Vava shell twiter

Leonati Motuliki Master Carver

Leonati Motuliki, a master wood & bone carver, sold his carvings to tourists at vava shell twiter local market in Neaifu, Vava’u.  He worked from his home carving studio at ‘Utulangivaka in Vava’u. Leonati passed away in August 2016. Tonga has lost a great man, a skillful artist and a true gentleman, however his art will live on.

Artistry runs in Leonati Motuliki's family. It was his father, a jeweller and a farmer, who first noticed Leonati's own creative talent when the young boy started carving small three dimensional sea creatures out of turtle shell and mother of pearl. Fakatava Motuliki quietly took and sold these pieces at the market in Vava'u in order to buy supplies to encourage the budding artist.

Having discovered oil painting at the age of twelve, Leonati later left the island group of Vava'u to pursue an education in art at the College of Nuku'alofa. Here, Leonati specialised in painting. However on returning to Vava'u he reverted once again to carving, the creative skill that started his journey into artistry.

Leonati's skill and artistry are renowned not just in the Kingdom of Tonga, but internationally as well with his work featuring in collections across Europe and America. His well travelled international clients were quick to recognise the quality of the intricate work produced by this Tonga Master Carver.

Career highlights for Leonati include:

• 1978 - Invited to display his work vava shell twiter share his skills at the Art Festival vava shell twiter Hawaii.
• 1981 - Commissioned by the Royal Family of Tonga to create a unique gift for the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer (Using black coral, he carved a delicate nest with two birds alighting to feed their young and mounted it on a base of Tongan sandalwood).
• 2008 - Inducted into the Order of Queen Salote Tupou at the coronation of King George Tupou V in recognition of his contributions to the arts in Tonga.
• 2010 - Travelled to Shanghai, China, to participate in the World Expo as a Tonga Master Carver (Leonati's wife, Liliane, joined him as a demonstrator of Tongan tapa and woven items).

October 15, 2012

We saw some neat sea life on our low tide walk around Tapana Island, including some blue starfish and a sea snake. Sea vava shell twiter are extremely venomous, but they are very shy and have small mouths, so it’s almost impossible to get bitten. (Although almost-impossible does not mean impossible so we give them a wide berth). -Cyndi

Mr. Sea Snake caught on video…

Sea Snake Video

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Imagine a place where hundreds of birds fly overhead.  Where baby birds squeak from every branch you can see.  Where eggs litter the vava shell twiter you walk on.

Imagine a place ringed by white sand and coral reef, a place you can circumnavigate in under ten minutes.

Imagine a place where the wind can push the waves and the moon can push the tide as easily as a man knocks over a cup vava shell twiter water.

Imagine putting vava shell twiter tent too close to those waves and tides.

Imagine a deserted island where 6 friends arrive with tents, a cooler, ukeleles, some water toys, and a lot of papayas.

Imagine hermit crab race courses, twirling vava shell twiter poi balls, reading books beneath hatching seabirds, cooking over a fire, collecting colorful shells, swimming in against a stiff outgoing tide.

Imagine camping for a weekend on an outer island in the south of Vava’u in Tonga, and you might just see the vignettes described above.  We did.

Fonua Fu’o and Fonua Unga are spectacular vava shell twiter, almost untouched by humans.  Brown noddys and fairy terns use these islands as rookeries, and blacktip sharks as nurseries.  Boobies and frigate birds dive for needlefish.  The ground all around moves and wriggles, since almost every available shell is filled with an industrious hermit crab.  The waves push and pull more vava vixens 2019 tickets on the outer islands, evidenced by our wet campfire the first night.  And the sun seems to shine more brightly, evidenced by our burnished skin when we returned home.

Special places, for sure…especially for bird-nerds like Rob and me.  Well worth the vava shell twiter hard ground we battled with very thin mats, the mildewy water bottles, the sunburned lips, the crab pinches, and the inevitable bird poop bombs from above.

