March 10, 2018 – Nuku'alofa, Tonga

We ended our last post as we were leaving Fiji. Since then, we had a full day at sea and cruised through the tranquil and beautiful South Pacific in a southeasterly direction toward Tonga.

Last evening, we had a special treat as all 10 of us who made arrangements for this world cruise with travel agents who are part of the Signature Collection, gathered for dinner in the elegant Vintage Room on Deck 6 of Crystal Symphony. Our Signature on-board hosts consulted with Head Sommelier, Ilija Marojevic, and Executive Chef, Peter Degner, to select seven fine wines and exclusive food paired to complement these specific wines. We had a magnificent six-course dinner, which we enjoyed over a 3-hour period. This was truly a special evening. We’re thankful to Signature, and our travel agent, Preferred Travel of Naples, Florida for sponsoring this experience for us. Here is a copy of the menu:

We weren’t sure we would be able to visit Tonga after reading the news about all the damage inflicted by Tropical Cyclone Gita last month, as we were transiting the Pacific on Crystal Serenity, heading to Australia. But when we arrived in Nuku’alofa this morning, the people of Tonga seemed to have survived, and there was a happy greeting on the dock from the local police band, with music continuing all day. Just before sunset this evening, there was a dance team on the pier entertaining us.

The Kingdom of Tonga is one of the last absolute monarchies in the world. We were told that the royal line in Tonga goes back more than 300 years. This is a small country, with about 106,000 total residents living on some 170 relatively small islands; less than 50 of which are inhabited. Of that number about two-thirds (around 70,000) live on the main island, Tongatapu, including the Tongan capital of Nuku’alofa, where we are docked today. This is a flat island, not at all like the mountainous Fijian islands.

Our destination lecturer, Dr. Teri Sowell, said there is a long history of trade and travel between the three South Pacific lands of Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji, although there were also periods of warfare in the past. Despite their close proximity, we are back to Polynesia when we reach Tonga, as opposed to the Melanesians in Fiji. Tonga is located almost directly south of the Polynesians in Samoa by about 550 miles (“as the crow flies”) and southeast of Fiji by about 500 miles. English is widely spoken on Tonga. These are well-educated people, with a high literacy rate (said to be 99.4%). As we observed today, Tongans, both male and female, are big people on average– both in height and weight.

Captain James Cook, during his second voyage to the South Pacific, named Tonga the “Friendly Islands” and stayed here for more than two months. Dr. Sowell told us that Cook presented a gift to the Tonga ruler at that time of a tortoise (named Tu’i Malila) that lived for nearly two centuries, receiving the “royal treatment.” The tortoise passed away, of natural causes, in 1963.

We traveled today on a shore excursion to see the Tonga highlights. There were four rather old school buses for the large group from Symphony who wanted to take this tour. The buses were “air conditioned,” when the wind blew through the open windows. It was hot and humid, but we observed a big slice of life on Tongatapu Island and enjoyed the tour. Our guide’s name was Lalala, a local school teacher who, luckily, had the day off from school, since it was Saturday.

Our first stop lasted about one hour at “Ancient Tonga,” a cultural program staged by a group of happy, friendly Tongans. This wasn’t a big, slick stage show; it was a family affair. Their entire home site had been destroyed by the tropical cyclone last month, and they told us they built the fale (roofed open-air building where we watched their presentations) in the past three days. They started with a Kava Ceremony, of course, to welcome our large group to their home. Next were several dance numbers, which definitely were Polynesian but unique to Tonga. The ladies were wearing tapa cloth clothing; tapa is still seen as part of daily life in Tonga.

This was followed by demonstrations of husking coconuts, cooking with natural materials (coconut leaf, taro leaf, coconut milk, etc.) cooked in an underground oven, etc. Our guide told us that this cooking technique is still being followed today. Then were demonstrations of weaving with pandanis leaf, preparing tapa cloth, and the various protocols of wearing the unique clothing made from these materials.

Following this, we rode on our bus through the countryside to Captain Cook’s landing spot (from 250 years ago). Along the way, we saw some of the devastation from Tropical Cyclone Gita, all of which has not been cleaned up yet. Our guide told us the storm hit Tonga as a Category 5 hurricane. There was no electricity and no water for several weeks, and all the agricultural crops on this island were destroyed. Financial assistance, humanitarian supplies, and other aid from New Zealand, India, and Australia helped with recovery. From the moving bus, it was not possible to take good photos of the worst of the damage still remaining.

The nation’s Parliament House was totally leveled during the tropical cyclone. We saw the temporary home of the Parliament outside of town in what had been the Tongan National Cultural Center. A side note – just recently (2010), there were legislative reforms which led to Tonga’s first representative elections and a democratically elected Prime Minister. This is being viewed as a step toward becoming a functioning constitutional monarchy in Tonga.

After visiting Captain Cook’s Landing Site, we stopped to look at Ha’amonga – known as one of Polynesia’s most intriguing antiquities. The two vertical stones are about 16 ft tall, 14 ft wide, and 4.5 ft thick. The horizontal (lintel) stone is about 18 ft long, 4.5 ft wide, and 2.0 ft thick. There has been a lot of speculation as to the purpose of the Ha’amonga. 

According to an interpretive sign located here, the Ha’amonga was built somewhere around 1200AD. In 1967, the late King Taufa’afau Tupau IV stated that notches carved on the top lintel had some astronomical significance. This led surveyors to check, and they found that the notches do, in fact, mark the positions of the rising sun on the shortest and longest days of the year. As for now, that seems to be the local explanation for the purpose of this large, historic relic.

From here, we drove back to town and made two stops for picture taking. First was a graveyard for common people and then was the Langi (terraced tombs) of the Tongan kings. Note the amount of white sand used at the commoners’ graveyard. This is part of Tongan tradition. On the other hand, the Royal tombs mimic European graveyards. Commoners are forbidden to enter that graveyard, but it is visible through a fence.

A few of the many interesting things we learned during the tour – air conditioning is almost non-existent on this island. There is one large store (called CostLow) that has AC, and our guide told us that people like to go in there not just to shop, but to cool off occasionally. She told us that all of the commercial stores on the island are owned by foreigners (Chinese primarily), none by Tongans, although some Tongans do work in the stores. Any food, other than fish, roots, tubers, fruits and vegetables, must be imported – primarily from New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S. There are only three foreign embassies in Tonga – New Zealand, Australia, and China.

Tongans are very religious and very Christian. On Sundays, nobody works – all stores are closed, and radio/TV stations play only Christian programs. Our guide was a member of the LDS church (Mormon); but most people are Wesleyan (Methodist), although there are other denominations as well. She also said that every village has its own church. Many cars on the island are in terrible condition, maintained on a small budget.

The white-painted Royal Palace, visible from our ship, was built in 1867. The following photo was taken from our balcony. Our guide told us that the current King doesn't live there, because he doesn't need that much room in his house.

It was a good visit to this small South Pacific kingdom. These people are far-removed from stresses of modern life in most of the rest of the world.

On board Symphony, we continue to enjoy the entertainment selections. Most notably, recent performances by jazz pianist Kym Purling with variations on show tunes. He was a Vietnamese war orphan, adopted into Australia, and has gone on to great success – a wonderful, heart-warming story. We also attended one of the (near nightly) performances by the four members of the very talented Latin Dance Team resident on the ship. All four of them are from Hungary, and they are excellent multi-disciplinary dancers – youthful and energetic, to say the least. They also teach dance lessons to those who are interested.

Jim & Ginny