can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Nexus - Kapa and Nuku Island, and Swallow's Cave



We spent the last two nights at Kapa and Nuku Island, just south of Port Maurelle, in Vava'u, Tonga. It is a beautiful spot with a white sand beaches nearby, crystal clear water where you can see your anchor 20M on the bottom, with dramatic island landscapes all around. We look forward to uploading more pictures once we have Wifi access again. We spent yesterday exploring with Kiapa and played Mexican Train dominoes with them in the evening, which was great fun. This morning, Russ and Brian had the opportunity to take their 52' Gunboat for a performance sail with the guys all morning offshore, where we flew every sail in their locker...who gets to do that? The ladies spent the day on shore and enjoyed meeting the locals and attending a very long church service. This evening, NDS Darwin arrived in our anchorage, and we took them along in our dingy to explore Swallow's cave and the bat cave around the point of our island about 2 miles away. The island is basically a limestone and coral bluff about 30M high all around, which has eroded in the sea to an impressive overhang around it's entire perimeter. The tropical foliage is packed on every surface on top and sides, and seems to reach out in all directions toward the water. The scenery, above and below the water is dramatic and hard to describe in words. We drove our dingy right into Swallow's cave, which is an impressively large cave with many alcoves of stalactites and stalagmites, and of course, swallows! The light at sunset shone into the cave with a blue and orange glow which was just magical! We jumped off the dingy and snorkeled every corner of the cave with underwater lights, finding many fish and geologic formations that made it a special memory, and some graffiti, which made it less so. It was a great experience overall. We then went on to explore the neighboring bat caves and dramatic coastline, both above and below the water as the sun set. Tonga may very well rank up with the Marquesas when we're done, as it just keeps dishing up special experiences every day!

Russ and Laurie on NEXUS 18 42.6'S;174 02.2'W



Previous | Next