Related

Ha’apai, Pothan vava full movie to 24th October

One vava shell twiter the very many joys of a pothan vava full movie way of vava vixens 2019 tickets is constant closeness to the delights and beauty of nature. You can see thousands of sunsets, of dolphins, whales, birds, shells, stars, fishes, beaches, reefs and ocean colours, moods and forms, and never ever see too many. I never cease to wonder at the fabulous range of sights and creatures. Not that it’s always so beautiful, charming and benign of course. So I should add: the power, the anger, the magnificence, the challenges, cruelties and conflicts – the endless diversity of our natural world. Our photos tend to home in on the pretty and beautiful bits of nature though, and here are a few from Tonga ….

After visiting eight or nine different anchorages in Tonga’s Vava’u Group of islands, Henrietta and I had a look at the forecast….

….and had a boisterous well-reefed sail south about 70 miles to the Ha’apai Group.

I gather there are about 60 islands hereabouts in Ha’apai, but not many inhabited or accessible by yachts. Anyway, I don’t have a lot of time vava shell twiter very few boats stay in Tonga for the cyclone season – none in Ha’apai. This area of the Pacific is prone to cyclones. A few years ago in 2014 Cyclone Ian destroyed over 80% of the homes on Lifuka, the main Ha’apai island, and I’m told not a leaf was left on any plant. (Wind peaked around 150 mph and gusted to 180 mph; we cannot even conceive of such raw brutal crushing power.) Most boats seem to have left and gone to New Zealand already. As usual, Henrietta’s near the back.

As well as sailing boats heading south, the humpback whales do too. After having vava shell twiter babies in these sheltered waters over the winter, they swim to their summer feeding grounds in vava shell twiter Antarctic. And one of the attractions for visitors vava shell twiter whalewatching or swimming with the whales, and small low-key resorts cater for this small band of tourists. They often seem to combine whale-swimming with yoga, reiki, spiritual oneness, meditation, massage and knowing the inner-self sort of stuff. I love people like that.

I started writing this while anchored off an especially gorgeous island, Uoleva, about two miles long with perfect shell sandy beach, vava shell twiter wavy greenery, uninhabited save for three of the tiny resorts I’ve mentioned – though ‘resorts’ is a funny word what is a hebrew vav the few huts or tents involved. Most are almost deserted or closed now the season is over.

After spending time talking with the enterprising American woman, Patti, who ten years ago rented the land at the south of the island (foreigners cannot buy land), planned, designed, built and now manages Serenity Beach Resort, I thought you could see her website www.serenitybeaches.com. The neighbouring resort “Sea Change Eco Retreat”, owned by New Zealanders is managed by a UK/Tongan couple www.seachangetonga.com. I’m not vouching for either of these but just point them out as contrasting alternatives to the increasingly sanitised, homogenised and deodorised chain hotels of Tahiti or Bora Bora.

And in a world of unconventional and unusual folk, there’s Magda, an attractive, clever, forceful and interesting Pole, who vava vixens 2019 tickets ten years has owned and managed the Mariner’s Cafe and Bar in Pangai, (and also vava shell twiter Tongan husband and young son.)

Magda and Mariner’s Cafe

It’s a pretty little bar/restaurant, bordered with flowers, with assorted scattering of unmatched tables and colourful plastic chairs, beneath a corrugated iron roof, lined with international flags and burgees  – and the food is very good.  

I spend a lot of time chatting with people; for many, both Tongans and foreigners, seem extraordinary, and otherwise with so much time on board alone churning my solo thoughts, I might become strange!

A historical note: this is the island group where, in April 1789, Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers offloaded Captain Bligh from the Bounty. William Bligh and his loyal 18 seamen then sailed their open whaleboat about 4,000 miles to Timor, Indonesia. Pothan vava full movie modern day voyages are chicken-feed when you think vava shell twiter that.

Alas! My month in Tonga is nearly up, and we cannot renew Tongan visas here in Ha’apai so I’d better head off south to New Zealand in a few days. (UK is not part of Schengen so we don’t get the automatic three months of other Europeans.) Just waiting a while till wind forecasts look more friendly. It’s about 1,200 miles to North Island – but we can stop and anchor at a reef on the way if we feel like it….

