<p>H has expressed an interest in chartering a sailboat in Tonga. Has anyone been to Tonga?what time of the year, how many days? Any feedback on flight logistics would be appreciated. We would be coming from west coast.</p>
<p>I’ll pipe up with a little bit of information on Tonga. My parents sailed around the world in their Valiant 40 about 10 years ago. When they arrived in Tonga they were planning to stay 3 weeks. They ended up staying in Tonga for 6 months, they loved it. They loved the people, they loved the culture, they loved listening to the singing in the churches on Sunday. Tongans are more conservative than other cultures in the South Pacific. It may have loosened up a bit in the last 10 years, but the women swim in the ocean fully clothed. Don’t go to Tonga if you are looking for the rum beach bars! Or fancy restaurants. </p>
<p>Bareboat chartering has picked up in the last decade and there are more restaurants for the charter crowd.</p>
<p>Can you share where you have chartered before? That might help me give you a perspective against your other destinations. I have bareboat chartered everywhere around the world or sailed with my parents in remote locations.</p>
<p>Bvi,Saint Martin, Belize, Thailand,Croatia. All those trips have been with H as the skipper.
H has sailed across the Atlantic, from Florida south through Panama Canal back to Ca. With his parents. H crossed the Pacific to Hawaii at age 12.
We are comfortable with anchoring. I don’t want long crossings or rough seas.It would just be the two of us.
We are not the rum bar type. </p>
<p>Closest to the remoter parts of Belize for ‘on your own’ anchoring. Chartering in Tonga they keep a tighter rein on where you are allowed to go. Kind of like a ‘suggested itinerary’ where you go in a circle. No major open sailing - for example you get a lot of open sailing to get between the islands in Tahiti. </p>
<p>Very lush and beautiful. I don’t think the snorkeling (which is one of my favorite things) is as good as Thailand or the BVIs. Definitely not a lot of moorings, it’s all anchoring.</p>
<p>But this is slightly outdated information and I do not remember how we got there from the West Coast.</p>
<p>Coralbrook- where is your favorite charter location?
We don’t mind remote. Part of the wonder of sailing is being able to see places that you can only get to by water. When we went to Belize we chartered out of Placencia and headed south. I think most nights we were the only boat in an anchorage. Definitely no meals on shore on that trip.
Tonga is a pain to get to. Flight first to either Auckland or Fiji, 2nd flight to the “international” airport in Tonga and then a third small flight to the base. The boats are also expensive. H will need to commit to spending a lot of money and time for such a trip. I always tell my friends that I could be at the most expensive resort in a country and ordering room service for what a boat charter can cost. A trip where I do the cooking and cleaning.
Honestly I wouldn’t mind going to Tonga but I also wouldn’t be disappointed with a land based trip to Prague and Budapest. Polar opposites. </p>