We are now almost Billy-no-mates in the bay. Most of the WARC boats have gone, albeit only a few miles away, to pretty anchorages. Mike and I go into town, stopping at Brown Eyed Girl who are now moored quite close to us, to get the low down on the burglary. No luck with having the goods back but in a place like this the re-sale market is small and things have a habit of turning up, especially when there is a reward for information. I do hope they get their laptop back as they have all their photos of the trip so far backed up on it.
At the market I buy another basket for my garlic and some lettuce, then we traipse around all the Chinese supermarkets (not very super) looking for sweet chilli dipping sauce. I still have one large bottle but I add it to so many things that I begin to quake if my supply looks like running down. No luck though.
On the way back to Jeannius we stop to talk to Stephen and Ed on Skylark. Stephen has been promising us a Thai curry for ages and invites us tomorrow lunchtime but as we are leaving the anchorage today, we have to take a rain check. However, I will hold him to it as I know how good his curries are.
Having got to grips with the dinghy, Mike decides to capitalize on my new found confidence and makes me drive the boat out of the still crowded anchorage. Just in case though, I make him stay at my side until we are clear of the other boats.
The Vava’u group of islands consists of fifty islands, only thirteen most of them inhabited. These tiny islands are littered with caves, their entrances large enough to take the dinghy into.
We arrive at Kapa, where Destiny, Dreamcatcher and Ronja (muscle) are already anchored and lower our anchor, aiming at a large patch of sand. We certainly don’t want to put additional strain on the windlass by having the anchor caught on any coral! Mike snorkels over the anchor to make sure that it is set. Jan Morton from Ronja has booked us in for a traditional Tongan feast at Barnacle Bay, and as we hear pigs squealing in the distance, I guiltily realise that one or more of these is probably dinner tonight.
We get in the dinghy and go to explore our new environment, glad to be away from Neiafu.
We are told that to get to the Tongan feast, we have a ten minute walk through the village. Stupidly I presume that this will be along a road. No. The walk is across open fields where pigs roam (and shit) freely, digging huge, treacherous holes for you to break your ankle in, but thankfully we all arrive at Barnacle Bay without injury.
The table is set for about forty people. We bring our own drinks with us but Mike and I forget the glasses and have to swig our wine out of the bottle – again! A very long prayer of thanks is said by the proprietor first then we are allowed to tuck in, our sucking pig glaring at us from the middle of the table before it is taken away and cut up.
As well as the suckling pig, we are given fish cooked in coconut, raw fish, breadfruit, sweet potato, octopus curry, corned beef in coconut milk and wrapped in taro leaves, fish curry, fruit and some sweet dumplings covered in syrup.
After dinner, the proprietor’s two step daughters perform a dance each, although I have to say neither look very enthusiastic about having to do it and look very relieved when a sudden lack of power to the beach restaurant cuts short their performance.
The walk back is a bit exciting. We all have torches but they only light the way so far - I hate to think what I am treading in most of the time. All the way there are ominous snuffling noises from all directions as we disturb the pigs but eventually we are back at the dock, climb into our rapidly deflating dinghy and get back to Jeannius.
For a while Mike and I lie cuddled up together on one of the trampoline staring up at the millions of stars, until the heavy layer of condensation on the boat makes us too cold to stay out any longer and we scuttle back inside.
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