Yachts arriving in Vava'u this Sunday morning were in for a special treat.  The strong and beautiful voices of the choir and congregation could be heard clearly across the water as we arrived. Into the Blue were among the crew lucky enough to have arrived on Saturday and were able to attend the service itself.

This Sunday was special because on Wednesday 170 members of the Catholic Youth Group in Vava'u will leave the islands heading for Sydney to attend World Youth Day (WYD08) which this year will be held in Sydney during July. In total 700 young people from Tonga will join a series of events attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the globe. World Youth Day has become the largest single mobilisation of young people in the world!

What we heard were some of the pieces that the Youth Group will be performing while they are away.

Other than church-going, everything stops in Tonga on a Sunday. For most yachts a leisurely lunch was followed by an equally leisurely afternoon in the Tongan sunshine – a much needed rest after several days of rain and poor weather.