During our stay in the island of Eue’iki, we not only enjoyed its paradisaical isolation, we also got a taste of Tongan tradition. Sunday is a very important day for Tongans, who are devoted Christians; they abstain from working (for real, they don’t even have flights), and families get together and attend church. Our host Veronica organizes a “Culture Day”, where guests visit the neighboring island of Taunga for several activities… and there we went.

At 10 am, Vava shell twiter, me and the Australian family that was sharing the island with us met at the pier. We got on Mark’s cool boat, shaped like the traditional Tongan kalia, and sped across the lagoon. The skies were mostly clear, and the color of the water was out of this world. We anchored in a small pier in front of the main village, and headed to the church. Unfortunately, the minister happened to be in some conference and the service had been cancelled. It as a shame, but at least we had already experienced the power of Tongan hymns in Tongatapu a few days earlier.

To make time until lunch, we started walking eastward on the beach. The landscape was unlike anything I’ve seen, and I’ve been to gorgeous beaches, like Bora Bora or Zanzibar. The sand was white and thin, the ocean azure, and the area looked completely deserted. The water by the shore was so crystalline, that we could clearly see schools of fish moving around. The best part came when we reached the edge. The low tide had exposed a sand bar connecting the main island to a little islet, covered with palm trees and perfectly round shaped. It was so scenic, that we probably took over a hundred pictures.

We eventually walked back to the village and were received by Nunia, a local woman we had met the day before, when she was spearing octopuses on Eue’iki’s reef. It was feast time, so she walked us to her home. The food, which for the most part had been cooked in an umu (underground oven) and was wrapped in leafs, was beautifully arranged on the floor. We each got a rustic spoon, made of coconut shell, and jumped on the exotic dishes: raw tuna, tapioca, coconut octopus, titus vav terminal units, minced meat, sea cucumber (the only one I didn’t like), fruit salad, custard… It was a super interesting and satisfying culinary experience.

But the “Culture Day” was not yet over. In the vava shell twiter, back at Eue’iki, Mark gave a presentation on Tongan maritime history. It was fascinating to learn about how Tongans built the best vessels, the asymmetric double-hull kalias, and ruled the South Pacific. Mark himself is a captivating character, a well of knowledge with notorious windsurfing patents and speed sailing records. And his passion for these topics, which brought him to Tonga, is contagious. At the end, Veronica played a documentary on Tongan history, and a song the two of them were producing with local star Angela Afeaki. That day we went to bed enamored of Tonga.

The Vava’u group is the most popular island group in Tonga.  It is remote and unspoiled, the waters are crystal clear vava shell twiter have uninhabited islands speckled throughout.  Matt and I could not decide if the Vava’u group reminded us more of the Marquesas in French Polynesia or the Bay of Islands in the Lao group of Fiji.  Either way, they are gorgeous.  

The downfall is the large number of boats that are here!  We had grown accustomed to being the only boat in the anchorage and now, our first anchroage, we share it with 8 other boats!  Small price to pay for a tropical island paradise.

Vava’u Group

The Vava’u group is made up of one main island (Ut’ Vava’u) and 50 smaller islands. The god Vava shell twiter reached into the sea and pulled up the islands of Vava’u.

Port Maurelle (Anchorage #7)

Our first anchorage is Port Maurelle, also known as anchorage #7.  All of the anchroages in Vava’u have numbers.  Even though it is called a “Port Maurelle” there is no actual port.  Just a beautiful, small, white sandy beach in a small, well protected bay.

Our plan is to only stay the night and then head to the main island to clear in and hide from the big nasty storm thats coming in a few days.  But, we hope to come back here to explore more so stay tuned.

Funny thing…there were a total of 12 boats that ended up anchoring here for the night.  For the first time, in a long time, we were anchored with 4 other American boats and one of those boats was from Austin, TX!  We did not have a chance to talk to them but we will find them again.

