Photo shows a ball of bait fish lit up in the afternoon sun in Vava'u's amazing Swallow's Cave.

It was Panama where we saw the last land mammals as none ever managed to reach even the Galápagos Islands. It was in Samoa where we found fruit bats and have discovered noisy colonies of them here in Tonga too. Of course there are plenty of rats, dogs, pigs, cats and cows but they all arrived either as legal passengers on ships or hidden hitchhikers. Fruit bats were presumably explorers seeking new lands and accidentally found themselves on these last two groups of islands. They certainly chose a good spot with its abundance of fruit trees.



Small colonies of noisy fruit bats hang wherever they can around Vava'u's islands



Pigs with large litters are found wandering at will all over Vava'u

However, we are back to searching for interesting underwater life and discovered the amazing light penetrating Swallows Cave and the array of fish using it for shelter. The Vava'u group of islands is very different from other Pacific islands being an area of raised limestone platforms. Many of the islands are separated by an intricate network of fiord like waterways. The main island is full of food gardens and pigs! The North coast is wild and beautiful, but the main attraction is the number of lovely and secure anchorages.



Photo of Vava'u's North Coast

Meanwhile, the fleet of yachts has separated into those making their final passage to NZ and a few staying here in Tonga for the cyclone season. Some have sailed to Fiji and are making their way to NZ from there. The Oz bound boats have all left, and are intent on making the safety of the East Australian coast before December.

The first few yachts that have left for Opua have had tough conditions with strong southerlies and wild seas. We are not leaving Tonga until a more favourable weather pattern develops!