For boats
Vavaʻu is
the island group of one large island (ʻUtu Vavaʻu) and 40 smaller ones in Tonga. The
capital is Neiafu, which is the fifth largest city in Tonga, situated
at one of the best harbours of the world,
APPROACH
Approach is
easy, there are few green/red buoys and leading marks, but you will not find
unexpected shallows or reefs.
If you
entering Tonga
call Vava'u Radio on VHF 26. You may not receive a reply.
FORMALITIES
Domestic Check in
If you want
to check in when sailing from another island group, it is permissible to anchor
or pick up a buoy and dinghy ashore to visit the relevant offices (Customs).
They need a clearance document from previous harbour (from Nuku Alofa or
Pangai) only. The Customs office is located in the main harbour, but is not
signed. See section Photo.
Domestic Check out
First you
should visit Port Captain office to pay harbour fees. Next go to Customs office
in the harbour. There you will fill the form and obtain the Local Movement
Report Document.
There is no
need to take you boat to International Clearance wharf.
On arrival
at the next island group, you have to contact Customs. When traveling between
Nuku'alofa and Vava'u, or vice versa, one can request that the Local Movement
Report includes Ha'apai if intending to stop in that island group.
International Inward Clearance
If you
check in / check out to Tonga
you have to berth to International Clearance wharf which is located before main
wharf (see chart in section photos, depth 5m). If there are many other yacht
and not enough space for you, try to moor long side to another boat. You have
to release the place after clearance ASAP.
The authorities
will come to your boat, or you can go to the Customs. Their office is not far
away, but is not signed. See chart on section Photos. The Customs co-works with
Immigration and they do their duty, they can also arrange a visit of Health and
Biosecurity.
Fees for
clearance (in Tongan dollars - $T, 1 $T = 0.45 USD):
Health
clearance – 100 $T
Quarantine
– 60 $T
Customs
& Immigration - free
International Outward Clearance
Move your
boat to International Clearance wharf and visit the customs office. Only
captain have to go. You will fill few forms and get a Clearance Document. No
fees, procedure takes about 30 minutes.
Clearance Hours
Boats are
cleared between 08:30 and 16:30 Monday to Friday. They are closed for lunch,
usually 12:30-13:30. Lunchtime, after-hours, and Saturday check-ins are
available by special arrangement and for a fee (about 130 T$ per hour).
If arriving
after hours or at weekends and you prefer to wait until normal office opening
times, boats are allowed to stay at anchor, flying the Q flag, but may not go
ashore until clearance is completed.
Customs -
at the Wharf
GPS
coordinates: 18°39'7.04"S 173°59'4.18"W
Tel: +676
70053 or +676 70928, VHF Ch.
26
Email:
inforev@revenue.gov.to
ANCHORING AND MOORINGS
When
entering the Harbour try to contact with Neiafu Harbour
master on VHF 26 or 16.
Yachts can hire
a mooring buoy. They are located on both sides of Neiafu Harbour.
Remember that all the moorings belong to someone, try to contact with them before
picking one (the VHF channel is written on the buoy). If no answer just pick up
a free one and contact (VHF or visit) ASAP. Don't try to pick up a mooring
without clearing in, the officials watch carefully.
Moorings
can be rented from Beluga Diving (VHF 09) or Moorings (VHF 72) for approx T$15
per night. Weekly or monthly rates can be arranged. All moorings are marked
(buoy number, VHF channel and operator name).
If you choose
to anchor, it is important to do that far enough away from any moorings. On the
western-side there are some good anchor spots toward the north. On the
eastern-side there is plenty of room more to the south. Anchorage space can be a problem close to
town because of deep water, except where most moorings are located.
DINGHY LANDING
There are
many places where you can go by dinghy and tie it for a while. Most of these
places are near the seaside restaurants and charter companies, near the moorings.
There is a few small wooden wharfs, just go there and tie the dinghy. Try to
keep clear the wharfs for charter yachts; use this belongs to restaurants (for
example the second from the left belongs to aquarium restaurant).
WATER
Ask in
charter companies. You can use your containers or if the weather is calm moor
for a while to take the water directly to your tanks.
We did it
moored to the first small wharf from the right. There is a water tap and hose.
We paid 20 $T (not depends on liters, one load).
FUEL
There is a
petrol station (diesel and gasoline) in the center of the village. If you need
a lot, you can order diesel which will be delivered by truck. Ask in Customs
office or call Pacific Fuel - phone: +676 70972, VHF CH 26. They will deliver
to the commercial wharf area, you have o move your boat there. Confirm that
with customs or Porth Authority.
