Cruising; Vava'U; Tonga

Since arriving here a week ago we have cruised to different anchorages that are not very far apart with lovely clear water and tons of small fish. The bigger ones like the tuna/bonito are all over the place but not interested in the lures we have to offer. One large fish cleaned us out and stripped the reel... it might have been a "GT" -giant trevally - as it was over some deeper reef. There are tons islands that stand to 150 to 250 feet, mostly steep sided with a slight undercut section around the tidal zone and many with their own little beach. The islands are all well wooded with small cleared areas where there is a house or so. Generally there are very few people on the smaller islands. Around the islands are beautiful reefs that are very colourful.
One island has a large cave called Swallows Cave. You can swim in or take the dinghy in. The inside has some stalactites, small swallow nests hanging precariously to the ceiling and deep blue water full of fish below. Sadly it is also covered in graffiti dating back to the whaling ship days and all the way to the fluorescent spray can scrawling. There is another cave that we have not been into as you have to dive down 2m across 3-4m then up into the cave. It is far from a suitable anchorage so one needs to go as a group and do it in relay so that someone stays on board.
There are many anchorages still to explore and fishing to be done, but we will go back into town- Neiafu on Tues/Wed next week to meet up with our friends that arrive next week. Until arriving here we have not met many Aussie and Kiwi cruisers, now every bay has plenty as this is the cruising area for boats that leave from Australia and NZ. The last bay there were five Kiwi boats and one charter boat with folk from Christchurch. This is really a wonderful cruising area.

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