and head to Fiji. I hope to be posting photos soon to go with the story here to show some of the dress and attire they wore.

To all, I hope you are well and safe, Me I am pretty close to heaven where I am. Thank God for this earth he has created and making it possible for me to be out here. It is such a great place to experience and explore, especially by the sea.

Thank you all for following my dream with me. It always has excitement and adventure as well as some very good relaxing time and meeting new and adventurous people.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com