If you are
leaving the Tonga,
you can order during check out DUTY FREE DIESEL. It will be delivered by truck to
the harbour (clearance quay - berth there first) in one hour. Min 200 liters. Phone: 70972
or VHF 26 (call Pacific Fuel). Note: Inform about this Customs, they will
supply paperwork for Duty Free Fuel
The price
in 2017 was 1.43 T$ per liter (about 35% cheaper).
GROCERIES
There are
many medium size groceries in the town. Do not expect many. Fresh vegetables
and fruits you can buy on local market situated in the main harbour.
Vava'u
(Utukalungalu) Market is open Mon-Fri 0800-1600. Saturday until 1230. On Friday
the main market turns into a night
market, open all night when fresh supplies are being brought in from the outer islands.
Saturday is the biggest market day. Saturday night sea’s the market move to the
main road outside supermarkets. Monday market normally opens late at 0900.
Fresh Fish
- some locals sell fresh fish and crayfish. If down at the main wharf just
listen out for a whistle sound - this means there is fresh fish for sale! Or
the Fish Market Building occasionally. Alatini Fisheries do some imported items
and fresh/frozen fish. Fish range from $5 to $12 a kg dependent on species and
weather. Lobster/crayfish range from $12 to $25 a kg dependent on weather and
month.
WiFi
If you have
Digicel Sim card, a good signal is covering anchorage.
There are
Hot Spots in most of bars and restaurant – some for free, other paid. Just
check it.
BANKS / ATMs
There are
two banks and few ATM’s in the town.
LAUNDRY
There is a Laundry
service in the center of the town (easy to find, walk the main road to the
harbour, the sign will be on the left.
Price: 20T$
per load (7-9kg)
GARBAGE
You can put
your garbage to the bins belongs to Aquarium restaurant. Fee: 2T$ small bag,
4T$ big bag. Café Tropicana is also providing garbage disposal service.
LPG (gas)
Butane gas
is available in Vava'u. Bottles with Propane will be emptied for the Butane to be
filled. Bottles can be refilled at Homegas in the village of Toula
(at the head of the harbour). You can reach Homegas either by taxi or by dinghy
(& short walk) as they have their own wharf - the steps are VERY steep
though and sometimes the gate is locked so I recommend a taxi. A return taxi
trip from Neiafu is approx. TOP $8. A variety of international adaptors are
available except Spanish. Very easy and prompt service! Will NOT fill tanks
while fuel container ships are unloading for obvious reasons…
Or take
them into Café Tropicana and pay a $3 delivery/fill charge, call first please
Homegas Ltd
Tel +676 70319
Opening
Hours: Mon-Fri, 0900-1600
REPAIRS AND PARTS
Metalwork/Welding
and Mechanical Engineering; professionally trained by a Master Dutch engineer. Ashley
on 7512408
Hull &
GRP Repair
KW
International - next to ANZ Bank in town
There are
few charter companies near the small wharfs. They can arrange repairs. There is
a sail maker in the town. Ask in charter companies.
DUTY FREE LIQUOR – VAVA’U
Leiola Duty
Free on the main road next to Café Tropicana - take in each crews passport
within 24
hours of checking in and also after your passport has been stamped when you
check out.
TROPICANA RESTAURANT SERVICES
They called
themselves Port Officers and can help in many issues. Just go there, call by
phone: +676 71322 or VHF CH 26,16. Services available from Port Officer:
- Assistance
with clearing in formalities
- Advanced
Notice forms – Fiji/NZ/Australia
- Translation
services – fluent in Italian, smattering of French and German.
- Courier
package assistance/advice on request
- Snail
Mail arrangements –please advise before sending: Yacht in transit SY Yacht Name, Café Tropicana, Fatafehi Rd,
Neiafu, Vava’u, Kingdom
of Tonga, +676 71322
tropicana@vavau.to
- Charts
for the Pacific
- Courtesy
flags for the Pacific and Asia
- Free
Recycling/Used Oil/Battery receiver
- Harbour
WiFi provider and free info, weather etc
- Zenbu.net.nz
– Tropicana” anchorages 1,2,3,4,5
- AIS
receiver provider via www.marinetraffic.com
- Laundry
- the only frontloading rain water and gas laundry in Tonga. Max 9kg
per load
- Espresso
Coffee/Café/Bread/all day breakfast/lunch/
- Provisioning
- Ice
cubes and 2kg solid ice blocks – rain water
- Drinking
water – potable filtered rain water
- Fully
licensed bar
- Rain
water hot shower
- Retail
Store – carvings/maps/soaps/postcards/
- Huge
free book swap and reference library
- TV
(5tb) and Movie (5000+) swaps
- Overnight
computer update/download service
- Rentals
– mountain bikes, kayaks, snorkel gear, tents
- Gas
tanks refill service
OTHER SERVICES
There are: Post
Office, Police and Fire Station.