There were many rock star boats:  Zepplin, Rhapsody, Rolling Stones, Sally, and Pantera!  How funny is that?

Neaifu – the Main Town

The main town in Vava’u is Neaifu which is where we check in and clear out.  They have the most services and facilities based in this area.  The anchorage is very protected and two companies offer moorings for $20TOP per night.  It is here that we run into a lot of cruisers that we’ve met along the way!  

St. Joseph Cathedral is one of the top 10 churches in the Pacific and it is a work of art!  There are lots of dogs and pigs roaming around freely.  They are skittish, but truly funny to run into as you are shopping.  Neaifu has a pretty decent fresh produce market that is open daily and behind them is a large craft market.

Are We Famous?

We were meeting cruiser friends for dinner (Brian and Vava shell twiter on Sea Rose whome we met in French Polynesia).  Our table of 4 quickly expanded to a table for 15 during happy hour.  A young couple who sat next to us delightfully screamed “you’re famous” when they met us and learned we were from “Sugar Shack.”  Well now that was vava shell twiter Yes, we do a lot, but I certainly would not say we are famous.  What do we do??

I ran the Poly Mag Net which is the nightly SSB net in French Polynesia for 2.5 years, updated and included a lot vava shell twiter updates on the 4 FP compendiums and Fiji Compendium (I am currently doing the same thing for the Tonga compendium), and am very active in the vava shell twiter WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups.  But she also mentioned something else…

She said, you were quoted in the new Whangarei Marine Brochure.  I said, “what?”  She said in Cafe Tropicana (which is the cruiser hub in Tonga) there are tons of these new Whangarei Marine books and there is a full page with your quote.  Well, that is new. I had to investigate and guess what she is right!  This is with me and Greg Just who owns Cafe Vallabh bhatt ni vav and is the port officer.  I think it would have been cooler if Sugar Shack were one of the boats in the photo but I can’t micr-manage everything vava shell twiter src="https://i0.wp.com/www.svsugarshack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/img_1179.jpg?resize=625%2C625&ssl=1" alt="" width="625" height="625">

Tonga Carving

There are some amazing carvers in Tonga.  They carve pearl shells, wood of all types and bone of all types (including whale, turtle, cow).  I did not take photos of everything because there is just so much and it is hard to pick.  But here are some of my favoriet pearl shell carvings and yes, I purchased the whale tail in the large photo.

Sugar Shack Custom Designed Items

There is this fabulous place called Coffee and Tees in Neaifu that is run by Cindy.  She is incredibly helpful, kind, and eager to please.  She worked with me for a few hours to design our special Sugar Shack shirts, shopping bags, and backpacks!  We sent her our logo and we had everything completed the same day!

Cindy is the blonde and Isa is the brunnette.  The images below are our very own screen prints with our Sugar Shack logo!

The shirts have a design on the front and back.  Matt and I both like understated on the front and the big design on the back.

And some new shopping bags…front and back

Ovaka & Avalau

We dropped the hook at anchorage 39 next to two small islands called Ovaka and Avalau.  Wehn we arrived there were only 3 boats but by the end of the day there were 9 of us.  So many boats.

We took Sweetie to shore and explored the beautiful beaches of both islands. We were pleasantly surprised to discover a trail that led from the beach to the village.  There ae 15 people, 200 pigs, dozens of stray dogs, 2 goats, a few chickens and 2 churches.  

They have a lot of solar here which is very cool.  They have solar vava shell twiter many houses and the lights are solar powered.

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One of the churches, the church drum, a very damaged pier and some fishermen.

Avalau is a small uninhabited island.  But what it lacks in size it makes up for in beauty.  

Limestone cliffs, towering palm trees, and soft sandy beaches.

Then this little motu with beautiful birds living onboard – even a boobie.

Sunsets

We had some beautiful sunsets in Vava’u.

This blog occured in early August.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  In our last blog, we weather the storm at Foa in Ha’apai.