Articles about 'Tonga'

A complete guide to sailing, diving, and exploring Vava'u, the sailing center of Tonga. Sailingbird's guide includes over 150 full-color photographs, hand-drawn maps, and illustrations.

This video is about our time spent during our two month visit in the Kingdom of Tonga. We had a blast and really enjoyed the specatcular diving, shell collecting, local events and, of course, the people of Tonga. A special thanks to the All Points Rally and Vava'u Blue Water Festival organizers and all the wonderful sailors we met while there.

We had some exceptional diving during our time in the Kingdom of Tonga. Most all of it was in the Ha'apai Archipelago but we also experienced some beautiful areas in Nomuka as well. We observed spectacular hard coral in the channels between islands as well as on the ocean-side of the atolls. Diving in shallow, calm waters yielded very little as there were large areas of dead coral as...

This guide, although 13 years old this year, is still is the most relevant and detailed guidebook around. For the 2 months we spent in Tonga, we used this book every day to help us figure out where to go, what to do once there and really appreciated his photographs and hand-drawn charts. We saw this book on every boat we visited so others feel the same way. It's a classic, be sure to...

After almost two months in Tonga exploring the archipelagos of Vava'u, Ha'apai, Nomuku and finally Tongatapu we are ready to begin our passage to Port Opura, New Zealand. It'll be about 1100 nm depending on if we stop at Minerva Reef or not. The weather will be the guide here as this passage has a reputation among sailors as being a tough one weather-wise. In anticipation of this we...

Another day, another splendid anchorage here in Tonga. This time we are in-between the sister islands of Nomuka and Nomuka Ita in the Nomuka Group. The diving and snorkelling here are supposed to be some of the best in Tonga so we are here to find out. It would be pretty hard to beat the places we've recently been but we are always open to the challenge!

If this isn’t where Robinson Crusoe was marooned then it should have been. This is the most perfect location for ‘getting away from everything’ that we’ve found on our entire circumnavigation so far. There are actually three islands connected by sand bridges but each small island is full of jungle, the beaches full of shells, the reef unspoiled and full of fish. We arrived here this...

Another day, another amazing uninhabited island (well, almost...) with pristine reefs, fantastic diving and the best beaches we've seen (even taking into account) our recent anchorages here in the Ha'apai Group of Tonga. It seems each day just keeps getting better. This time we anchored outside the reef in about 25 meters of water (smaller draft yachts could get in shallower water)...