TRAVELTRAVEL ++ LEISURE LEISURE / JANUARY 2017 / JANUARY 2017 9997
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VavVava’ua’uararchichipelpelagoago.onga is not one of
the South Pacifi c’s
most storied
destinations, but
the upside to its
obscurity is that it isrelatively unspoiled. On the island of
Vava’u, the largest in the archipelago,
the cows, pigs, dogs, chickens, and
children are all free-range. Walk more
than 20 feet and someone will off er you
a ride. Island time is strictly observed.
“It’s raw and authentic,” said AnnahEvington, our other guide. A New
Zealand native, she has returned often
to Vava’u since a transformative
humpback encounter in 2001. “There’s
no major tourism here. There’s no huge
hotels, and there’s no white-coated
waiters and cocktails by the pool.
The boats are still small, and the
experiences are still very personal.”
In the harbour of the main town,Neiafu, white yachts fl oat at their
moorings while small fi breglass boats put-put among them, people from
outlying islands crowding the bows and perched on the roofs on their way to
shop or pick up their kids from school. Storefronts off er day trips to go reef
diving and sportfi shing. Waterfront cafés like the Mango and Aquarium
have pleasant decks for afternoon beers and hearty pork or seafood dinners.
In the evenings, hymns waft from the churches, only to be drowned out, at
sunset, by a roaring chorus of cicadas. Every Wednesday night at Bounty
Bar, above the harbour, a wry and regal matriarch in a mesh dress and
sensible shoes presides over a rowdy drag show and dance party. Her name,
both in life and onstage, is Brian.
“Here people are nice to you because they want to be nice to you, not
because they have to be,” said Ben Newton, a former Bay Area entrepreneur.
He and his wife, Lisa, arrived on a sailboat in 2004 and, to their mutual
surprise, never left. “It’s hard for Tonga as a developing nation, because
people want the Disneyland experience. But I appreciate its raw beauty.
It’s out here on the edge of the planet.”
After settling in Vava’u, the Newtons started several small businesses,
including a restaurant and a dinghy-rental shop, before a twist of fate brought
them to Fetoko Island, a round, sandy blip surrounded by reef in a tranquil bay.
The couple had helped a Tongan family with a house loan; in gratitude, the
family off ered fi rst their unborn baby, then the rights to Fetoko.
The Newtons passed on the baby, but they eventually accepted the island, with
the stipulation that the family remain shareholders in the eco-resort they’d
dreamed up, to be called Mandala. After four years of construction, which theyt