Sunset in Tonga

this beautiful picture was taken by Marg of Malachi- we were out at the eastern most anchorage on Wednesday. had a bonfire and found the fresh water pool, not a great find, home of the mosquito nursery!!! It was oh so much fun getting to the anchorage, lots of reef and had to have me on the bow the whole time to make sure we didn't hit any coral. gave myself a scare cause one huge one appeared so sudden, but the water is so clear we can see 40 ft down. we had a lot of water over that coral, not 40 ft but at least 10ft so we were fine! but just the same , scared me , I saw the beautiful colours of green and yellow so clearly, could've bet it was just a couple of feet under. the kids went ahead of us on Malachi about 1.5hrs before us so it was just Steve and I on coral watch. nice place. we now it as anchorage #30 its name is Kenutu.
We left there 2 days later and headed to anchorage #16 - Vaka'eitu ( see why there numbered?!)
also nice , met up with Dorothy Marie so a few hours before they headed on to another spot. We went for a snorkel to the Coral Gardens. very nice but we took the hard way. its right by where we anchored but you have to get over the reef. to shallow for the dingy so either you go all the way around ( about 20 dingy ride) or you try to walk it at low tide and get in off the reef. Orca III and Ovive tried it by walking ( Ovive actually went by dingy in the morning and said it was beautiful - we didn't have enough fuel in the dingy to make the trip this is why we walked the reef) that was an adventure, after much checking out we found a way in , not the most graceful of enteries, and I got pushed over onto the reef by the waves! a few scratches and lost my snorkel and mask. I finally found them , just before being lost for good into the anchorage. and went in, defineatly the way to go is to take the long way around. ! made for a great chat later!!