Our last anchorage in Tonga was a spectacular one! We picked this remote easterly island based on its location for the upcoming winds. Plus, we wanted to hit one island on all four sides of Vava’u. The winning island was Kenutu. This is a long, pretty flat island with several white, sandy beaches and a thick forest inland.
It can be a bit of a challenge navigating to Kenutu because of all of the reefs. We had to ensure we had good visibility and updated satellite charts to make it safely, which we did!
Kenutu, Tonga
We arrived around 1500 which did not leave us much time to explore before dark descended upon us. So, we jumped in Sweetie and worked our way through the reefs near shore. A friend of ours told us that there is a 10-minute walk to the other side so we decided to investigate.
Exploring Kenutu
The path was easy to find as someone put a float in the tree with “trail” hand written on it. Easy enough. The first trail we found was truly a 10-minute walk to the other side. But what we saw shocked us! The colors were so vibrant!
The rocky cliffs shouted out with bright reds, browns, and greens while the water below had dozens of variation of blues and greens. I loved watching the waves come up over the table creating a shallow pool.
Another beautiful hillside with more colors. We found several trails on the east side of Kenutu. We walked on all of them that we could find. Each bay was just as beautiful as the last. One of our walks led us down to sea level where we could witness the blow holes and surf up close and personal (lower photo).
One bay had several blow holes that showed off in a spectacular fashion. I could have sat here and watched this fierce display of water all day!
It was getting dark and we wanted to explore by dinghy. We went around the southeast side of the island and found a lovely pass. But it was too rough and too shallow for us to go through by dinghy.
If we had more time we would have certainly stayed at this Kenutu anchorage longer. What a beautiful surprise it was to see this island.
The next day we had to pull up the hook and go back to Neiafu to clear out of Tonga. Super sad as we really did not do the Kingdom justice in 3 weeks. I would love to come back here and really explore all three archipelagos.
This blog occured in mid-August 2023. Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events. In our last blog I share details of Vava’u.