Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
There is a nice walk to a lookout and one of the many catholic monuments that characterise French territories in the Pacific. At low tide you can walk across a sandbar over to Nukuatea for a look around that island as well.
A beautiful island with a perfect swimming spot at its north western tip where the sandy beach drops steeply away. Walk around to the eastern side and you will be met with a very different islandscape where it meets the Pacific Ocean. We watched a group of young blacktip reef sharks hunting small fish in the shallows which was fabulous. The reef on this side has been pretty well destroyed by a cyclone sadly and the strandline is pretty depressing with all the plastic bottles and jandals (flipflops/thongs) littered along it. Still, a stunning place all the same.
Walk or see if you can hitch a ride with a 4WD or one of the locals that are heading up to tend to their crops. While technically a main road, RT1 gets pretty rugged after Malaetoli village. The circular lake is spectacular with sheer sides all around. At the end of WWII the Americans reportedly dumped a whole lot of military hardware at the bottom of the lake before leaving the island. At dusk a colony of bats on the far side of the lake stretch their wings and start flying out for the evening - quite a sight.
Access this walk from the beach toward the south end of kenutu. climb up
And explore the stunning vantage points that look out across the ocean
Over the island's rugged eastern coast. you can make your way along the
Cliff south a bit towards the bottom of the island and it is worth it for
The views but make sure you have good footwear as the sharp irregular
Coral rock is unforgiving.
At low tide you can walk right around this charming wee island. on the
Southwestern side there are some fantastic caves and on the southern coast
Pretty good birdlife with terns and a few tropicbirds dominating the
Scene.
Access this lookout from tapueluelu road, walk is only about half an hour
But you will be rewarded with great views out over neiafu and across to
The eastern islands as well as across to the causeway on the northern side
Of the peninsula.
Beautiful and very different snorkeling to most sites around tonga. This
is a shallow site (so best at high tide) with a lush seagrass meadow where
you can find trigerfish, sea stars, sea cucumbers, pufferfish and octopus
hanging out, then move out over the coral patches further south for a
completely different seascape again.
Excellent snorkeling site with a good range of depths, large table corals
and abundant fish life including some of the bigger guys cruising by in
the deeper spots.
Stunning spot to snorkel. There are two caves here, the northern cave
is fun to start in with a bonus secret cave to the left of the entrance
That you swim down and up into (a good introduction if you plan to do
Mariner's cave later). there is a tropic bird that roosts on the inside
Edge of the main cave which you might catch a glimpse of as it flies in or
Out. next swim out and along the wall which drops away steeply in crystal
Blue water so that you can see shadows of schools of fish cruising past
Down below.
Anchor on the sheltered western side of the island near the wharf. This is
an excellent all weather anchorage with a safe wide northern entrance.
From here you can dinghy ashore and follow the road past the crop fields
to the eastern side of the island where the village is. Chat to the
friendly locals and if you're around on a Sunday go along to a church
service and hear the amazing singing.
