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P&O Pacific Jewel

JO2 8
Tongan Adventure

Tonga Adventure On the 6th September the Pacific Jewel sailed from Darling Harbour and headed for Numina.

We docked at the cruise terminal a few days later and were off the ship by nine o’clock. Rita, Belinda, my w wife, step daughter and I caught a tour bus to see the highlights of the city and the aquarium. I had thought of enjoying a dive tour but it was too much money, at that point on the trip at $250.

We then cruised to Port Denarau, in Fiji, I had planned a day scuba diving but there was only two people on board who were interested, the tour providers need a minimum of ten passenger to run the shore tour, so tithe three of us went to Beachcomber Island where the snorkelling was great. There were 131 people on that tour so the ship chartered a large catamaran.

Dravuni Island was the next stop the next day a great little island with good snorkelling.
Suva was our next port where we travelled to Pacific Harbour for a cultural show. Our guide told stories about canailles and Fijian history on the way .We really shouldn’t complain about our roads when you compare the roads in these counties.

At Suva we changed captains our original captain was going home to England on leave. Our new Shipper was Italian and I believed skippered the Pacific Dawn in 2008.

We sailed to a spot about midway between Fiji and Tonga and slowed to a stop. This was the area when the captain of HMS Bounty, Lieutenant William Bligh was placed with his loyal supporters into the ship’s launch, the famous munity of the Bounty story. There was a talk by historian in detail on the mutiny. Retracing some of the voyage of the Bounty was part of the reason for the cruise.

We docked at a container wharf on the island of Nukuálofu in Tonga and travelled bus to a beach for some swimming and snorkelling. On the trip I notice a large number of churches, considering the population of the island, more evidence of the great work of early Christian missionaries.

By this time I had discovered that my second diving shore tour had be cancelled for the same reason, but the staff officer at the shore tours deck informed me that one of the officers was trying to plan a dive with crew members and the other passenger .Tithe dive was to happen at Vavaú Island in Tonga.

The Jewel anchored in deep water and we travelled to shore by ships tender. The divers caught the first tender to shore whilst Rita and Belinda did a tour of local botanical gardens.

The other divers were all mixed passions on the ship and experience, some just done PADI open watercourses. We travelled to the dive shop by mini bus and walked to the dive boat , all the gear was already on board. We willed out the usual disclaimer form on the way to the dive site.

It is funny how in the tropics the water is always blue. I think it is always exciting gong to a new place getting out of your comfort zone and diving in different conditions. The water temperature off Vava’t was 26 degrees and so clears it hard to estimate the visibility, almost like no water.

We went past and under a few ledges. I saw coral of many different type, some I remember from around Tryon Island and around Norfolk Island, which is where our final port was to be, I took as many pictures as I could and then it was time to go back to the boat. We changed tanks and about an hour later got into the water in a different location. There were some big caves we went into and quite a few narrow swim thoughts but a little less coral.

One of the crew members didn’t dive the second dive, she got cold on the first dive! Maybe I am use to the Terrigal temperature in the cooler months.

I would recommend diving in Tonga, it is great fun and very laid back. I have noticed that diving in the Terrigal area there seems to be more fish than I have noticed in the tropics except for off Tryon Island, but I must remember I am blind!

The feeling of having a great day’s diving makes me feel relaxed and excited. When we returned to the ship the captain gave a briefing, as he usually did just after lunch but this was different he described the progress of the ship’s navigation and current weather forecast for the area but then informed the ship of the forces for Norfolk Island and the area that we would be sailing into. Already there were 7 to 10 swells in the Tasman Sea and the west coast of New Zealand was being battered.

I had suggested to the crew that were divers that Norfolk Island would be a god place to dive and I had had some communication with Bounty Divers on the Island as did the other diving passenger.

The caption after consulting with Sydney decided to make a change in direction in the course of the cruise. The ship would cruise at full speed back through the Fijian islands the travel North West through the Loyalty Islands to the top of New Caledonia and then back to Sydney via the Coral Sea, this would make an additional 450 nautical mile cruise the captain said that was a bonus!

Lunch time the next day the captain said we were stopping at Port Villa in Vanuatu but we not going to get there until 8.30 PM. One thousand passengers cheered, shopping! We left at 4.30 am.

After we sailed into the Coral Sea we were subject to the remelts of the huge seas, only about 4 to 5 meters until almost Sydney.

I think we have had enough of P&O buffets for a while but we have booked a short 8 day cruise to Hobart.

Graham Tight

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P&O Pacific Jewel

JO2 8 Tongan Adventure

JO2 8
Tongan Adventure