Dear friends and family,

I’m sorry I’ve not updated this sooner
Below is a newsletter sent out by my crew Alicia. I’ve modified it and inserted photos.
I hope this brings you current until November when I flew to the US.

Love,
Jim

New Moon August 2008

Alofa friends,
No alofa is not a typo. It is the way to say aloha in Tongan. Alofa everyone. May this find you all having fun in life, following your dreams and being fantastically healthy in body mind and spirit. I am very well and thriving in Tongan waters both in and on top of the sea. Tonga you say? The Tongan kingdom are many islands in mainly 3 groupings, Tongatapu, Ha’apai and Vava’u ,which lie northeast of new Zealand. So here we are in the southern hemisphere. It is winter and across the international dateline. So when I call my folks in Indiana they are one day behind and 6 hours ahead of me. A new king is being coronated in August and I hope to catch some of the festivities. The 37 ft. sloop I am on named Intention is cozy and comfy. My years of living in a tiny trailor in Mt. Shasta has prepared me well for the living space at sea. Everything has a place and many things are hidden from sight behind seats and under them so a little notebook with what and where things are is a very helpful. It is especially useful when I want to find that buffalo jerky I put away so I wouldn’t eat it all in one week.
100_4600

Alicia arriving aboard INTENTION

Tongan People
The Tongan folks are large boned and large. Most of the women are 2x sizes and more. They have a beautiful honey colored skin, dark fuzzy hair, gentle eyes and in general are soft spoken.
100_2858

Tongan women selling at Market

At first when greeting them, the Tongans may seem standoffish yet when those sparkly hearts I offer appear, their hearts open and the smiles are genuine. As this is a Christian country with English influence, most wear clothes which cover the knees and shoulders. The market in Nuku’alofa the main city in the Tongatapu island where the plane comes into, is full of gorgeous handmade crafts( I bought a whale bone humpback whale necklace and a tapa cloth fan) as well as fruits and vegetables which are in piles for what you get for your money. Sunday is a holiday in which most go to church and then visit and eat with their families in the afternoon. ALL stores and the markets are closed on Sunday. Something I do remember in small towns across America. It is a refreshing custom.
100_2675

Alicia with the maker of her new tapa fan

Churches and Cemeteries
There are many sects of Christianity here. In the churches on Sunday the amazing musical heritage comes alive.
100_3176

Tongan Church inside

100_3220

CO and his children & grandchildren after church

Capt. Jim, CO & his family, and I attended a Catholic service and I was in rapture over the 3 and 4 part singing acapella harmonies that filled the church with glorious tones. Most of the music is in western type harmonic scales so it was easy for me to sing along. Though I had to Aah as the entire service was in Tongan. Sunday dress consisted of long dresses for women and long pants or sarongs for men with an overlay of a woven straw mat that is tied at the waist with coconut cording. This is the traditional sign of respect and can be seen outside of church as well at weddings, funerals and on folks who are wearing the black clothes for the one year mourning period for family members.
100_4582

Colorful Tongan Cemetery
Cemeteries contain the remains of folks in concrete blocked rectangles on which is piled high sand or black pebbles. On top are numerous artificial flowers in elaborate displays. The families with more wealth make a brightly colorful patterned handmade quilt that hangs at the head of the grave on a wooden frame. Many folks go into debt to honor the dead family member.
100_2616

Pig visiting cemetery

Underwater Delights
When we left the safety of the Queen Salote jetty and ventured out to the islands we anchored for 2 days near Big Mama’s resort. There I snorkeled for the first time and was delighted to see the variety of coral and fish, some familiar with a twist, some not so known to me. There were white staghorn coral with lavender tips, salmon, moss green blue sandy colored corals. Heaps of fluorescent blue and green small reef fish as well as black and gold striped fish, black and white fish, orange with lavender noses. The best were the clown fish like Nemo hiding in the sea anemones poking their orange and white striped bodies out to peer at me. One clown fish came up to my mask over and over again as if to say alofa to the islands. As it is winter here, I am so glad that I brought my wet suit with me so I could stay in the water for about an hour.
Alicia_130

Fantastic Tongan Experience
Coming out of the water on a beach feeling like I looked like an alien with my black hooded head gear, blue and white wet suit, black snorkel, lavender and green mask holding my powder blue fins,
100_2713

I met a Tongan woman watching her little 4 year old girl running and laughing on the beach. She was sitting by a coconut husk fire covered with a towel to keep off the flies and mosquitoes. I was glad to have the warmth of a fire as my hands were turning blue. We chatted as she spoke English and I have learned only a few Tongan words. As we sat her husband came from further down the beach where he had a bigger coconut husk fire going under some trees with other relatives. In his hands were Tora Tora , the large red shelled crabs that he had caught and roasted in the fire along with pieces of breadfruit which he had gotten from the trees around the beach. They offered me a heart shaped leaf that he pulled off the tree with some of the delicacies of the crab.and the white meat of the breadfruit. He twisted the crab apart to reveal a yellow sticky goo paste like substance inside which he dipped the breadfruit in and offered to me. I tried it and it was good. As in some eating adventures best not to know what it is beforehand. Later I found out from Jim that was the brains of the crab.Maybe I’ll get smarter in the water now?
This to me was such a kind, generous offer of Tongan hospitality. After the swim and the feast I felt like I had arrived in the Tongan islands. Returning to the boat later in the day I waved to the 8 family members in a small boat poling along the shore to the dock. This is a common sight in Tonga as many folks travel in little boats which are loaded down to the water line.

Patti’s Retreat Center
100_2729

View of Patti’s retreat from Intention
100_2691

Close-up of Octagon and Kitchen behind

Now we are anchored and helping my friend Patti in the middle group of islands, the Ha’apai group, build her retreat center. On the physical and on the etheric, she is an amazing being with a dream that she is manifesting on this beautiful tropical island.
.100_2751

Patti

100_2695

Patti’s daughter, Laura, & 4 grand kids

Her family of 2 daughters, 4 grandkids, former husband and his wife along with some New Zealand cruisers and Tongan workers are putting up the 11 structures she ordered and got shipped form Bali along with furniture, quilts of whales and dolphins and various things needed to start this center.

100_3110-2

Interior of octagon & other eating fale in background

Patti is an amazing masseuse and visionary. I tend to play with the kids while others put up the outhouse. The kids are all ecstatic at sunset when we blow the conch to send that pulse of love around the world.
100_2761

Alicia blowing the conch

The kids and I built the 64th flying heart in the web of flying hearts that I have made in the places I have been. I’m also getting an education in Tongan cooking. How to make coconut milk, how to husk the coconut, how to cook in the emu(fire pit), and how to use the young coconut leaves to steam the contents in water.

100_2706

Simi showing us how to make coconut milk

Humpback Whales
The humpback whales from the southern pole come into these waters to birth and mate.
As we sailed back from Pangai, the nearest town in the Ha’apai group, after provisioning with fresh tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, onions, cucumbers at the very tiny local market, we were blessed to have a group of humpback whales lead us back through the reefs to Patti’s retreat. They were breaching, tail slapping, waving their large pectoral fins at us. We all felt the beauty and magnificence of these giants of the sea. I am hoping that while I am here there will be an opportunity to once again view them from under the water as well as sighting them while sailing.
Whalle Trip 2007 014

Whalle Trip 2007 009

Whalle Trip 2007 019