Month: October 2012

October 31, 2012

Anchorage #16 looks like one very large bay on the chart, but the shoreline is such that it is divided into three separate areas, each with its own beach. There’s the beautiful white-sand beach near the Coral Gardens, a long beach east of that, and then the beach where we were anchored near the bottom of the “C.” Other boats seemed to prefer the white-sand beach; so we pretty much had our area to ourselves. Our beach was long, but more narrow and thickly lined with trees, and the water near the shore was a beautiful green.

There was one particular tree on our beach that was fascinating. It had a thick canopy that went all the way to the ground, like a giant mushroom. We went ashore to check it out and see what was under that canopy. We found it was much like a banyan tree, with shoots from its branches going all the way to the ground. It was the only tree of its kind here and a favorite spot for the birds.

After checking out the tree, we explored the beach. It may not be the wide white-sand type, but sometimes there’s nothing more beautiful than the green and tan colors of a beach like this one. -Cyndi

October 31, 2012

When we finished snorkeling, we made our way back over the coral shelf. The waves had gotten bigger but now we were going with them; so when they’d wash over us we’d be flying over that coral shelf unnervingly fast. It was a relief to get to the other side and make our way over to the dinghy, now in somewhat turbulent waters.

As we motored away from the gap, the water became flat calm once again and was so amazingly clear we could see every little thing that was passing under us. Some of it was pretty interesting! -Cyndi

October 31, 2012

Rich got so many gorgeous close-up photos of the coral that I’m giving them their own post! -Cyndi

A brittle star beneath the coral.

Soft Coral

Look close – fish inside!

Wonderful Colors

Clear Water

So Many Different Corals

October 31, 2012

While anchorage #16 was more than pretty enough to warrant its popularity, the main reason people go there is its proximity to the Coral Gardens, one of the top snorkeling spots in Tonga and rated one of the top five in the world (I don’t know by whom).

The Coral Gardens isn’t necessarily easy to get to.  There is an underwater coral shelf between the two long thin islands that make up the “C.”  The snorkeling area is on the outside of the C, and you have to swim over the coral shelf to get there.  The problem is this shelf creates waves, which generally aren’t that big, but they can be hard to swim through if the seas are up.

Aside from calm seas, you need good light or the colors won’t be as bright as they can be. And you need a high tide so there is some room between you and the sharp coral shelf when the waves wash over.  This high tide needs to occur when it’s light enough to make for good snorkeling—high tide at 6am and 6pm doesn’t do you any good.  With all this, there are a lot of people who’ve been to #16 who never made it to the Coral Gardens.

From our boat, the back side of the C was a good dinghy ride away, probably ½ mile.  The seas were relatively calm, the tide almost at its highest point, and the morning sun was up amid a few clouds. There’s a small bay and beach right next to the shelf where you can put your dinghy but we opted to anchor ours just off the beach.

From there, we made our way to the opening between the islands and watched the waves, waiting for a set to finish.  When it did, we swam as fast as we could, ducking under waves as they came over us.  They weren’t very big, but we had to put a lot of effort into getting through them.

When we finally made it over the shelf and past the waves, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunlit wonderland full of coral and fish.  I haven’t snorkeled in enough areas to know whether it belongs in the top five in the world, but it looked pretty amazing. -Cyndi

The beach where we anchored our dingy with the coral gardens just beyond.

While there were a lot of fish, the diverse coral was the highlight.

There were wonderful “valleys” to swim through.

Splashes of colors.

And such diverse corals!

Rich using Scoobydoo – our underwater scooter.  (More on  that later.)

October 30, 2012

Here are some evening shots from Anchorage #16. -Cyndi