Category Archives: Locations

Places around the world

Uoleva

Uoleva: The Island of Walks

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Uoleva is a beautiful “w” shapped island that has a 6-mile, white, sandy beach that surrounds it.  In the center is a lush forest full of palm trees and thick vegetation.  There are no markets, gas stations, roads, churches, cell towers, or modern conveniences.  Three small resorts (20ppl or less each) and a kite surf school are based here.  But it is not easy to get here.

Guests usually fly into Fiji, then into Vava’u, then into Lifuka.  From there, the guests are shuttled in a boat for 20-minutes to Uoleva.  You have to really want to come here.  But once you are here, you are in a true island paradise.

Each resort offers a variety of packages including room and board.  They have generators, solar, wifi, water tanks and made lovely conveniences that make your stay comfortable.  We visited Serenity and Sea Change. 

Getting to Uoleva

We had a 35nm sail from Tanoa to Uoleva.  It was another light wind day so we decided to put up our medium spinnaker.  She needed to dry out a bit anyway and we were not in a big hurry.  Can you see that we are going faster than the wind?  I love when that happens (thanx to the sea surfing us down a wave).

Along the way, we had several whales swim near us and show us their best tricks. I love the tail wave and the flipper wave.

Anchorage

We decided to anchor somewhere different than most boats.  Most boats anchor in front of the resorts but we decided to anchor on the other side so we had a lovely view of the towering palm trees over the sandy beach.

We had a fantastic sunset on our first night.  

6-mile Loop around Uoleva

The next day we decided to walk around Uoleva.  We left at low tide with some water and our flip flops.  We knew it would be a long walk, but truth be told, I had no idea it would be 6 miles!

Most of the walk was on a soft, sandy beach.  There were a few areas where we had to walk on the limestone, coral rocks and or jump over or crawl under fallen trees (from the tsunami).

Walking 6-miles is not that big of a deal to us, but walking 6-miles in soft sand makes you work!  I ws exhausted and so ready for a cold drink and a chair.

We found a couple of short cuts that take you from east to west (or visa versa).  One even tempted you with a sign that said “beer.”  But we did not succomb to our desires for a cold beverave, we kept going around the island.

We ended up at Serenity Resort.  We asked three people for a cold drink of water and a beer for Matt.  They are not used to outsiders coming for food or drinks so we certainly confused them.  They did serve us but it was not customary.  So, we moved on to Sea Change Ecco Resort which happily offered us a Tongan cocktail and cold beer.

We were pretty darn tired so headed back to the boat and enjoyed another lovely sunset.  This is the Koa volcano in the disrtance.

Sea Change Ecco Resort

Not sure if you remember, but a year and a half ago I met this woman named Krista on a whale watching tour.  She lives in Hawaii and works with marine animals for a living.  We kept in touch and to our surprise, we were both going to be in Tonga at the same time!  So, we made plans to visit her at the Sea Change Ecco Resort where she was working giving whale tours, massages, and doing generally anything and everything around the place.

She gave us a tour around the resort and then we caught up over a cold drink after our walk.  She is so fabulous and nice!

The owners Clint and Maria live in Auckland when they are not living here in Tonga running their beautiful little resort on Uoleva.

This blog occured toward the end of July 2023.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  In our last blog I wrote about the small bump in the pacific ocean called Tanoa.

Tanoa: A bump in the Pacific

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We are continuing our quest to find a calm anchorage.   This time we head toward a tiny bump in the middle of the Pacific called Tanoa.  It is still considered in the southern section of the Ha’apia group.  This little island is a mere 8nm miles from Telekitonga so we unfurl the jib and enjoy a slow motor sail.  We have a mere 4-5kts of wind so not making fast progress at all but we are topping up the batteries and making water.

There is a giant reef that surrounds this little islands.  The island is in the middle of the reef which makes a sort of “w” around it. We thought we would surely be protected from the southerly swell which was coming from the bottom part of the photo.  But, we were wrong. 

We arrived late in the afternoon and dropped the hook.  We grabbed the dinghy to explore the island but the surrounding reefs made it hard to safely leave the dinghy.  So, Matt dropped me off while I explored the island which took about 10-minutes.

The beach only covered about half the island.  The rest of the island is limestone covered in brush and 4 palm trees.

Across from Tanoa island is the big island of Fonoifua which has a small village.  We did not go over there but admired them from our little paradise.

Events from this blog occured toward the end of July.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We enjoy a nice long walk around the Telekitonga island in our last blog.

Telekitonga: 3-mile Beach

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It is a special treat to visit an uninhabited island as lovely as Telekitonga.  This island is one of the eastern barrier islands in the Haa’pai island group.  It is located about 65nm from Tongatopu.

We had a short 12nm sail from Kelefesia to Telekitonga.  With very light winds we decided to put up Big Bertha to get us there.  We were not in a hurry and thought it would be nice to enjoy a lazy sail day.  It was hard to keep the sail full as we only had 3-4kts of wind, but we made the best of it.

Telekitonga

Telekitonga has a long 2.5 mile beach around the island that can be walked during low tide.  In the center grows a lush, thick forest.

Telekitonga

Telekitonga

We have been running island to island to try to find a protected anchorage where there is no swell.  The swell is coming in from the south and even though we are protected from southerly winds the waves are wrapping around the island creating pretty uncomfortable waves in our anchorage.

So, we decided to go to shore to explore the beautiful beach of Telekitonga. As you walk around the island you encounter all types of ground cover.  Not much sand but a lot of coral which makes it hard to walk barefoot.  A quarter of the island was covered in limestone and another quarter covered in coral rocks.

This little island was hit hard by the tsunami.  You can see the damaged trees and bush trying desperately to come back to its former glory.

We found loads of lobster shells and floats.  Well over 3 dozen of each were strewn about the island.  We also found a treasure marked by a giant “X” and the world’s largest light bulb.

Super nice change to walk around such a large island exploring what the sea brought to us.

Events from this blog post occured during the end of July.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  Did you miss your opportunity to buy your very own private island in Tonga, see our last blog post on Kelefesia?