VHF CHANNELS USED IN THIS AREA:
- 06
Backup channel for VHF Net
- 09
Beluga dive/Beluga moorings
- 10
The Ark
- 11
Te Pana Island
- 16
Hailing ONLY – Mayday/Pan Pan etc
- 26
Repeater channel – VHF Net and used for long range communication, please be
considerate, if you are talking to vessels that are close to you. Be aware this
channel is monitored by Customs, Police and Tourism!
- 69
Ikapuna/Tavake Fisheries
- 71
Game Fishing
- 72
Moorings calling
- 73
Moorings working
- 77
Mounu Island
- Please
be considerate and discrete on all VHF channels, especially the above and move
to a non-working channel as soon as practical…
08, 14, 17, 68 Common chat channels.
HIRE A CAR
If hiring a
car, drivers require a Tongan license which is obtainable from the Police
Station.
Most of the roads are sealed but take care when traveling in outer areas as
These roads
are not sealed. A simple road map may be borrowed from Café Tropicana or
bought from
Ministry of Tourism office.
OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO THIS AREA:
·
SPEED
limit in the harbour 5 knot – and/or no WAKE.
·
Be
aware of wake for other yachts, swimmers, divers, fisherman turtles, whales!
·
Please
walk on the pavement/sidewalk – NOT the road, this is a LEFT side driving
country, the roads, drivers and cars are not very good
·
Cover
and clean any open wounds, flys carry staph bacteria.
·
Beware
of Alofi a tall Tongan hawker – flag maker/bread/feasts etc. Rows a dinghy and
rides a bike. Report any problems to the Police, or Ministry of Tourism. He does
homemade flags from t-shirt material, charges for everything he does and
frequently exaggerates about services he offers.
For crews
The Vava’u
Island group in the Kingdom of Tonga is a spectacular tropical island paradise in
the Pacific Ocean. It has a year-round climate
suitable for swimming, snorkeling, diving and
sailing.
Some islands are ringed by white sand beaches while others have tropical
forests, sea-level caves, and dramatic limestone cliffs with breathtaking
vistas.
Remote and
truly unspoiled, the waters around Vava'u are crystal clear with visibility
exceeding 100 feet.
Most of the islands are uninhabited, a few have villages, and a few have very
small unique resorts with exceptional food. There is abundant sea life with over
100 species of colorful tropical fish, giant clams, manta rays, sea turtles,
spinner dolphins, and July-October the Humpback whales! Truly a paradise with
the only Polynesian Monarchy this is a truly remarkable place to explore.
Must See
and do NEIAFU and VAVA’U
·
St Joseph’s Cathedral – a vision of colonial piety above
Port of Refuge
·
Sunday
Tongan Feast at “Three Little Birds”,
·
Walk
up Mt Talau National Park; magnificent views
·
Swallows
and Mariners cave tour (or go there by boat; snork or dive in both caves,
amazing underwater views)
·
Kava
circle at Fire station or any village
·
Sunday
church service 10am for amazing singing
·
Cafes
and Bars on waterfront – not expensive with good food.
Christianity
is huge in Tonga
- a wonderful way to spend a Sunday is attend a church
service,
please dress respectively and modestly so as not to offend. No noisy activities
can be done
on a Sunday (land or sea) or you may be visited by the Police. Dress standards
in town are: shirts MUST be worn by males, females should be covered below the
knee and shoulder.
DIVING
Several
operators are based in Vava’u – have a look at http://www.vavau.to/activities1.html
as well as a link to a huge heavily detailed diving, kite boarding and
snorkeling guide for Vava’u.
Diving on
Vava’u is good but not amazing.
Snorkeling
and Dive Sites near Lape Island, Vava’u, Tonga. Site Names and GPS Positions
and descriptions by Paul Major, s/v Bella Via
The Corel Garden
– 18° 42.798’
S, 174° 06.160’
W
This is the
reef that extends from the shores of Nuapapu to the north and Vaka Eitu to
the south.
It is the western side (seaward side) of this reef that is most interesting and
colourful.
The eastern side is shallow and not very interesting. The challenge is to get
to the
western
side from the anchorages located at Lape
Island and Vaka Eitu. One
strategy is to
dinghy to
the northern tip of Vaka Eitu where there is a sandy beach for landing the
dinghy.
One must
still walk or swim approximately 20 metres and through some surf, across the
reef,
depending
on the state of the tide, to get to the western side of the reef. It is
possible to cross
the reef in
a dinghy with the outboard motor fully down, 2 hours either side of high tide.
