Nomuka Ike / Nomuka

 We anchored off Nomuka Ike our first island in the Ha’pai group of islands of central Tonga.  These islands had been ravaged by a tsunami three years ago.  Nomuka Ike is a smaller island south of the main island of Nomuka.  The tsunami wave came from the south and came across the extensive coral reef of Nomuka Ike before crossing the island and finally continuing across the channel to Nomuka.  Luckily the reef and Nomuka Ike greatly reduced the power of the wave and only one person was killed on Nomuka.  The wave destroyed the coral reef, stripped all,the trees from the lower section of Numoka Ike and destroyed the dock and many homes on Numoka.

We took the dinghy to Numoka Ikeand went for a walk over the recuperating lowlands and then went snorkeling on the south facing windward reef.  The reef had been stripped of all coral cover.  Some fish were present and many small coral colonies were starting to grow.

The regenerating island three years after the tsunami 

One of the many crab inhabitants of Numoka Ike


After returning to True North for lunch we took the dinghy across to the village at Nomuka.  The village was quite small and the residents all seemed to be asleep in the hot afternoon climate.  We did find some horses and a few children were about but otherwise the town seemed deserted.

Nomuka in the background, True North and our dinghy.  Photo taken from the beach on Nomuka Ike

Sleepy afternoon in Nomuka

While wandering around town we heard some singing.  One of the children said people were singing in a building up a hill and said,to follow him to the singing.  We followed and found a group of mostly children singing.  The group leader invited us in and explained they were practising a song for Father’s Day which was the next day.  They sung their song for us and the voices were very good.  You can see them sing the song here https://photos.app.goo.gl/2oHLn1hnwG58JTL26. After the song finished we spent about an hour asking questions about their lives on Nomuka and answering questions about our lives, where we came from and our sailing adventures.  Neil and I enjoyed the meeting greatly.

After returning to True North we prepared for our overnight departure to sail to our next island stop at Ha’afeva.


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