We had a boat full (13 large boxes) of Christmas presents for the kids here in Tonga. So yes... we were Santa Claus. A little background. Thrifty Americans living abroad send packages to American Samoa and find yachts to sail them to Tonga to avoid hefty shipping charges. So we were postal carriers arriving 2 days before Christmas. Since everyone loves Santa, we made friends quickly and were invited to a Christmas party hosted by the owners of a local resturant.

Tonga created their own time zone which puts them first in the world to celebrate the coming of the New Year. We celebrated at a local bar called “The Mermaid.” The scene at a bar is more similar to a high school dance where bootlegged booze is consumed and boys and girls stand on opposite ends of the dance floor. We were lucky enough to not only enjoy Tongan and American New Year traditions but also a Norwegian leg of dried lamb called Fenalar which was snuck past airport officials by a Norwegian girl with one heck of a smile.

Enter Elisabeth. We met Elisabeth several months ago in French Polynesia. She is an amazing free-diver and cook. Two good assets on a sailboat in the south pacific. During Elisabeth's three week visit we sailed to some of the pristine beaches in Vavau island group, anchoring off several reefs and successfully spearing fish for dinner each evening. We also visited one of Vavau two popular caves, mariners cave, which has an underwater entrance into a misty cave perfect for a aquaman hideout. All good things must come to an end and Elisabeth flew home to her Architecture firm in Norway.

.

With the low season in full swing the entire island group is open for our exploration. Threat of cyclones keep people away and us here until late March. Until then, we'll hone our inter-island sailing and diving skills checking out what the Vavau group has to offer. Visitors from all over the states are lined up over the next couple weeks before Bret and I raise our sails and continue the journey west.