Rainy Tonga

It has been a wet, rainy few days here in Tonga. We moved out of the town to a small island called Lape Island. It is very pretty here – even in the gray weather. We went to the island yesterday to pay for the mooring and the islanders were very friendly. In fact, they gave our friends from Chapter Two some bananas (they wanted to buy some – but they were just given them!) There is a school on the island and we'll probably walk to it today if there is a break in the rain and bring up some school supplies. It is always interesting to see these small island schools and talk to the teachers.

We do enjoy listening to the morning radio network here – especially "the market report." This is not the stock market report – but the local vegetable, fruit and fish market report. The gentleman named "Primy" or "Primrose" gives a daily report telling the listeners about the lovely tomatoes, fresh lobsters or handicrafts. The network is filled with weather, advertisements about the local businesses, all the island feasts, and non-profit announcements.

We had hoped to do some snorkeling in this area which is known as the coral gardens – but it is so gray we may put it off for a day. It just seems like it's going to be rainy for the next several days – so we'll just hang out and get some boat projects completed. We need to go through all our boat provisions to determine what we need to use up before arriving in New Zealand. NZ prohibits certain items from being brought into the country – things like all meat (frozen, canned or fresh), all dairy products and eggs (including mayonnaise), all nuts, beans, fruit and many other items. So the banned items are the high priority to eat at this point. The menus will get more and more interesting as we start to get through the stores.

Last night, we did have a lovely mahi dinner (still eating that giant fish we caught between Suwarrow and Niue) with Mike and Karen from "Chapter Two." It seems we can't stop socializing – though today may be a day of "rest" a few boat projects and a walk to the island. We need to get some laundry done – but there is no place to dry them with the consistent rain.

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