December 24 - Land Ho ! It’s the Kingdom of Tonga

After three sea days we arrived in Nuku’alofa, the capital of the kingdom of Tonga, on the island of Tongatapu. Tonga has 171 islands, only 45 of which are occupied, and a population of about 107,000, most of them living on Tongatapu. The island group stretches over approximately 500 miles here in the South Pacific. Interestingly Tonga was never conquered or colonized by a foreign country; instead it has maintained its independence and in fact at various times ruled many of the other small island groups around, including parts of New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, and even as far east as French Polynesia. From 1900 to 1970 it had British Protected Status for the purposes of defense and diplomacy. Until 2010 Tonga was an absolute monarchy, but in that year a constitution was passed and it became a constitutional monarchy ruled by King Tupou VI.

Before I forget, yesterday we lost December 22; it just was gone with the wind.  I went to bed on December 21 and voilà, when I woke up it was December 23.  We’re now 18 hours ahead of EST. 

I decided to take a tour which included an island drive to the east coast where there are blowholes – rocky coastline with areas in which the incoming surf comes in and blows through holes in the rocks creating a geyser effect.  To get to the area where they are we passed through lots of fields of taro, pineapple, banana, purple yams, breadfruit and various other local crops. The soil is very rich, black and volcanic .The fields might have looked rich but not so the houses or villages.  Many of the houses look very dilapidated and there was quite of bit of garbage and junked cars lying around.  The only places that looked well-maintained were the many religious compounds and schools.  Christianity has hit hard here.  I was amazed at the number of churches in such a small area. In addition to churches many of the denominations have opened colleges and universities here.  I’m not sure if they are institutions of higher education as we know them, since in many cultures “college” means something more like upper grades in our K-12 system.   I also found it interesting that the majority of the Tongans I saw, both male and female, wore a cross around their necks.

Following the trip to the east coast for the blowholes we crossed the island to go to the No.1 Restaurant and Resort ‘Oholei Beach.  There is only one main road on the island and most of the other roads are dirt, very bumpy and narrow.  Our bus was a local island bus with no A/C and I think a broken suspension system because we felt every bump and pothole.  When we arrived at the “resort,” (it’s a very generous interpretation of the word resort) we were greeted by the patriarch of the family that owns the compound.  I should write a little about this man and his family because I found it very interesting.  He introduced us to his wife of 42 years who was a very beautiful and stately Tongan woman with silvery hair.  They have eight children, the youngest of whom is an 8-year-old boy who I’ll write more about in a moment.  Evidently on Tonga families have as many as 10 or 12 children.  According to Tongan law, only an eldest son can inherit the property of his father.  But on reaching the age of majority, boys can buy 8 acres of land from the King to build their own homestead if they wish to.

The name speaks for itself

The ‘Oholei Resort and Restaurant were on perched a 100 feet or so above the shore below.  It used to be down on the beach level but in 2022 an underwater volcano near Tongatapu erupted spewing a column of ash that rose as far as 12 miles up and triggered a tsunami with wave heights as much as 66 feet on Tonga.  The resort was wiped out and numerous lives were lost because there was no warning; the tsunami arrived so quickly.  Our host attributed the survival of himself and his family to God watching over them.  (It was clear that the whole family is deeply religious.)

After he had introduced himself and told us a little about the history of his place he had a young man (I’m guessing no older than 20) climb up a coconut tree and drop down a couple of nuts.  It was amazing to watch how he scrambled up the tree.  Once back on the ground he gave a demonstration of removing the hull using just a stick, opening the hull with one poke of a knife and then grating the coconut on the end of a sort of metal washboard with a sharp point.  The fresh coconut tasted divine.

Using a sharp stick to husk a coconut in no time flat

Following the demonstration those who wanted to could walk down a series of 60 steps to the waterside to see a cave and the rocky shoreline.  I didn’t choose to do that nor did my friends.  Instead we went inside and listened to some music and waited for lunch to be served.  When the cave-lookers got back up we all went outside where lunch was being prepared luau style.   There was a pig roasting over open coals and food that had been cooked in another pit covered with palm fronds.  After we saw the process we went back in to be served lunch.  The meal was pretty good. The two most interesting things were a purple yam which was delicious and some breadfruit. I can’t say much for that; it may be a staple in this part of the world but it didn’t taste like much of anything to me.

The view from the top

That's the breadfruit

The local beer

The best part of the luncheon was the entertainment.  There was a three-piece band consisting of the patriarch on the guitar, another man on a keyboard and this delightful eight-year-old youngest son on the drums.  They played music while we ate and then the dancing began.  I’m not sure but I think all the dancers were family members.  The dances were a little like Polynesian dancing but not nearly as much hip-swaying.  The men who danced were more like their Hawaiian cousins than the women although maybe not quite as dramatic.  The pièce de resistance was the 13-year-old boy who did a fire dance.  He was absolutely incredible!

The 8 year old drummer.  I loved his smile.

The father, lovely mother and their youngest son, the drummer

After the show was over we reboarded our island bus and headed back to Nuku’alofa and our home away from home.  I’ll write more about our Christmas Eve festivities later because they deserve a post of their own.  For now Happy Christmas Eve back in the USA.