Off On A Lark!

When we arrived a week ago there were 3 boats here in the anchorage. There are now 12, the most recent arriving this morning. With the exception of 'Lark' they have all come from Samoa after crossing the Pacific from Panama, Mexico and the US this season. All are headed to New Zealand or Fiji where they'll wait out cyclone season. We'll be heading north across the equator to the Marshall Islands.

We are surrounded by Germany, Canada, Sweden, Austria, The Netherlands, US, Australia and New Zealand. Seea and Niko in Falehau village are preparing a Sunday Tongan lunch in their 'umu' for all of us as I write this. Yesterday we all contributed food for the cooking in appreciation of their hospitality. Last Thursday evening we were all included in a 17th birthday celebration for their oldest son. It was quite a gathering of family and friends. Roasted pig and other Tongan dishes were served. We yachties brought desserts.

A few of us have also adopted the 2 Mormon missionaries here. One from Utah and one from the island of 'Uiha here in Tonga. They are great fun and appreciate a meal on board, conversation and being big brothers to some of the kids on other boats. One has blown out his only pair of flipflops so we were happy to provide him with a new pair from our bin of trading items. That's a very popular item here and we're down to 3 pair in shocking pink and purple!

I have mixed feelings about providing plastic items like those even though the villagers need footware. The beaches are typically littered with discarded or lost flips and flops at the high tide line (along with plastic bottle caps). If you have any creative ideas of things to be made from either of the above post a comment and let us know!