Photo Gallery 2005 Tonga
“Many of you have asked me if I’m going to give a talk about our recent trip to the South Pacific. I won’t bore you with a talk. However, as always, Carol has done a great job with the photos. You can see them at
Tonga (population 112,000) was a bit like stepping back into another century in some respects even though it has one of the highest literacy rates in the South Pacific. The chart that we were using for navigation was originally made by a British survey vessel in 1896. It has been updated since then but it is not unusual to see notations like ‘Shoal Reported 1991, position approximate’. Or a notation on the chart next to a small isolated island like ‘Position reported to be 2 miles SW (1986)’. And this is the best chart that you can get. It is common for positions to be off by half a mile. Tonga is a kingdom and the present king’s dynasty was started in 1845.
Fiji (population 893,000) is more modern (more tourists) but many of the areas are not charted any better. It is a democracy, but there were almost bloodless coups in 1987 and 2000. Indians, brought in to work the sugar cane plantations, are almost as plentiful as the ethnic Fijians. Many Indians have been in Fiji for five generations. You will recognize many of the places we visited in the following timeline:
1643 – Main Tongan island of Tongatapu iss visted by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.
1773 – Captain Cook (HMS Endeavor) when visiting the Ha’apai Island group names Tonga the “Friendly Islands”. He was unaware of a plot by the natives to capture and eat the captain and his crew.
1789 – Captain Bligh (HMS Bounty) is set adrift in a 23 foot longboat near Tofua Island in Tonga’s Ha’apai group after the mutiny on the Bounty. A crew member of the longboat was killed when they landed on Tofua (picture above) seeking food and water. Bligh then made an epic 48 day voyage through Fijian waters to the Dutch East Indies. He was afraid to go ashore at the Fiji Islands because the natives there were even more unfriendly and fierce than those in Tonga.
1806 – Will Mariner (British Privateer Sloop Port au Prince) survives the massacre of the ship’s crew at Tonga’s Ha’apai Islands and becomes the adopted son of the warrior king Finau Ulukalala II. Mariner commanded cannon from the Port au Prince in wars between native chiefs. It was the first use of modern weapons by the natives. Mariner was rescued after four years and became a trader on the London Exchange. (We scuba dived in Mariner’s Cave where every time a wave goes out fog forms due to reduced pressure in the saturated air).
1840 – Capt. Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy embarks on a four year expedition to the Pacific and the South Seas. By this time missionaries, sandalwood trade in Fiji, and whaling have dramatically changed Fiji and Tonga. His expedition charts both Tonga and Fiji. After a couple of crew members are killed, he attacks the two Fijian villages on the island where the attack took place. Musket Cove next to the largest village received its current name from this incident.
1845 – After many native wars, Tonga is united by King George Tupou I who formally proclaims the present dynasty.
1911 – Jack London writes South Sea Tales
Carol and I plan to go back to Fiji in October for a month or so. We need to get the boat back to New Zealand before cyclone (hurricane) season sets in. Then we plan to go back again in January or February and sail New Zealand for a month or so.
Although we are having a lot of fun, we have decided that we don’t want to be full-time sailors. We plan to keep a crew on the boat so we can spend at least half our time in Tucson. I plan to continue to work at Rincon Research pretty much full time when I am in town.
Our very tentative plan is to take the boat back to the South Pacific in May or June 2006, and then either we or the crew will work it west in 2007 towards the Red Sea, Suez Canal, and Europe. Or we could change plans and bring it back to the west coast of the US or Mexico in 2007
Thanks for your interest and support.”
– Mike Parker