When
attempting this, one must time your crossing of the reef during a lull in the
waves that
usually
break on the reef.
The Coral
Wonder – 18° 43.765’
S, 174° 05.397’
W
This reef
extends from the eastern edge of Vaka Eitu to Langito’o Island (aka
Langitau Island). It is the southern side of this
reef that is most interesting. This area is much
easier to
get to and is, in the opinion of many, as good a snorkel if not better than the
Coral
Garden.
Access the area by dinghying around Langito’o from the anchorages at Vaka Eitu
or
Lape Island. Like the Coral Garden
it is possible to cross this reef 2 hours either side of high
tide with a
dinghy outboard motor down. From Lape
Island, cross the reef
hugging close to
Langito’o Island, then look to the southwest for a small bay in the
coral. Use the narrow
entrance to
this bay in the reef to get through the breakers that occur across the reef
when a
westerly
swell is running. PLEASE take extreme caution to anchor in one of the bare
locations
so that none of the coral is damaged in this very small area. The best
snorkelling in
this area
is to the south of the reef bay previously mentioned. This area features a few
giant
sheets of
flat table top like coral, many varieties of soft coral, feather coral and
“Spotty”, a
large,
“Many Spotted Sweetlip”. Spotty is a yellow fish with black polka-dots. He
lives just
around the
southern point of the reef as you start to head east.
The Coral
Canyons – 18° 43.342’
S, 174° 06.305’
W
These coral
formations extend the length of the shallow bight that forms the western
shore of Vaka
Eitu. From the steep rocky shoreline there are fingers of coral which extend
from the
shore to seaward then drop steeply from the surface to depths of 20 meters. The
water is
always clearer here than any of the other nearby snorkelling sites. The clear
water,
the canyons
of coral and the steep drop off make for a panoramic view not to be missed. The
steep coral
face dropping to a depth of 20+ meters makes this a good SCUBA dive as well as
a good snorkel
site. Access this area by crossing the Coral Garden
by dinghy up to 2 hours
before high
tide. Time your snorkel so that you can get back across the Coral Garden
within 2
hours after
high tide. This leaves a 4 hour window for the snorkel. The alternative is a
long,
often
rough, dinghy ride all the way around the southern and eastern sides of Vaka
Eitu and
Langito’o
Island (aka Langitau I.)
to get back to the anchorages in Vaka Eitu or Lape Island.
Lua Tofua’a
(Whale Reef) – 18° 43.983’
S, 174° 05.067’
W
This “lua”
(under water reef), located 0.2 nm SSE of Longito’o Island (aka Langitau I)
is easily
reached by dingy from the Lape or Vaka Eitu anchorages at any state of the
tide.
Anchor the
dinghy in approximately 3 to 8
metres of water on any of the bare spots located in
the centre
of the reef. The depth over the reef ranges from 2 to 8 metres, the depth around
the
reef ranges
from 14 to 25 meters,
making this another interesting Scuba dive site. This site
offers a
few large coral formations and the occasional big fish - amberjack, rock cod
and
maori
wrasse have been seen here.
WHALE
WATCHING
Yes, the Humpbacks
are there. The season for whales is from June to October. That’s amazing
animals, watch them and swim with them.
But, swimming
with whales is illegal UNLESS with a likened operator. Fines are becoming
larger and
your Visa may be cancelled or your Vessel could be detained. Don’t harass
whales: a
collision at sea WILL ruin your entire day! .
Whale
watching regulations 2013
- Unless you are in a licensed
whale watching or whale swimming vessel, you are not allowed to approach
any whale closer than 300m.
- Swimming with whales is
prohibited unless you are on a licensed vessel and in the water with a
certified guide.
- If a whale surfaces near you,
you should change the course of your vessel, in a safe manner, and move
300m from the whales at no-wake speed.
- Kayaking with humpback whales
is prohibited unless the kayak is launched from a licensed vessel.
- No jet Skis are allowed within
2km of any whale.
First time
offence is a fine of between $1,000 and $5,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 18
months. Repeat offence is a fine of between $1,000 and $10,000 and/or
imprisonment of up to 3 years.
Fees
Fees (in
Tongan dollars - $T, 1 $T = 0.45 USD)
Health
clearance – 100 $T
Quarantine
– 60 $T
Customs
& Immigration - free
Harbour fee
abou5 0.5 $T per per gross tonne
Mooring
buoy – 15 T$ / day
Water –
about 15-20 T$ per boat
Fuel –
about 2$T on petrol station, Duty free - 1.43 T$ per liter (about 35% cheaper)
SIM Card
with 2GB of internet – 10 T$ (Digicel)
Laundry –
20 T$ per load (including drying)
Dinner – 10-30 T$