Tonga

From Bora Bora we headed straight to Tonga.  There was not much wind for the first four days and we had to motor, but sailed the next three days.

Great to have Lisa on board with us for this passage, and it turns out she is rather good at making scones.

Daryl seems to be good at attracting birds on his watch.  They often land and stay with us overnight for a rest before heading off in the morning.  This is a great spot for them to sit, anything that they may drop goes straight overboard!!

Another beautiful sunset on the passage, I shall never get tired of seeing these glorious colours.                                  

Janis, our crew, is still with us and enjoying going ashore and finding coconuts. he almost looks like one of the locals.

One of the islands we visited.  No, our mast is not that high, one of fellow cruisers had a drone and took some wonderful shots.  It is a great way of seeing the reefs around this Island Resort, where we had a sundowner there.

Lisa and I chose a cloudy day to walk up to the top of the mountain, good to stretch our legs for a change.                    

Anchored off the beach.                                           

But, by far the best experience of this whole trip has been swimming with the whales, yes, actually getting in the water with them.  We set out with a special guide, who was good at letting us get as close as possible without disturbing the mother and calf.  It was amazing to be so close to them, the calf was very inquisitive and I could almost have touched it, that close.   Hope you can see the video, I shall add a photo too, just in case it doesn't work.

Fabulous!