Sadly we left our pristine lagoon anchorage at the island paradise of Telekivava’u as we needed to sail further north to a more protected anchorage in the steadily building easterly trade winds that were forecasted to reach 30 knots on Sunday. While keeping a lookout for the many reefs in these waters, we were entertained by pods of whales frolicking as they headed south.
We were astounded to see what looked like plumes of vapour coming out of two islands to the north and discussed if it was just low clouds that stayed in the same positions above these islands. On looking at the charts we found that the islands of Tofua and Kao have volcanic activity. Tofua has an active volcano in which the crater in the centre of the island contains a lake with a steaming vent while Kao is an extinct volcano with a perfect conical peak rising to 1030 metres. We went no closer than the photos show from our anchorage at Ha’afeva.
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Live Volcano's Tufoua and Kao |
The morning began with a high cloud cover but it was soon clear and sunny again so lots of sunscreen, hats and long sleeves was again the dress code for the day.
Although this was a very good anchorage, the island beach was not as beautiful as the pristine Telekivava’u. We did have a pleasant walk through the rain forest to the village on the opposite side of the island. The village has a few houses with a couple of churches and a school and we were met by some of the children who asked if we had any candy. On the way to the village and in the village we saw cows, goats, chooks and numerous pigs as well as some Taro plots farmed in cleared areas of the forest.
After drinks at sunset on Salacia with Peter and Mary from Asolare, we enjoyed a delicious salad with chicken while watching the starlight canopy overhead.
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