Ha’afeva Island

 We departed Nomuka Ike at about 4AM, timed to arrive at the many reefs we had to thread our passage through to be in the early morning light.  Many of the passes were narrow and we had wonderful winds of about 18 knots so our passage was fast but safe because we could clearly see the waves breaking on the reef tops.  We arrived and anchored off Ha’afeva at about 7:30, had breakfast and headed to town.  We could see that the town dock looked to be under construction but when we arrived in the dinghy we found it to be destroyed by the same tsunami which decimated Nomuka.

The town dock looking towards shore

The remains of the town dock looking out from shore.  The dinghy is sitting on one of the old concrete slabs which made a good ramp to the water.

We walked the dirt road from the dock across the island to town.  The town was mostly one dirt road which ran parallel to the shore with houses and churches on either side.  We were told there are seven churches on Ha’afeva with a -ovulation of 172.  Again, the town was seemingly deserted but being Sunday we knew the population must be mostly in the churches.

Seeing an open church door and hearing a rousing sermon going on inside we entered through a back door and sat down.  The sermon was in Tongan so we did not understand anything but the preacher’s voice went from loud and stern to soft and caring with many other emotions in between.  After the sermon the singing began.  WOW!  One of the congregation started singing with a beautiful strong and loud bass voice.  Soon the whole congregation joined in and did not hold anything back.  The singing was extremely loud but very musical.  About a half dozen song were sung, each one started by the first man from the congregation.

After the singing the service was over.  Most of the congregation came over to shake our hands and say hello.  I gave the preacher a donation of a ukulele which had been left on True North by a previous crewman.  I expect it will be well used.

We walked the rest of the town saying hello and chatting with several people before heading back to True North for an afternoon/ evening sail to the island of Ha’ano.

Town looking east

Town looking west


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